December 28, 2011
The Hockey Maven: We three kings
Rangers, Isles, Devils bench bosses share little in common, except desire — and pressure — to win
by Stan Fischler/Columnist
A dragon, a giraffe and a lion have as much in common with each other as John Tortorella, Peter DeBoer and Jack Capuano.
The Metropolitan Area's three NHL coaches display remarkably differing characteristics, personalities and ways to just plain win hockey games.
DeBoer, who was given the thankless task of following the inimitable Jacques Lemaire behind the New Jersey Devils bench, is a certified lawyer. (And how many coaches do you know who are attorneys-at-large?)
The Rangers' very own Tortorella never played a single game in The Show, but he was a right wing of some note in such diverse places as Erie and Hampton Roads, with even a stint skating in Sweden.
Unlike the aforementioned duo, Capuano of the Islanders enjoyed big-league experience -- albeit brief -- with the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks, not to mention Springfield and Maine in the AHL.
On any given night, Tortorella suggests a dragon -- and not a reluctant one, either -- ready to breathe fire either on a recalcitrant referee, an out-of-position defenseman or a forward who suddenly developed amnesia about backchecking.
By contrast, the placid, imperturbable DeBoer reminds me of a justice of the Supreme Court as he studiously mulls his moves or consults with such colleagues as Larry Robinson, Adam Oates and Dave Barr behind the bench.
Topped with a leonine mane -- even after a haircut -- Capuano is a cross between the other two. He occasionally betrays Torts-like emotion, sometimes looks like The Thinking Man's Thinker and frequently enjoys a laugh.
If the three coaches share one common trait -- call it a goal if you will -- it is to win a Stanley Cup for their respective teams, but only one knows first-hand what it's like and that's Tortorella. The Boston-area native not only guided Tampa Bay to the club's first Stanley Cup championship, he also was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach.
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It was while toiling behind the Lightning bench -- starting in 2000-01 — that Torts’ effusive, demanding and intense personality became notorious around the NHL. But not until Tampa Bay became a playoff contender, starting in 2002-03, did his intimidating personality come to the fore -- as in ferocious.
Reporters who were only accustomed to being bossed around by their wives or editors -- but not hockey coaches -- were stunned to the core by Torts Laws, which, by the way, he strictly enforces.
One morning following a Lightning practice before a playoff game with the Devils, a number of visiting print newsmen and television types invaded the home club's dressing room to interview Torts’ troops. Suddenly, banshee-like screams were being directed by the Lightning trainer at the media who had inadvertently stepped on the club logo, which was spread over the clubhouse carpet.
"Torts does not want ANYONE to step on the logo," the trainer declared, minus revolutionary decorum, "and that means you guys, too!"
Not a few reporters muttered out loud that the coach was "nuts," but from that point on, every member of the media, to a man -- and woman -- avoided the logo as if it was a live minefield in No Man's Land.
And, by the way, Torts Law as it pertained to carpet logos became part of the New York hockey lore once Johnny T arrived in Rangerville and had a larger than life Blueshirts insignia placed on the clubhouse rug.
Apparently, the psychology -- if that term can be employed -- of rug-logo avoidance no longer is unique with Tortorella. To the dismay of dozens of media members, other clubs have adopted a similar policy and, surprisingly, reporters have adapted to the rule, silly as it may seem to some.
"It's all part of John's ‘tough-love’ policy," says one Tampa Bay sportscaster, who has known Tortorella since he arrived in Florida for the 2000-2001 season.
Some of his players -- Vinny Lecavalier, for one -- had a hard time adjusting to constant badgering from Torts, who offers a simple rationale for his behavior.
"I want to get the best out of my players," he explains, "and there's nothing complicated about that."
In Lecavalier's case, the reward was the 2005 Stanley Cup. Exhibit B would be Martin St. Louis, who was so mediocre with the Calgary Flames that he was released and signed by the Lightning the same year Torts took over behind the bench.
The little man from the University of Vermont has since won the following trophies: Art Ross, Lester Pearson, Hart and Lady Byng, thanks, in part, to Johnny T.
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Players who have skated for DeBoer also wax ecstatic about how he jump-starter their careers, especially those who played for the Kitchener Rangers when that Ontario Hockey League club won the Memorial Cup, emblematic of Canada's junior championship.
"Peter did wonders for me in juniors," said David Clarkson, New Jersey's robust forward. "I wasn't exactly a Wayne Gretzky when I came to Kitchener but Peter got the best out of me. Granted, I went undrafted, but when the Devils signed me as a free agent, all the skills I was taught by Peter paid off for me in the end."
Now that DeBoer is coaching Clarkson once more, the player is enjoying what looms as his most productive year in the bigs.
Meanwhile, Capuano is a different breed of coaching bird, especially since the Islanders represent the first major league team that he's handled.
