HFNHL Commish
Registered User
- Feb 28, 2002
- 1,355
- 8
At an afternoon presser at the Honda Center on Wednesday, Anaheim Ducks coach John Tortorella opened up a bit about his team's troubles through the season's quarter-mark.
"I've seen some improvement these past couple of games, particularly since Modano moved up to the top line. However, there's no denying we've been pretty hideous from the get-go in almost every facet of the game," Tortorella lamented.
"If it was just one thing, we'd address it and move forward. But it's becoming a bit systemic. I guess I should take some of the hit for that. Accountability should be the order of the day, frankly, and our players are professionals...they need to man up. Starting in net."
Arriving in time to stir the pot a bit further, cantankerous GM Matt Gledhill offered up his summary of the Ducks' play.
"We've sucked. All this BS about us being a good two-way team...if our PK was doing a halfway decent job and Peks (Rinne) wasn't a complete sieve, we'd be in okay shape. But those things haven't happened," Gledhill fumed.
"All you have to do is look at the numbers. We're scoring. We're outshooting teams. We're outhitting teams. If our goalie has a .920 save percentage like everyone else in the league, we'd be fine. But he doesn't, and we're not."
Clearly, not a day for calmer heads. Word on the street is that Tortorella's job was saved by the narrowest of margins, thanks to Vancouver's timely hiring of Peter Laviolette. While the Ducks' front office has yet to voice its complete and continued support of Tortorella, the GM's show of solidarity with his coach in criticizing the team is a sign that Torts can breathe easy for the time being.
"I've seen some improvement these past couple of games, particularly since Modano moved up to the top line. However, there's no denying we've been pretty hideous from the get-go in almost every facet of the game," Tortorella lamented.
"If it was just one thing, we'd address it and move forward. But it's becoming a bit systemic. I guess I should take some of the hit for that. Accountability should be the order of the day, frankly, and our players are professionals...they need to man up. Starting in net."
Arriving in time to stir the pot a bit further, cantankerous GM Matt Gledhill offered up his summary of the Ducks' play.
"We've sucked. All this BS about us being a good two-way team...if our PK was doing a halfway decent job and Peks (Rinne) wasn't a complete sieve, we'd be in okay shape. But those things haven't happened," Gledhill fumed.
"All you have to do is look at the numbers. We're scoring. We're outshooting teams. We're outhitting teams. If our goalie has a .920 save percentage like everyone else in the league, we'd be fine. But he doesn't, and we're not."
Clearly, not a day for calmer heads. Word on the street is that Tortorella's job was saved by the narrowest of margins, thanks to Vancouver's timely hiring of Peter Laviolette. While the Ducks' front office has yet to voice its complete and continued support of Tortorella, the GM's show of solidarity with his coach in criticizing the team is a sign that Torts can breathe easy for the time being.
