Torts playoff line management just brings into focus, how a player like William Karlsson can leave this organization, and go to Vegas, and become an elite goal scorer, 1st line center. Torts doesnt coach to particular players strengths . He demands that players fit his system, and will coach them to change their game to play his system. And that is why I think hes a terrible coach for the jackets. Karlsson was buried in a checking role, lucky to get 12 minutes a night. He had to not play to his strengths, but played the role Torts wanted for him , in limited minutes. He didnt become ultra skilled the moment he left this organization. People try to dismiss his production this season, try to dismiss his shooting percentage, etc. But he is a highly skilled hockey player that is good in the faceoff dot, is a very fast skater, and has the ability to flat out snipe the puck. Keep in mind, this is a position that we were very shallow at. Really makes me wonder what they look for in practice. Now, lets look at Bjorkstrand. he's one of the league leaders in points per minutes played, when Torts came out with his famous, he needs to check to play, Bs. Bjork plummeted the rest of the season, and was a shell of himself.
Milano... he was the goal scoring leader for this team early in the season, and couldn't even stick here. He gets nicked up, goes back to Cleveland, was productive, they bring him back up, and he ends up with 14 goals in 55 games. This is with 11/12 minutes per night.
We get to the playoffs, Wennberg gets hurt the first game, and Torts totally goes away from rolling 4 lines , essentially sticks with 3 lines, and skates his forwards into the ground. Keep in mind that 88% of teams that start a series up 2-0 , go on to win. Yet we have people in here saying this thread is ridiculous. Personally, Im tired of mediocrity , or trust the process. A good coach , coaches his players to their strengths. Torts tries to change all players into what he wants as a hockey player, and is massively holding back their potential.