Working the Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ bench in the autumn of 2010, Capuano got the call from Isles general manager Garth Snow on Nov. 15 to hurry-up and head for Uniondale, N.Y. Scott Gordon had been fired and the Nassaumen needed a new mentor.
Those who had known ‘Cappy’ in the minors describe him as a "players coach," which is another way of saying that he was less stern, more amiable and more gregarious than Gordon.
All of the above was true, but under the coach's mountain of hair stands a no-nonsense guy with the street smarts of a Brooklyn punchball player and the erudition of one who owns a degree from the University of Maine, where he just happened to have been a first-team All-American.
After diagnosing a disorganized team -- which the Isles were at the time – Capuano led them to a 25-21-8 record in their last 54 games of the season, converting them into one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference after Dec. 15. Following the All-Star break, he lifted the Isles above the .500 mark with a 15-12-6 record.
Of the trio, Tortorella faces the most intense media scrutiny simply because he operates out of the world's media capital, although his encounters with reporters were not without incident in Florida, either. During his postgame press conferences, Torts will not address questions that he believes -- for whatever reason -- should not be answered and will not be conned into replying to them, dismissing those queries out of hand.
By contrast, DeBoer will remain at the podium as long as there are questions and will smile even in tense situations.
Nor will he dodge hardballs. When asked to explain how come he failed to make the playoffs during his three-year tenure running the Florida Panthers, DeBoer allowed that he might have been a bit too gung-ho in his rookie year (2008-09) in terms of believing that he could turn a chronic non-playoff team into a contender overnight.
"In the end," DeBoer explained, "I learned that in this league you have to have the horses if you expect to win."
He didn't have the horses in Sunrise, Fla., nor did he have the GM who had hired him in the first place. Dale Tallon had moved down from Chicago and wanted his own man. DeBoer got the hook in Sunrise and knew the reason why -- he wasn't Tallon' s man.
But he was the man for Devils boss Lou Lamoriello and, furthermore, he knows what's expected of him in Newark. Despite missing the playoffs last season, the New Jersey culture demands much because Lou's bar is high and three Stanley Cup championships serve as the reason why.
Because of his explosiveness, Tortorella has been the focal point of -- shall we say -- incidents. After replacing Tom Renney in the homestretch of 2008-09, Torts pushed his Blueshirts into the playoffs but was suspended for a game after engaging a Washington Capitals fan at Verizon Center after an unexpected waterfall of beer cascaded over his head.
Equally compelling has been the on-again, off-again, on-again player-coach relationship between Sean Avery and Tortorella (see Page XX for more on Avery). The most recent episode became a story after the coach declared after training camp that The Great Gabbo simply wasn't good enough to make his team. Avery was detoured to Connecticut, only to be almost immediately granted amnesty when injuries to Michael Rupp and Wojtek Wolski forced empty roster spots to be filled.
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With less fuss and fanfare, DeBoer has played musical benchings with the likes of Mattias Tedenby, while Capuano unabashedly scratched his alternate captain – and well-touted forward -- Kyle Okposo for three straight games in mid-November, despite the fact that the Islanders were facing the Rangers, Canadiens and Bruins in succession.
"We have to win hockey games," was Cappy's terse explanation, although there seemed to be a sub-plot that he would not reveal. Call it coach psychology.
And, speaking of coach-as-shrink, Torts is a master psychologist. What he did with Avery was provide motivation by deprivation. Whatever happens for the rest of the season, his exile to Hartford once and for all demonstrated to the player how fortunate he was to be in the NHL -- and in Manhattan. The lesson was learned and, when he finally did return to The Garden, Avery was more penitent and more motivated than ever before. What's more, his performances underlined the point.
Although Capuano is relatively new to the Met Area media frenzy, his background -- as collegian, player and minor league coach -- has primed him to orchestrate a press conference with the best. Rarely will he be duped by an angle-seeking newsperson. His answers are direct, succinct and without any unnecessary garlands.
When Capuano became Islanders coach, he inherited Rob Schremp (Fulton, N.Y.), who had been a whiz-kid in junior hockey and became the 25th overall pick -- by Edmonton -- in the 2004 Entry Draft. A disappointment with the Oilers, Schremp got a second chance on the Island and captivated fans with his shootout prowess and lyrical skating.
However, the coaching staff was unhappy with his defensive game, as well as his disinclination to play physical hockey anywhere on the pond.
On this particular night, Schremp scored and the Isles won. The Maven figured it would be a good time to ask Cappy a question that would elicit kudos for Schremp.
The coach's answer was positive -- to a point.
"But," he added, "I'd like to see more to Robbie's game."
That more turned out to be less and Schremp eventually was put on waivers, claimed by Atlanta (now Winnipeg), and he has since exited the NHL for Sweden.
Bottom line: Capuano would not be suckered into giving a super-positive answer when one was not deserved.
