PITTSBURGH — Maybe it is time for John Tortorella to stop coaching for a while.
The Canucks dismissed Tortorella — which includes an $8 golden parachute — and top assistant Mike Sullivan on Thursday following a disastrous first season in British Columbia, despite the fact that four years remained on Tortorella’s original five-year, $10 million contract.
The fiery coach led the Rangers to the 2012 Eastern Conference finals, but after the players forced his and Sullivan’s firings last summer, Tortorella immediately took the Vancouver job rather than spending a year away from the game to recoup from his startling dismissal.
The result was a 36-35-11 season in which the Canucks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and finished 25th out of 30 NHL teams, the worst in 14 years for the franchise. It marked a precipitous fall from the franchise’s 2011 Stanley Cup Finals appearance under current Rangers coach Alain Vigneault.
Vigneault’s Canucks had been eliminated in the first round the last two postseasons, which explained his firing and availability to the Blueshirts once GM Glen Sather cut ties with Tortorella.
Once Tortorella got to Vancouver, he gave off a rehabilitated and docile image, which included such details as being sure to mention the “province” of British Columbia whenever he referred to the team in interviews.
However, in mid-January, Tortorella’s season came off the rails when he charged the door of the visitors’ locker room at intermission to fight with Calgary Flames head coach Bob Hartley.
The NHL suspended Tortorella for 15 days. The Canucks went 2-4 without him, and then posted a 10-13-2 record following his return to the bench.
Vancouver ownership fired Mike Gillis as the Canucks’ general manager weeks ago, then hired former team captain Trevor Linden as president of hockey operations to oversee the wholesale change of the coaching staff.
