COLUMBUS, OH – NOVEMBER 14: Head Coach John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets speaks to his players during a time out in the game against the Arizona Coyotes on November 14, 2015 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus defeated Arizona 5-2. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

Tortorella calls the Penguins whiners, but does he have a point?

John Tortorella had some choice words for the Pittsburgh Penguins after Brandon Dubinsky received additional discipline for a cross-check on Sidney Crosby.

No matter what you think of the suspension, I don’t think that there is anything better than Tortorella back in the league. Some Blue Jackets fans may cringe with him now involved with the organization but nonetheless he is here to stay. His comments last night are part of the reason why people around the league love having him back coaching a team. Below is the full video of the comments starting around 1:12.

Brandon Dubinsky was suspended for his cross check on Sidney Crosby, a dangerous play but something that happens in the league every night. Two such instances happened last night:

In these two instances the cross checks were received by Zach Parise and Carlo Colaiacovo and you will notice that their names are not Sidney Crosby. It will be highly unlikely that either player receives anything further from the safety department for either of these checks.

Back to Tortorella’s point, yes, this suspension probably happened due to the Penguins’ whining. The hit shouldn’t be acceptable by any means but it happens more than anyone will let you believe. If the hit happened to say Eric Fehr, you probably wouldn’t have heard a peep from the Penguins organization. There needs to be a protection of stars in the league but the line of where it starts and where it ends is blurry. Does Crosby falling to the ice mean more than say Zach Parise, who isn’t anywhere close to being as marketable of a star as Crosby? The answer is yes.

The funny part of it all is the fact that Tortorella is actually whining about the whining, you could refer to this as whineception and no one would bat an eye. Tortorella’s merits as a coach are questionable for many but his words shouldn’t be immediately dismissed. You can’t have it one way but then want it to be another, either call it equally or don’t call it at all. The league may have put themselves in a pickle by setting the standard on Dubinsky, the question is whether they will hold the rest of the league to the Crosby standard.

About Sam Blazer

Sam is a self proclaimed chess prodigy. He once placed seventh in the state of Ohio in Chess when he was in kindergarten. He will rarely if ever mention though that only eight people were entered in this tournament. Contact him at sblaze17@gmail.com

Quantcast