Sunday, March 15, 2009

Ranger Players Loving Tortorella

Andrew Gross at Ranger Rants has this post on how the Ranger players are taking to John Tortorella...

"Publicly and privately, the players love playing for Tortorella (though I'll admit I haven't asked Nikolai Zherdev this question. Surely, though, despite being benched, he's happier under the more aggressive attack system). They love the system he's employing and, for now, they love his motivational approach, his fiery speeches, his brutal honesty. He told them on the first day that they would need to grow thicker skin and he's lived up to that reputation. But Torts is no dummy. He's building a rapport with his new players so as much as he's pushing them, he's also showing the team he's got their back. At times, he ripped players publicly while with Tampa Bay. I'd be shocked if he did anything like that through the rest of this season or - if the Rangers make it - in the playoffs."

...hearing all this love for Tortorella makes me wonder how unhappy this team really was playing in Renney's defense first system.

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