On second thought, Barrie fires back at Torts

Lightning owner Len Barrie could not let pass comments made by John Tortortella during a radio interview in Ottawa. The former coach, fired after last season's last-place finish, said he had "zero respect" for Barrie and fellow owner Oren Koules, and called them "a couple of cowboys."

Said Barrie late Friday night: "What were there, nine openings for coaches? That's why he's working for TV. I'll be sure I wear my cowboy hat for the first game."

Comments

[jay]

it was time for Tort's to go,im glad we have some new blood.

[shane]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh DIS!

[DP]

Gotta say that this is a dead-on zinger from a "cowboy" who happens to have been a real NHL hockey player (unlike Coach Tortorella who struggled in the Eastern Hockey League).

[Tim]

The one thing you can never take away from Torts is the 2004 season .. It's not a case where he inherited a good team and won a championship ( IE: Gruden)
He turned a losing team into Stanley Cup Champs.. and I will forever be greatful .. I was sitting in sec. 308 when the scoreboard went 00.00 game 7 and we won the "Cup" .. The most exciting sports moment in my life .. including the Bucs Super Bowl win ... Good luck , John ..

[Mike13]

Burn!

[frank]

Coach Tortorella still firing from the hip and Mr.Barrie had a great remark. I for one like the new owners and think we are in for a good team and solid ownership.I feel secure knowing our GM is sharp.

[Will]

I am liking these new owners, more and more every day. Tort's was so over-rated. Great snap, Mr.Barrie.

[chris]

Maybe they should have cowboy hat giveaway on opening night.
Much as we love JT, he will always be the coach of our first cup team, but that was then & this is now. Was hoping he would get one of the head coach jobs but seems like he is another role player that needs the right role to fill, should come along but for now he can, in effect, take Barry's place for awhile.
Time for all to move on.

[Thunderbug]

Can't wait to see "Torts" on t.v.! He was coach here for years and refused to be interviewed before/after/during games. At least we'll get to see what he looks like and what he looks like when he's not ranting in a newspaper quote.

[Kid]

I can wait, guys that leave need to leave with some class, and Torts needs to follow his own advice he gave Eric Perrin, 'don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out.' He needs to place a call to Brad Richards and have Richy give him some lessons on character. Torts heads the ever growing list of guys that need to fade away into the sunset and find a new hobby. Look up Steve Spurrier and find a golf course somewhere where both of you can talk of the glory days gone by, go for it Torts.

[Art Williams]

Tough words from a c-owner who needed to take a loan from the old ownership to purchase this hockey.

[Patrick]

Can't say I am too impressed in a Barrie v Tortorella comparison. At least Torts was interviewed and considered for the position by three teams and was hired as an analyst for what others thought of his knowledge and ability. All Barrie did was buy an NHL team and then buy a roster. He attempted to take the high road and cracked the very next day. You think he has a bit of an ego?

[melany mendoza]

I belive Torts was a great coach, but at the same time it was time for someone else to coach the lightning, and the whole disrespecting thing is funny but retarded

[léo]

Excellent comment, Patrick.
He DID crack the very next day.
That's funny!
P.

[Twinebulge]

Torts has our undying respect and admiration for a job extremely well done, against all odds and all predictions, culminating in the ultimate imaginable success four years ago, the Stanley Cup. No one and nothing can ever take that away.

That said, he had to know when he shot off his mouth (yet again) that some straight talk might come back his way. Fair's fair. Lots of folks have noticed a big problem here: Hey..., if Torts is supposed to be such a great coach (and I've been a supporter), then why did every single one of those eight or nine GMs with an opening refuse to hire him, only three even interviewing? That's a big problem, and John needs to realize HE is the one with the problem, not Barrie. Torts left himself vulnerable by lashing out verbally on his way to his little desk at TSN, and he got in return less than he should have even expected. Oh, that, and $1.3 million of the cowboys' gold to NOT coach this team again. Criminy, coach, doesn't that TELL you something?

Bunch of whiners here and there whined that OK could never come up with the cash and financing to purchase the team, and if they did they'd have no money for good players and no wisdom to pick them. They've rammed it deep up the critics' noses, and yet still the whiners whine out of their asses. Barrie, to his credit, definitely did take the high road compared to Torts here, hands down. Torts went first with the name-calling, and heavy accusations of lying; Barrie joked that he'll wear a cowboy hat to the rink. It's only a joke, he'd never cover up that frosty 'do.

