For the second time in as many seasons, John Tortorella is hitting the unemployment line. Just one year after being let go by the New York Rangers, Tortorella has been fired along with assistant coach Mike Sullivan by the Vancouver Canucks after a single tumultuous season behind the bench in Vancouver.
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Multiple rumors swirled on Wednesday night, the same night that Alain Vigneault - the former Canucks coach who he swapped benches with in the offseason -- led his New York Rangers to a first-round Game 7 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, rumors circulated that Tortorella was about to be canned. Those rumors came true on Thursday.
The Canucks brought Tortorella in to bring fire to a veteran group that began to waver under Vigneault ever since going to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011, but it was doomed from the start.
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Tortorella led the team to a 36-35-11 record as the team failed to score 200 goals for just the second time in its history and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006-07.
Tortorella also made headlines for the wrong reasons when he attempted to get to the Calgary Flames' dressing room during a January game to have an altercation with Flames head coach Bob Hartley for a line brawl that erupted during the game between the two teams. He was subsequently suspended for 15 days after the incident.
That proved to be a turning point for the Canucks as the team went two weeks without its head coach and eventually began to free-fall. It seemed as though at least a few veterans were fed up with the intensity of their coach as Ryan Kesler reportedly wanted out during the NHL trade deadline, and goaltender Roberto Luongo was able to get out via a trade to the Florida Panthers.
The Canucks already fired general manager Mike Gillis, and it was expected that new president Trevor Linden would bring in a new coach while he also considers his search for a new GM and now the team will search for both.
Three years ago, the Canucks were just one win from a Stanley Cup, but now they will begin to search for their third head coach since that time.
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