Gone in 25 minutes, 59 seconds: GM Jay Feaster announces the severing of ties with coach John Tortorella

Seven years as head coach came to an end in an auxiliary press room at the Forum this afternoon.

Listen to the press conference here .

Comments

[bob]

Bet most of these bloggers that say they will give up the seats have never been to a live game and the closest they have come is there 13" black and white tv in their mobile home. with tortorella gone and hopefully feaster they will be better with whoever comes in and coaches.

[Blindside Czech]

An aside to Olin: What the heck are you talking about? The Lightning have no knowledgeable fans. Never have. Never will. They're just a bunch of wannabes.

They may think they're knowledgeable, but they're not. They're far from it. That sandspur in my backyard has forgotten more about hockey than any of them, even the transplants from up north, will ever know.

Sorry, folks, but having your team win a Stanley Cup does not make you a genius.

[Blindside Czech]

Really, all it should have taken was 59 seconds to tell the few remaining Bolts butt-kissers that their SuperCoach and, apparently, God's gift to hockey, John Tortorella was gone.

Why? It's simple:

~ He lost the team last season, though no player on the roster will be man enough to say it.
~ For all of the players that Torts threw under the bus, it was high time that he found out that payback, baby, is a you-know-what.
~ He's a one-dimensional coach -- play your stars until they're panting like dogs and them rip 'em when they blow a 2-goal lead in the third.

Sure, Torts led the Bolts to a Stanley Cup. Woo-hoo!!! That was four years ago. This season, they finished last (as in 30 out of 30) in the NHL. Even the L.A. Kings finished higher.

Now, I'll leave you all with one question:

Will attendance at pro wrasslin' increase now that the Lightning "faithful" are promising to stay away should the team hire Barry Melrose.

Betcha they don't know it's fake. Wrasslin' that is, not Melrose's mullet.

[Mike]

Melrose? A good coach? Who is he being compared to?

And could the the final score of the Lightning final game of the last season please be removed from the Lightning page? PLEASE?

[Claire]

Melrose is a good coach, he has been out of the game for quite some time, he just hasn't been given a good opportunity since LA. Ask any of the guys who played under him for his UHL club when he stepped in there on an emergency basis recently, he can still coach. Obviously that is an entirely different level but I wouldn't completely underestimate his coaching mind. I think it would completely depend on who he is allowed to surround himself with. Sullivan is a good assistant but I think he should be allowed to bring in his own people as well. Perhaps he should be allowed to tap some underutilized talent like Steffon Walby in the Bolts system, that's a rising coaching star there, and someone who can recognize talent. They are going to have to find someone to work with those young defensemen and I worry that Melrose can do that after so many years out. But if he can get the right staff maybe he can. The one thing that will be disappointing is that ESPN and the US audience will be screwed because they won't find anyone more entertaining to bounce with Buccigross. Remember, the only level Melrose coached at that he didn't win a championship, and he lost in the final to Montreal, is the NHL level.

[Nate Dogg]

Well said, Olin...here here!

[Bear]

Right on the pulse as always Casper.

I've been widely panned for suggesting the Bolts are in financial trouble despite their abilty to give away cheap tickets.

Article in National Post today names Bolts as one of the 8 US teams to consult Jim Ballsillie about buying/ moving them.

I have believed all along this was PSE option # 1 and have had some spirited discussions with Boltflasher about market viability.

The Koules thing is a stop gap rental arrangement at best.

Worth a read for the "realists"
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=561224

[olin]

....C'mon OK HOCKEY...can't you read and see 98% of these regular Tampa Bay Lightning bloger's (a good representitive sampling of the more knowledgable fan's) DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT care to have Barry Melrose as coach of this team. Hopefully this is some sort of distraction fabricated by you....If you do hire him and he is behind the bench, I believe you will have the choice of about any seat in the place you care to watch from.

[Casper]

Ted wins! Adore the new mantra too!
(Great comparison of Torts to Lindy Ruff, there Ajax)

Best of luck Coach, I know we'll be in deep kimchee when the Bolts play your team, and the community that inherits you and the Missus will be infinitely richer.
Thanks for all you've done here; I know we lack the history of making Class Act parting gestures but please know you are appreciated.

Melrose......it is very doubtful I will spend a single coin on that end of town. No Forum for me, not until The Lightning return from La-La Land.

I'm starting to hear distant tribal drums coming from the general direction of Winnipeg.

Gawd, I detest the Panthers! I could enjoy hearing the wisdom of Denis Potvin more often though (Just not HERE, from behind the Bolts' bench, unfortunately).

Please, someone explain how, precisely, Feaster keeps his job? Sullivan?? REESE?????? Mushroom cloud, scorched earth, bulldozer, seeds of sanity and integrity. Right now, we still have way too much fertilizer, & with dipstick mulletboy on the way!

Great time to be abroad and watch the Lightning implode with Melrose, the rest of the country with Obama. Painful to love both the Bolts and USA and stand by, watching both burn to the ground.

[Tackleberry]

Does anyone know what Jay "Jabba the Hut" Feaster's salarie is? I know he's got 3 more year left.

If he is only getting paid $300k per year, lets take up a collection to get rid of him.

I hope that Detroit wins tonight. I leave for Beirut on Fri. I will also miss the NHL draft. I am guessing that the Lebanese are not big hockey fans.