Torts is a big boy, he can take straight talk as well as dish it out. He'll get a coaching job this season someplace, and I pity the poor underachieving slobs that find out they're next up

[ajax]

What Barrie said was the sad truth. Job openings everywhere and not one really ever considered. This says it all, no way any one can interpret otherwise. I would of rather Barrie said nothing. It doesn't take a genius to know that Torts should of left it alone (for the sake of his future in the NHL) but he never has been to tolerable. If anyone read the blog by the Turtle, I ditto those exact thoughts. Very self absorbed man. (and they usually never ever come to terms with it)

[Jamie]

Owned!

[Craig K]

Overrated, are you serious Will? He's WON a championship at every level he's ever coached at. EVERY Level!!!! The longest it took him was here, in the NHL (3 years). AHL, one year. The old ACHL, 2 years. Yup sounds like an overrated coach to me!

And DP as for your brilliant comments:
By your standards Wayne Gretzky should be the greatest coach ever. So I ask you, What have those Coyotes done for you lately? I'll tell: they continue to flounder at the bottom of the Pacific Division each and every year and my bet is they do it again this year.

Gentlemen lets call a spade a spade, Torts like everybody certainly has his flaws, but coaching and playing in the minors can't be held as them!

Has anyone seen Will's baseball?

[Natty]

Um.. they made it sound like being on TV is a bad thing. Where did you get our current coach from?!?!

[matt]

How does Torts like his own medicine? I lost any tiny bit of respect I had for him when he went and had Duemig cry and whine for him after the season. The 1st game he does here in Tampa for TSN all the players should come out in pre-game warm-up with cowboy hats on and the local media should make a big deal of it so TSN has to explain it. That would make for some lively chatter.....

[Nan]

Len just couldn't leave that alone could he? Len seems to be the more vocal of the two owners at any rate. I would like to see some more class by both Torts and Barrie.

The TV job will be great for Torts and provide a break for him from the rigors of coaching. From his desk, he will be watching a lot of games and a lot of coaching by others and hopefully gain something by it. He will go back to coaching somewhere later on.

[billyd]

Natty, nice point. It seems noone else noticed reality. Torts was a bada$$ coach and he turned chicken s#it into chicken salad. I hope the new group wins and improves upon last year but they are still scumbags...that is not up for debate if you are paying attention. I would still take Tort's fire and brimstone speech any day over a knife in the back. Remember what John did for our team and do not forget that.

[Jim]

'The one thing you can never take away from Torts is the 2004 season .. It's not a case where he inherited a good team and won a championship ( IE: Gruden)'
what a complete tool,.

[Hardhat0038]

The truth is, when you buy a team, and you own it, you can do what you want. It's obvious Torts wasn't getting it done anymore.

[Slapnuts]

And let the pissing contest begin!

[Pierre]

If you think about Hardhat0038, Len and Oren only own this team because they borrowed over half of it from Davidson and other financial resources. What happens when we start losing because we have no defense. Owning a team wont be fun and games then.

[niklasD]

If you think about it Pierre, quite a few owners borrow money from lenders to buy these teams, bad luck for OK/Barrie that their lender stopped giving out loans for sports teams. There aren't a whole lot of multi-billionaires that just lay out the money for hockey teams. I'd rather have our "cowboys" who at least seem to care rather than Dollar Bill Davidson, who IMHO lost any interest in the team once he could cross winning a Stanley Cup off his list. As far as Torts, it's interesting to hear him talk about class, respect & team defense. I wasn't aware he knew what any of those three things were.

[bingo]

Leo - Please tell the class about the purchase of the Montreal Canadians. Where the new owners financing was funded by the Previous owner. It is unreal that the jerks on this blog don't understand basic 101 economics. It is probably why they vote republican and think it's great we have a 10 trillion dollar debt on the books and added another 5 tril this weekend. Our grandchildren will pay these debts. For sport's teams it is what all teams do they put up 50% and borrow 50%. BTW: did you buy your 300k house for cash and then purchase all your furniture with left over green stamps.
Enough of the ignorance PLEAS

[Patrick]

lol at Torts sniping about the Defense problems in TB.

