SAN JOSE – Ryan Warsofsky first started talking with John Tortorella toward the end of his time as the head coach of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves in 2022. But the first-year San Jose Sharks bench boss really got to know Tortorella a few weeks later at the NHL Draft in Montreal.
Warsofsky, then 34, had just finished winning a Calder Cup with the Wolves, and Tortorella had just been hired as the Philadelphia Flyers head coach.
The two met for about four hours, and while Tortorella spoke to Warsofsky about a job opening he had on his coaching staff, they talked more about life and family.
“That’s where I really got to know him a lot, and I think that’s when I realized how great of a person he is,” Warsofsky said of Tortorella. “Honestly, one of the highlights of my coaching career is being able to have that conversation with him.”
Tortorella was fired as the Flyers’ head coach on Thursday morning, just three weeks before the end of the regular season. Philadelphia (28-36-9) is in last place in the Metropolitan Division and its 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday marked its sixth straight defeat and Tortorella’s last behind the Flyers’ bench.
Tortorella said after the game that he was not “really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season, where we’re at right now. But I have to do a better job. So, this falls on me, getting the team prepared to play the proper way until we get to the end.”
The rebuilding Flyers had won just once in their last 12 games. General manager Daniel Briere named Brad Shaw as Tortorella’s replacement on an interim basis.
“I’ve said it a lot: It’s a great game and a (crappy) business, and we just saw the (crappy) part of the business come up,” Warsofsky said. “I think (Tortorella’s) an outstanding coach. He’s done so much for this sport.”
Tortorella, 66, has 770 wins in over 1,600 games in a 23-year career as an NHL head coach, highlighted by his Stanley Cup victory with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004. Publicly, throughout his career, Tortorella has been both thoughtful and earnest in some moments and blunt and brusque in others.
Warsofsky knows Tortorella has a reputation for being hot-tempered, but he also feels he knows the man away from the cameras and microphones, one who deeply cares about the individuals around him.
“He is the finest human being you’ll ever be around. There’s no question about it,” Warsofsky said. “What he’s meant for me, what he’s meant for the players that have played for him. Yeah, he’s hard, he’s demanding, but that’s how you have success in this league.”
Warsofsky would not say whether Tortorella offered him a position with the Flyers in 2022. Later that offseason, Warsofsky joined the Sharks as an assistant coach on David Quinn’s staff, then was promoted to head coach less than two months after Quinn was fired.
After winning the Calder Cup, Warsofsky said he had to make some decisions about his future, “and that’s when I really dove in with (Tortorella), and asked a lot — not just him, but other coaches around the league too — if it was just the right move for myself and whatnot. So, he was very supportive.”
The Sharks entered Thursday’s game against the Maple Leafs with an NHL-worst record of 19-42-9, but there is optimism about the team’s future with building blocks like rookie forwards Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith and goalie Yaroslav Askarov in place.
Warsofsky, tasked with setting the standard around the rebuilding Sharks, said he and Tortorella exchanged text messages at times this season.
“It’s a hard position to be in,” Warsofsky said when asked about Tortorella’s ‘not really interested’ quote. “We’re living it right now every day of going through some struggles, and it’s hard, it weighs on you as a human being, and I don’t think people understand that.
“You get in your car, you go home, it affects your life. Torts is a little bit of an older guy, and he’s been through a lot. I think sometimes after games, there’s a lot of emotion that comes with this sport, and yet we’re asked to talk 15 minutes after a tough loss. It’s difficult, and I feel for him, because he’s such a great man, and I think he’s an outstanding coach.”
In dealing with players, Warsofsky said Tortorella cares more about the person than anything.
“I thought our beliefs kind of aligned, so it was reassuring for me, in a sense,” Warsofsky said of Tortorella’s approach. “He’s extremely hard and demanding, and I think what gets lost is he wants what’s best for the player. And sometimes in this day and age, let’s be honest, it’s a sensitive world out there, and if you don’t have some thick skin, it’s going to be tough to get better as a hockey player, and I think that’s how we approach it.
“That’s how he’s always been. He never changed. This is who he was. A lot of respect for him.”
Warsofsky said he planned to reach out to Tortorella in the next day or two, “But I know he’s out hanging with his horses right now, I know that.”