Why I LOVE and HATE it that John Tortorella is the new head coach of our Vancouver Canucks.

Are you kidding me? John Tortorella! Why? What’s Gillis thinking? Right now I’m as low as I’ve ever been as a Canucks fan and now we hire the most controversial coach in the league. I have lots of mixed feelings about this. Here’s why I love and hate this move:

I HATE that he’s our new coach because:

1. My most frustrating thing about John Tortorella is the circus he brings. 

It becomes all about him and little about the team. Listen we don’t need any more circus acts because we got Luongo. The whole season was about when are we trading Luo.

2. He benched Brad Richards in the playoffs! 

What? Not just the regular season but also the playoffs. Are you telling me that Brad Richards couldn’t have played on a 3^rd or 4^th line? That’s what John believed Richards wasn’t good enough to contribute. I think this is the reason why Tortorella got fired. You went from having Nash, Richards, and Gaborik to having Nash as your top player in NY. I think that AV will never healthy scratch Richards but he will be on the top 2 lines always.

3. He doesn’t get along with the media. 

In his defense, I’m sure SOME of the media ask stupid questions. John is a truth speaker and he would just lose his temper with idiots. Not like being popular in the media even matters. On a side note, Brian Burke didn’t love the media either but did a great job with the Canucks.

4. We are the laughing stock of the NHL. 

Just watch the reaction of people everywhere…almost everyone including those in the media think this a HORRIBLE addition. People already hate the Canucks now people are laughing at us too!

5. What Free Agents are going to want to play for Tortorella? 

Seriously, after what he did to Richards would you want to come to Vancouver? The way he loses it and throws his players under the bus publicly over and over the good available FA’s are going to sign elsewhere.

6. Will his aggressive style work in Vancouver? 

Maybe his style won’t work with our players. Most people don’t think it will.

7. It’s got to be bad when…you make the Eastern Conference final and you make the 2^nd round of the playoffs and you get fired. 

What does that say? I can understand if you don’t make the playoffs or you just squeak into the playoffs even though you are one of the top teams but to have success and get fired says something. Something is wrong with this picture.

What I LOVE about Tortorella:

1. He’s a champion. 

He lead the TB Lightning to a Stanley Cup victory over our division rival Flames. He knows what it takes to win.

2. He has tons of experience. 

One of the things I was most concerned about is that we were going to bring a coach who had little NHL coaching experience. I was worried we were going to sign Dallas Eakins or Jon Stevens or Patrick Roy. I wanted Lindy Ruff but he went to Dallas and Dave Tippet signed a 5 yr extension with Phoenix. The fact is the experienced coaches were dropping like flies. John’s won 3 division titles and made the playoffs 8 times. He’s been up for coach of the year 3 times. So he’s definitely got some skills. 
(He’s won a Stanley Cup, Calder Cup and an ACHL Championship, a Jack Adams Award, silver medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and has compiled a 410-330-37-67 record in the NHL)

3. It’s a big shake up. 

And the Canucks need that right now. Let’s light a fire under their butts and get them motivated. This is a MASSIVE risk. It bothers me that Gillis fired AV. It wasn’t our coach’s fault alone that we lost. GM Gillis should have been fired. He traded Hodgson for Kassian. He didn’t trade Luongo. He signed Higgins for $4M over 4 years. Maybe this risk self-destructs and then Gillis goes too. We need a shake up and John will shake up this team for better or for worse.

4. The entertainment value alone is worth the price of admission! 

At least we will always be in the news. You know John’s going to get mad at someone on the team or in the media. So at least it will be exciting.

I understand we need to shake things up…Tortorella definitely does that. Maybe he’s 'the answer'. If not, Tortorella and Gillis will lose their jobs. 

I put on Facebook and Twitter recently that we should hire Tortorella as coach and Burke back as our GM. Imagine the sparks that would fly! Well we are only half way there! BRING BACK BRIAN BURKE!!! Or go get Bobby Clarke to be the GM! LOL The Rangers must be happy getting rid of Tortorella and hiring AV.