[coach bill]

Right on Ajax- a very self absorbed man. Torts did not have the respect of his players.He chose the press to diss his players. What's up with that?
Let's move on folks! I can't wait for this year to start. Let Torts alone ( he can lay by the wayside). WE are the team,folks. It's OUR show! Can't wait for it to start.
Attn. all bloggers! Who's in for a Blogger's Happy Hour?
How about Sat,Oct 25th (San Jose) in the club behind 201,from 6-7? I'd like a head count so I can get us a table or two. I'm at bbcorr711@aol.com
Maybe Danny boy will buy us a round. Then he might be "respected" as he felt he wasn't.

[Gary]

Didn't Barrie also take a dig at himself? He hired Melrose, who couldn't get a coaching job and was working on tv.

[PD]

bang on gary

[slapshot]

doesn't this sound familiar?

Coach wins Stanley Cup, gets fired , then gets hired to work for a NHL tv station.

Hint: Barry Melrose

Maybe we will see Torts coaching for a team in like 15 years.

[Hull]

I say we all wear cowboys hats to the season opener.

Torts won't last more than a season on TSN. The Canadian media already has Don Cherry spitting venom, and he has a personality. Torts "schtick" will get old...just like it did here in Tampa.

[bryan]

Your last cup will get pretty old in Tampa too.

[Boltflasher]

Speaking of cowboys, what ever happened to Bill "Cowboy" Flett?

[Don in St. Pete]

My, What a sprited blog you hold about the dearly departed Tort's. While there are many good points offered from both perspective, I'm going to lay out a time line here, and prove that most of the hard work done was in fact by the reviled Feaster. Our roster was made up mostly of free agents and players acquired in trade, not by homegrown talent.

Fedotenko ( aquired from Philly )
Lecavalier
St. Louis ( free agent )
Modin ( aquired from Toronto )
Richards
Stillman ( Free agent )
Dingman ( Free agent )
Taylor ( Free agent )
Andreychuck ( free agent )
Roy ( aquired From ottawa )
Afenesenkov
Perrin ( free agent )
Clymer
Cibak
Kubina
Sydor ( aquired from Dallas )
Pratt ( free agent )
Sarich ( aquired from Buffalo )
Lukowich ( aquired from Dallas )
Boyle (aquired from Florida )
Cullimore ( free agent )
Grahame ( aquired From Boston )
Khabibulin ( aquired from Phoenix )

Most of the players had been on the 03 team which lost to the cRAPs, with the exception of Sydor. Tort's molded the team together and got Vinny to play D and against the Flyers and Flames to play physically. V4 and MSL could have just as easily been the Conn Smythe winner as Brad. MSL had 2 overtime game winning goals, and V4's physical play against Keith Primeau was the primary reason we won that series. This was a team of great skaters, with a few exceptions, but skaters were required to play Tort's system. When the skater went away, Tort's insisted on deploying the same system, even though he no longer had the personnel to implement it.

[PD]

100% agree with you Don.
Blue moon I guess.

Flasher I think Cowboy Flett unfortunately left us early.

[Herb]

Don nice points but Sydor came from Columbus and not Dallas.

[Steve R]

Don, interesting info. Similar percentage of players on this years team home grown as on your list?

[tooch]

Most of you people who send in comments to this site are hacks and jerkoffs who know little to nothing about hockey, and are just wanna be's and never wills. get real, torts was right about everything he said, these guys [new owners] are fools. If you cant see impending doom coming down the pike, your blind, and know nothing about hockey, I an a Lightning fan, and season ticket holder, but if your blind to whats going on here, then you also probably voted for G.W.Bush in the last two elections

[Bryan]

Right as you are tooch, this place is very much controlled by Koules hacks and shills.

[keith]

Aah but we all had the knowledge, vision and hockey know-how of tooch. Please allow me to kiss the ring so that I may acquire some of your clearly superior hockey acumen.
Or maybe, more appropriately if you dont like the blog....dont read it, furthermore dont contribute to it, or perhaps loosen up the sphincter and realize the blog is......for entertainment use only.
Lighten up fella. October is not too far away.

Yes, Tooch, we will all die one day, you included, but what does hockey have to do with our impending doom?...and no, I can't stand G.W.

