LAS VEGAS — A mere 72 hours into his tenure as the Golden Knights’ fixer, John Tortorella isn’t pretending to have all the answers.
Yet.
Wandering the halls of the team’s practice facility on Wednesday like a substitute teacher trying to find homeroom, the veteran coach had to ask a staffer for directions to the team’s video room to give his daily presser.
It was there, when referring to the team he just inherited from Bruce Cassidy, that he looked up at the media with a smile to ask, “Which way is the locker room?”
With one win under his belt and the exhaustion of gathering information like he was drinking out of a firehose, the most combustible coach in hockey is still getting his bearings.
“I just want to keep my head down here and play, and behave myself, and help the team try to find its way at such an important time of the year,” he said of his mission heading into Thursday night’s game against Calgary.
Behave himself. Sure.
And the Sphere is subtle.
Easing in isn’t something generally associated with Tortorella, as evidenced by his decision to swap Mitch Marner and Jack Eichel mid‑game Monday.
“I work with my stomach,” he said of his gut feelings.
“I’ve been criticized many years, many times, that I’m moving players all over the place. I really don’t give a s—. I’m going to do what I think is best for the team at that particular time.”
Vintage Torts.
He even hinted at loading up Marner, Eichel and Mark Stone at times.
“Mitchy’s too good a player to be locked into one line,” he said.
“Jack will be moved around, too. I don’t go into any game thinking about what I’m going to do with my lines. I let the game dictate it.”
This is exactly what Kelly McCrimmon was talking about when he discussed hiring the two-time Jack Adams winner to give his sagging team a spark.
The GM watched Wednesday’s 50‑minute practice alone from a perch in the corner of the rink, watching the 67-year-old in his shiny new Golden Knights tracksuit put the lads through a spirited practice.
He gave the players Tuesday off, sending them up to the gym while he learned as much as he could about his team and surroundings.
He said he feels more organized now than when he arrived Sunday night.
“It was such a crazy couple days before that Monday game,” he said.
“But I feel better about knowing more people, understanding the lineup.”
His practice focused largely on tempo.
“I’m always thinking pace,” he said.
“The biggest thing we want is a pressure game. Pressure up the ice, pressure in the offensive zone, taking time and space away in all three zones. We’re not reinventing the wheel here.”
Between drills, he huddled the lads together, punctuating the skate with an on-ice meeting with leadership he refused to delve into.
“The team is a pretty good team — good leadership,” he said.
“I keep asking them what they think. They’re part of the conversation. They’ve been very receptive.”
This is the new Tortorella, and it seems genuine.
He says he wants to do less micromanaging than he did earlier in his career and focus on learning how best to manage the different personalities in the room.
“I used to be that guy who wanted to control the whole game,” he said.
“It’s a game of mistakes. Now, you pick and choose (when to address a miscue). Sometimes you just have to turn away. The most difficult part is understanding personalities. You can’t coach every player the same way. You might help one guy and hurt another. You’ve got to build a relationship.”
One thing that is new: he’ll be wearing a suit again.
“I don’t even know how in Philly it all worked doing it,” he said, shaking his head at the memory of those three-quarter zip-ups.
He was fired there with nine games left last season. Now he’s hired here with eight left.
Vegas spent 96 days atop the division before a post-Olympic nosedive that saw them go 5-10-2 after the break.
Eight skaters from Vegas went to the Games. The team hasn’t looked the same since.
He’s not worried about the emotional subplots on Thursday, like Rasmus Andersson facing Calgary, or Zach Whitecloud facing Vegas.
That shouldn’t concern the team, he said.
He’s worried about pace, pressure and energy.
The stuff McCrimmon says went missing.
And if Wednesday was any indication, Tortorella’s already starting to find his way, with an eye on lighting matches.