Come on OREN, dont hire MELROSE!

[Mike]

What is it with the firing of coaches in Tampa? Is it something in the air? Maybe it's the weather affecting the snowbird owners. First Tony Dungy gets sliced from the Bucs replaced by an idiot. Now Tortorella gets the ax likely to be replaced by (oh nooooo!) melrose. Two excellent coaches replaced by ignorant management or ownership seemingly without regard to the tumultuous effects to the team as a whole. melrose has shown nothing but distain and disrespect for the Lightning and, although I don't go to games to watch the coach, I will never go to a Lightning game (coached by melrose) as their fan and hope all the Lightning players ends up in North Carolina with Torts.

[pd]

GP, Koules may well keep him as a puppet contract administrator rather than buy him out as well.

Could Feaster have looked any lamer at the presser when asked about Melrose? Said he was like everyone else, just hearing rumours.

Have the Bolts interviewed or asked permission to speak with even one available coach??..apparently not.Feaster said he suggested a few names to them.

We get a Steinbrenner owner without any money. Here comes the Stamkos/MELROSE hype.

This Buds for you Don

[David]

WE WILL MISS YOU TORTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks for everything you have done for this organization, especially our amazing ride to our first ever Stanley Cup! You are the best American-born coach in the history of the game, and you will continue to thrive. We will miss you dearly. Good luck in the future! TORTS IS THE BEST!!!!!!!

[shut up j. johnson]

John Johnson is a mediocre JV hockey player at best.

[Steve]

Smart move, Torts was a really good coach, but the team doesn't seem to respond to him any longer, and he never really made the adjustments needed to keep our pathetic defense from having to play a style they clearly weren't ready to. All NHL coaches have a shelf life, and his expired here, and I agree that he will be a really good hire elsewhere, likely Ottawa. I am certainly willing to give the new coach, whoever it is a chance, I don't recall everyone here jumping up and down when Torts was hired either.

[GP]

I just listened to the Dan Sileo show which Jay Feaster was on for "Bolt Action." Much to my dismay, according to Feaster, OK has assured him he wants him as the GM. Not reassuring.

[Ted]

Fire GM

[The Voice of the Turtle]

I shall not be the first person to reference an earlier comment by Feaster indicating that Tortorella would be coach as long as he held his post. That turned out to be just another stream of blither pouring from the prevaricating cake hole located just above Counselor Jay's rotund chins. In his radio interview, when Steve "The Big Dog" Duemig asked him about that comment, with seemingly practiced lugubriousness, the GM gave an answer that blithely finessed the pointed question.

That Jay Feaster is still in his cabin after his litany of failures is mind boggling. The ship is burning and the first mate has been cast into the briny by Captain Jay who struggles not to go down with the vessel but will soon walk the plank. He will then to be commended to the deep.

[seattleboltsfan]

We all know that coaches in the NHL get fired all the time, but it has been ages since I have seen an ownership handle this situation with such a lack of class. All these rumors were floating all over the radio, tv and printed press long before they pulled the trigger today. These issues should have been handled in a closed-door setting, to give a great coach like John Tortorella the respect he is most deserving of. I hope he goes to San Jose, wins a Cup, and then shows his Fonzie-esque face on TV hoisting Lord Stanley once again. Thank you Coach Torts for your time in Tampa! I wish only the best for you and your family.

[J. Johnson]

Long live John Tortorella. He is a Lightning coaching (and USA Hockey coaching) legend. He will be greatly missed. The fact that the Lightning might have dumped him to bring in Barry Melrose is ludicrous at best. The guy coached 3 years and hasn't been in the league for nearly 15 years. He is a wanna-be Don Cherry, and while some of his commentary is interesting, he does not deserve to be the new coach of the Lightning. Tortorella...I (we) love you.

[JS]

The Lightning had a lot of ailments last year, and Torts wasn't anywhere near the top of that list. The team may improve a bit just from a new voice, but that's just window dressing to the underlying problems. I'm sorry to see him go all the same...and there is no way he should be going out the door ahead of Feaster. I imagine that he is going to a much better situation regardless.

[nick]

If we had to get a hockey analyst with prior experience, why not mike milbury? Sure his record is worse than Melrose's but his hair is much easier on the eyes

[JoeG]

Yippy!Now get rid of Feaster,sign #91 and I can sleep better.

[boltflasher]

C'mon guys, its still the Lightning even if its a mullet...and they will have some exciting players in Stamkos, Vinny and Marty if nothing else...Did you really go the games to watch Torts coach??

[Jamie]

Feaster...is an idiot! Miss you already John.

[Robert]

I echo Mike's post that I will not renew my season tickets if Melrose is coach --- Torts deserved better support from Feaster and better goaltending...... Good luck Torts!(hope you land a job in the western conference)....

[ted]

hire a coach

[mike]

I know that hockey coaches very rarely retire from a team, they usually are fired. I don't think that the time was right, nor did he deserve it based on the horrific decisions Feaster has made the past few years and in particular the goaltending decisions. You cannot go anywhere in the playoffs(if you are lucky enough to make them)without a premier goalie.
That being said, if it is time for Torts to move on, Barry Melrose is not the answer. If they hire Melrose, I will not renew my tickets. I will be a fan, watch all the games on TV. Better watch out, Vinny may want to move to Canada. Best of luck Torts, you will not be a coach without a team for very long.