John Tortorella’s Tirades May Be Tiring to the New York Rangers

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

By Kristin Tullo (@K_Tullo)

The New York Jets have Rex Ryan. The New York Rangers have John Tortorella. The New York media has their headlines, while the teams themselves having nothing but regular season wins and disappointing post seasons. Is it time for Torts to stop fighting with the fans, the reporters, other team’s players and coaches and find a new schtick?

Highlight reels of the NHL’s quote machine known as ‘Torts’ may be entertaining to those on the outside but his commentary on his team’s performances may be falling on deaf ears of the people he needs to hear him the most-his players. Like a good song you heard and got pumped up for, eventually you stop turning your head to see where it’s coming from. And that has been some of the responses from players as their coach paces, screaming over their heads along the bench

Following a disappointing loss at the hands of the lowly Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night, Torts seemed confused about who he should have been mad at. His team, in his own words, sucked. They lost a game that should have been won and his top players were out hustled by the third line of the Sabres. Yet instead of going at his players that didn’t perform, Torts mocked the guys that were actually doing their jobs, the media. He turned the tables and did some questioning of his own and answered questions asked by saying he wasn’t going to answer the question. A song and dance not uncommon for those that have the pleasure of interviewing the Rangers’ coach.

If his goal was to light the fire under his team by going public with his embarrassment, he failed miserably, as two nights later his team once again lost by the score of 3-1 to the Winnipeg Jets. The win allowed the Jets to leapfrog over the Rangers in the standings and now hold a two point advantage over the Blueshirts for the last playoff spot in the East. His tirades can’t distract the facts that his team is under performing , that they have yet to find consistency and that their bottom six players have been absent the entire season.

Tortorella can only throw his players under the bus so many times, perhaps it’s time to take some of the responsibility for himself. Otherwise, like a broken record, there comes a point where  you need to just shut it off and get a new one.