NHL Insider: Tortorella will get players' attention in Columbus

John Tortorella watched his first Columbus Blue Jackets practice Wednesday from the stands and didn't go on the ice during an optional skate Thursday, and the Blue Jackets didn't practice Friday.

That's why the often combustible and bombastic yet strangely endearing and entertaining coach said it was a little awkward walking around the locker room one day after replacing Todd Richards and having no idea the names of his players and staff.

"I need to get one of those books where I can see the picture and the name and get it all straightened out," said Tortorella, who surely knows it's called a media guide.

The way the Blue Jackets are playing, it might be good for Columbus players if Tortorella doesn't know who is who.

The good thing for the Blue Jackets is Tortorella's going to walk into that dejected, out-of-sync locker room and hold players accountable. That will also be the very uncomfortable thing because Tortorella never minces words and, according to some of his former players, that can happen embarrassingly in front of teammates.

But maybe that's exactly what the Blue Jackets need after becoming the first team since the 1943-44 Rangers to start 0-8 thanks to Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Wild. Richards was considered a player's coach, so naturally the Blue Jackets went a complete 180 next by hiring an abrasive, flammable one once Richards flamed out.

As Twitter follower Richard McQueen perfectly tweeted (@r_mcqueen18): "This is like when parents threaten the worst possible thing and actually follow through. Shoulda cleaned your act up, #CBJ."

"You have to play hard, otherwise you're not going to play," said the Wild's Zach Parise, who has played for Tortorella in international events. "If you play the right way, he'll play you until you're blue in the face."

Tortorella will need better goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky. The 2013 Vezina Trophy winner entered Saturday's game at Colorado with an 0-6 record, 4.72 goals-against average and .840 save percentage.

Great goaltending makes a great coach. Awful goaltending makes an awful coach. Bobrovsky sealed Richards' fate with a shockingly terrible start and admitted "zero confidence" in himself.

The downfall began opening night when the Blue Jackets outplayed the Rangers, took a 2-1 lead with 3:50 to go on Brandon Saad's first goal with the Jackets and Bobrovsky promptly gave up three goals in 1 minute, 17 seconds to lose.

"I didn't play well for [Richards] this season. I feel responsibility," Bobrovsky said.

"This guy's a Vezina winner, he's a good goalie, it's going to come back to him," Tortorella said. "We just need to play better around him and hopefully he'll feel his way back into it."

Expectations were so ratcheted up this offseason, any slow start (and Richards' teams always get off to slow starts even dating to his two years with the Wild) was going to doom Richards.

Mike Yeo took over the Wild in 2011. Since, there have been 39 NHL coaching changes, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Blue Jackets, the Wild's 2000 expansion cousins, are the poster child for instability. They have had seven coaches to the Wild's three. They have reached the playoffs twice to the Wild's six. They have won two playoff games to the Wild's 22. They have won no playoff series to the Wild's four.

Will Tortorella bring that stability? His last stop — Vancouver — lasted one year.

"One of the biggest things starting off here: I need to have better listening skills because I just want to know what's going on here, and then act accordingly."

That may not be fun for the Blue Jackets.

NHL Short Takes

Carey Price, last year's Hart and Vezina Trophy winner, and the Montreal Canadiens are picking up right where they left off last season. The Habs may be the best team in the East because they have the best goalie in the NHL.

"This is the best team we've played against," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said after a recent loss. "This is the best checking team we've played against. This is a well-coached, disciplined, play-the-game-the-right-way team. They're going to be a bear all year for everybody."

Tampa Bay star defenseman Victor Hedman, despite being banged up on a hard Jamie Benn hit last week, said of the Dallas captain who sometimes plays on the border, "He's not a dirty player, he's a hardworking player, a physical player. I admire the way he plays."

NHL bad boy Raffi Torres, finally talking about his 41-game suspension for hitting Jakob Silfverberg in the head, said, "I'm disappointed in myself for kind of losing my head for a second there, and it cost me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it three times a day.

"I understand that the history didn't help, either. I feel like they had a job to do. I'll deal with it."

Former North Stars staffer, NHL GM and current TSN analyst Craig Button on Jaromir Jagr, still going strong at age 43 for the Panthers: "He's a freak, and I say that with the utmost respect, like Chris Chelios was, like Nick Lidstrom was when he was 42."

Sunday: at Winnipeg, 5 p.m. (FSN)

Friday: vs. Chicago, 7 p.m. (FSN)

Saturday: at St. Louis, 7 p.m. (FSN)

Player to watch: Connor McDavid

The No. 1 overall pick in June's draft is an absolute star in the making and is starting to find his groove for the Oilers.

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