On this day 10 years ago, the Columbus Blue Jackets hired John Tortorella as their head coach.
Tortorella, at the time, was 57 years old and had a fairly decent run with the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Vancouver Canucks before joining the Blue Jackets.
His time with the Lightning saw him win a Stanley Cup in 2003-04, which would end up being the only one of his career.
When he joined the Blue Jackets, he coached the team for six years. In his first season, 2015-16, the club had a 34-33-8 record and finished eighth in the conference.
The next season, Columbus went 50-24-8, finished third, and made the playoffs. Tortorella was the coach of the club when they had the infamous sweep during the 2019 playoffs against the Lightning. Over his time with the Blue Jackets, he had a coaching record of 227-166-54 for 508 total points and a .568 points percentage in 447 games.
That stands as the second-highest win total of his career, behind his time with the Lightning (239). After his run with the Blue Jackets ended in 2020-21, he went on to coach the Philadelphia Flyers for three seasons before being relieved of his duties in 2024-25.
Now, he is a TV analyst with ESPN, the same role he held before taking the job with the Flyers.
He may not be the most well-liked coach, but he certainly found success in the NHL, amassing 770 wins, 648 losses, and 165 overtime losses in 1,620 games.
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