In classic John Tortorella fashion, the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets did not hold back at all when talking about the free agent departures his team suffered during the offseason. In an interview with The Athletic, Tortorella responded to a question regarding Matt Duchene, Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky all leaving the team over the summer.
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for all of them. I do. A tremendous amount of respect. But don't talk about god damn winning, like you want to go somewhere to win. It's right there in front of you. I say that very carefully because I like them all. We had lots of meetings. We had to straighten things out in certain ways at certain times last season when it was kind of going off the tracks," Tortorella told Aaron Portzline.
He went on to talk about each player individually, calling Duchene a "hockey guy" that he loved being around, saying it's "ridiculous" how good Panarin is and how strong he is at 170 pounds, and adding Bobrovsky is "a hell of a goalie."
"But I don't want to hear 'I want to win' when it's right fucking here. I respect them, but I'm really pissed. It was right there, where we were really progressing. Maybe they don't like playing for me. That's fine. To me, eventually, you're not playing for the coach, you're playing for your teammates, and that's where I saw the camaraderie and the arrogance … I could see all of that building. I guess I feel like the players. I think the players respect them, respect the rights they had to do what they did. But I'm pissed, too, just like the players. I'm saying hell with them, we want to be here, let's get it together and get going. I wish them nothing but the best, but I'm pissed that they leave Columbus, because I think we've got a really good thing going here."
Tortorella explained that he has no choice but the change the way the team plays given the departures, adding Blue Jackets players will have to come together as a team "to concentrate on grinding our way sometimes to find ways to score goals." He also says he'll be "disgusted" if Columbus' rising-star defenseman Zach Werenski isn't signed by the start of training camp and ends up missing any time.
"I'd be terribly disappointed. I'm not involved in the business part of it. But for a young man to miss one minute of camp — and I've said this with Andy (Josh Anderson) — it disgusts me. That guy there, Werenski, the way he has evolved here. He has shown so much determination, so much more confidence and attention to detail playing defense without it really affecting his offensive game. He has really grown as a player. I just don't want him to miss a beat here. I won't be disappointed, I'll be disgusted."
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