[Twinebulge]

"It is unreal that the jerks on this blog don't understand basic 101 economics. It is probably why they vote republican..."

"Most of you people who send in comments to this site are hacks and jerkoffs..."

"Right as you are tooch, this place is very much controlled by Koules hacks and shills."

Like we need this grade-school garbage? When did this area become taken over by this idiotic, juvenile personal attacks and name-calling? Grow a clue folks - point a finger, three are pointing back at you, take it somewhere else like the poisonous, rancorous Sun Sports board (or any of the others, for that matter)

Jeez, you'd never know we were 2 weeks and 2 days from puck drop around here

Paix

[tooch]

Keith, I got something for you to kiss, but its not a ring.

[léo]

Don't know nothin' about economics, Bingo. Lisa was the one who educated me on the Gillet/Molson deal. I have no idea. I am a complete novice when it comes to stuff like that, only fair to say so.
But i am supremely well versed in the art of hockey and I garantee y'all that if i had been around for this Tooky character?
I would broken him in half and sent him to Australia, with his other "hockey afficionados". Over THERE apparently, they know hockey.
Mr.Law. Mr.Only I Know. Mr.Acumen.
And then he runs away... Oh, THAT'S hockey.
I see.
Gee, TEACH us Mr.Goofball. Give us more of your INSIGHTS.
Feh, go back to Sydney, Tooky.
Carry on, folks.
P.

[keith]

Bravo Leo!
......pucker up Tooch....here it comes.
Your posts are more comedically entertaining than the republican convention.So you see, as a non W voter, your'e wrong again!! LOL!
Only two weeks and two days.
I love this stuff!!!!!!

[Not the Marlboro Man]

Rebuilding is always such a nasty process. Tortarella opens his mouth way too often. I too will wear a cowboy hat to the games.

The reason this team will succeed now is that we have someone who is not affraid to pull the trigger on personnel and actually knows hockey and not just contract law, pretending to know hockey like Jay Feaster did. I agreed with getting rid of Feaster, Richards, Boyle and Tortarella. It was all of their times to go. Now its time for the rebuilding process. Mistakes will be made, but at least they haven't turned to insanity and apathy yet like they did under the old ownership. Lots of people are looking for this team to fail. I think they will be sadly mistaken because this is an in work project and they aren't even close to being to complete yet.

I see 4 or 5 more trades down the pike and the trade deadline being really crazy this season.

[Saint Bobby Bowden]

Hey Kid,

Nice wisecrack re Torts hooking up with that rascal Spurrier and talking about glory days. Question for you, Kid: if it's 11:15 in Tallahassee, what time is it in Gainesville? 45 to 12! Whoops. I'm so senile I forgot we lost that dad gum game! But lay off Torts: it ain't like she shot the President. And by the way, can you give my players some help with my OPEN BOOK ON LINE Music History class?

[Kevin Fawcett]

So...how many coaching jobs came and went in the 13 years since YOUR new head coach got hired?? And until you have your name engraved on the Stanley Cup..."shut your yap!"

[niklasD]

Point is Keith, this is not the first coaching job Melrose has been offered in 13 years, it's just the first one he's taken. As far as Torts is concerned, just because he made a funny, pithy comment one time and one time only, doesn't mean he shouldn't keep the mouth shut the rest of the time. At least until he can manage to finish a complete sentence that doesn't include an F bomb.

[Michael Pedone]

Barrie should shut his mouth. Torts was a primary reason for us having a championship team. It may have been time for Torts to go, but as an owner, you need to take the high road...at least Torts has a Cup ring on his finger.

[rick]

Thank God Barrie doesn't own my favorite team. In two years, you Lightning fans are going to be sick and tired, and embarrassed, to have these clowns running the show. They are way undercapitalized, and will be forced to raise your tickets price way, way upwards to pay off their debt. If they don't win, and those more expensive tickets aren't bought....well, see you in bankruptcy court. You guys went from an old gentleman, to a couple of nouveau riche wannabes who just bought a brand new toy.

[Don in St. Pete]

Rick, So you'd have preferred it if the Bolts had remained in Davidson's hand's and continued to be the laughingstock of all of the hockey world with our signings of AHL players and our inability to draft and NHL prospect? It would be better to continue finishing 30th in the league and that's going to keep the fans interested? I guess you'd better go back to rooting for the Bucs.

