We already knew John Tortorella was going to bring a big bark to Vancouver and the new coach of the Canucks expects his players to bring more bite.
Bite. The word was on everyone's lips Tuesday when the hockey club formally introduced the often hot-tempered and coincidentally hilarious Tortorella to the city's sports media.
Henrik and Daniel Sedin will be blocking shots and killing power plays, younger prospects will be tested and each player will be held to account, said the coach. Tortorella is already speaking as one of the team and he reminded the Canucks what work lies ahead of them. "We have a real good leadership group [_] but we have not won the Stanley Cup."
To do that, he said, "We're talking about playing with a little more bite, a little bit more stiffness. The way I look at my job is my job is to push athletes to positions and levels maybe they don't even think they can get to."
Tortorella leads all American coaches with 410 NHL career wins and is the first U.S.-born coach to take the reigns of the Vancouver Canucks. He won the Stanley Cup with a young Tampa Bay Lightning nearly a decade ago and is the Canucks' 17th coach. As fan expectations intensify before they threaten to wane indefinitely, as the coach must acutely know, he is here to deliver the franchise its first Stanley Cup in its 43-year history.
"Let's face it, there is a lot of pressure on this team," he said. "I know the owners and I know you and I know the province wants a win. And a win here is the Stanley Cup."
Ryan Kesler, who represented the U.S. at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics alongside Tortorella as an assistant coach, said the players can handle and may even adopt the strong personality of their new bench boss.
"We have to be a team that's hard to play against. That pisses teams off. I'm happy that's the way he wants to play," said Kesler.
And then that word again. "We'll play with more bite. We'll play hungry and we're going to have multiple different ways to win a hockey game, not just one or two."
Tortorella, who referenced the province repeatedly and more often than he name-dropped the city, said his reputation is as "that lunatic" because of his firebrand, fierce and all-things "F" motivational tactics and dismissive-aggressive confrontation with reporters. And even so, Tortorella's relationship with the press threatened to become the story here in Vancouver.
Before the new hire was introduced to reporters by Canucks general manager Mike Gillis, two sportscasters each delivered a live television hit near the podium from the front of the Norm Jewison Media Room. One asked, "Which reporter will get under John Tortorella's skin first?" Provoking a cuss-laced tirade may once have been the easiest gag, but unless your style of journalism is gonzo, let the man establish a new pattern if he chooses. Indeed, it seemed Tuesday Tortorella was laying a foundation for a more conciliatory relationship.
"I do come with some baggage. I readily admit that and I'm not going to hide from that. I am compelled to make this work," he said in response to a fan's question during a stage-managed online Q&A with play-by-play commentator John Shorthouse that served as a dry run for the press conference.
"I know how important this job is and I know how important that [media] part of the job is here. Listen - and I'm surprised that wasn't the first question - I know that's being talked about a lot. I know when you lose your job, you crawl into your hole a little bit, you reassess yourself, you try to learn and I am certainly gone through that process. Have I made mistakes? Absolutely," he said, before repeating a phrase he used numerous times, "I make my own bed in this type of situation with the perception of myself and the media. But I know how important it is with this job here, especially in this city and province."
Tortorella, who turned 55 this week, said all the right things and he still managed to be interesting. The Boston-born coach began by telling the assembled media of one of the NHL's most rabid markets that he always dreamt of coaching in Canada. He was cordial, candid and politely deferential. Most notably, he was contrite.
"I understand. I realize where we're at. I realize what's happened with me and I'm going to work at cultivating a relationship with all of you."
Tortorella said he has to make amends for his public tirades, which include berating reporters, swearing at players and publicly criticizing slumping stars. The legend of his temper has overshadowed his reputation as a winning coach.
"This is the mess I put myself into and this is the mess I need to get myself out of," he said. "I am not going to put this organization into a difficult spot."
Fireworks between the coach and reporters or the coach and players may still come since the 2013-14 season is not even old enough to be young - it's prenatal. But Tortorella explained his competitive firebrand style in simple terms that may prove to ignite the Canucks.
"I hate losing," he said. "I can't stand losing and everybody says be a good loser. I think if you're a good loser, you're a loser."
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