John Tortorella Isn’t Doing Anthony Duclair Or The Columbus Blue Jackets Any Favors
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John Tortorella’s act is getting old. As the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team has enjoyed some of the best success in their history. Although, as expected with a John Tortorell-led team, there’s a bit of a headache involved as well.
It’s certainly not an easy time being the Blue Jackets coach, given the trade rumors surrounding your two best players. Whatever you make of the Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobroivski issue, the team would do better if there were indeed no distractions.
With that being said, it’s confusing why Tortorella is making such a big fuss over certain players. Anthony Duclair is the biggest victim of Tortorella’s wrath. He’s constantly being ridiculed and put down by Torts to the media.
Before the Columbus Blue Jackets faced the Montreal Canadiens on February 20th, Tortorella made some rather questionable comments about the Jackets forward and his maturity. The following was taken during his pre-game press conference.
“I don’t think he knows how to play.”
Tortorella went on to say,
“I don’t know if he can’t comprehend it or he’s just stubborn.”
The quotes were just one of the many ways Tortorella put down Duclair. For a head coach to display this type of emotion towards a player is rather shocking. There’s never this much honesty and emotion from a coach or organization when speaking out to the media.
Tortorella claims Ducalir is “on thin ice.” It’s his lack of defense and understanding of the game that’s gotten him into the doghouse and on the bench. And, as expected, Tortorella played Ducalir only 2 shifts during the third period of the Canadiens game. It was a rather questionable call.
“I wish I could use him at the end of the game, when we’re trying to get a goal, but I’m not so sure about him away from the puck. I don’t want to be down 3-1 when we’re trying to get back on a 2-1 score.”
The kicker is Tortorella opted to use recent AHL call-up, Eric Robinson, over Duclair. There’s no conceivable reason that a recent minor league call-up should be playing on the ice during a close game over an NHL- tested player. You can’t really call defense an issue.
Tortorella played Alexander Wennberg, a rather sub-par defender and scorer, on the team’s top line numerous times. You don’t see Torts calling him out to the media for his play. And it’s not like the Jackets are any better playing defense when Duclair is on the bench. The team turns the puck over way too much, and he’s usually never the culprit.
Anthony Duclair doesn’t deserve the hatred from John Tortorella. This is just a classic example of Torts throwing his weight around. It’s one thing to criticize your roster, it’s another to call them out to the media. It might be time for the Columbus Blue Jackets to move on from John Tortorella. These types of situations aren’t good for the team.
Daniel is a guru of baseball and basketball prospects. He’s a very experienced Amusement Park traveler as well. Follow him and his hot takes on Insta @dgentleman9288