[rick]

Mark my words, Don. Guys like Barrie and Koules don't ever last long, with personalities like theirs. Guys who can't afford to buy teams, and over-borrow to do it, always wind up in financial trouble. I predict it will take less than a full season for the bloom to be off of these guys' rose.

You think the Lightning were the laughingstock of the league before? Just wait...you haven't seen anything yet.

[Not the Marlboro Man]

Rick, Rick, Rick,

What is your favorite team anyway? Something oe someone will have to prove the Lightning to be a laughing stock...not like some who haven't ever won a stanley Cup! Just because you say they will be one doesn't make it so. So tuck your tail between yor legs and go back to Gooberville and bloat with the rest of the goobers because you honestly don't know what your talking about!

[ajax]

The Bolts might of been last for one year but I seriously do not think they are the laughing stock of the NHL. I think the whole league sees a pretty darn good franchise, located in the deep south, and out drawing many northern "hockey" cities. In the last 3 years the Bolts have been 8-3-2 in attendance. Toronto was 5-4-6, Ottawa 3-5-5. Yes, our darling laughing stocks, in 2 out of the last 3 years, drew more fans to a home game than Toronto or Ottawa. I would say that is a loyal legion of hockey fans. Of course none of us southern boys know as much hockey as our fellow Shabs and Leafs but hey, we are new at this. Har Har!! Do you know that the Laughers outdrew NYR, SJ, Buffalo and Dallas every year since we won the cup. Not bad for a football city. Montreal was 1-1-1, because they let all the French homeless people in at half price.

[rick]

Folks:

I'm not from Florida at all; I'm from Pennsylvania. I just stumbled into this stuff and had to comment. Sorry, but the collective opinions of many of us is that Barrie and company are jokes. Just listen to XM204; those guys are laughing at the Lightning now. Espo tried to get them to take Barrie et al seriously a few weeks ago, and they laughed at him.

Hey, I hope it all works out for you guys, because you deserve it after the great attendance numbers you put up. But after what they did to Boyle, after overpaying for some of the FA's, proved to me that this experiment is doomed to failure.

[PD]

Ajax you remain the blogs undisputed buffoon
Tampa is sucking on the leagues revenue tit and the Canadian teams are driving almost 40% of league revenue.

Your attendence figures are tickets distributed not tickets sold Ajax.

You want to compare revenue be my guest with any Canadian team.

[PD]

Ajax you remain the blogs undisputed buffoon
Tampa is sucking on the leagues revenue tit and the Canadian teams are driving almost 40% of league revenue.

Your attendence figures are tickets distributed not tickets sold Ajax.

You want to compare revenue be my guest with any Canadian team.

You may also want to check out this years Bolts seasons tickets sales if you want a real laugh.

[ajax]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2008
PD, as usual you know more about the sport than printed facts. Maybe you should alert ESPN and the NHL to how wrong they are. Geez. Tampa, One of the smaller markets in the NHL and averaging 19,000 to 20,000 per home game, three years running. So this is all hocus pocus to you PD?? Their are alot of other owners that would love that problem. (Look at the 9 teams averaging less than 15,000 per game) This year they are down 1,100 season tickets(so far) in a dismal economy and once again you want to heap loads of dung on our Lightning. I think I have figured you out PD. 40 years of playng the role of the Brooklyn Dodgers in your own country to the Canadiens has left you one bitter dude. Besides bashing me and pounding the drum for Toronto what else is their to do all day?? PD, by the way, when the dollar was flipped flopped, weren't the Canadien teams almost in bankruptcy?? Weren't they crying to the league that they couldn't compete? That was like 6 tears ago. Now, the economy is in a serious slump and Canada is on top of the financial world?? World economics and dollar valuation have a heck of alot more to do with revenue today than the "Canadien 6" I bet the NYR and Philly and Detroit would love to move their teams to Canada. When the financial cycle reverses PD, then the US markets will dominate. Not really has much to do with the Canadien domination. I guess Edmonton and Calgary are financial juggernuts??? I heard this latest financial tidbit. Rangers owners trying to swap ownership with Edmonton. "Canada the only place to make money" WOW
PD, I would love to read some of your thoughts on hockey, instead of your constant dumping on anyone who disagrees with you. God Bless Ya PD.

[léo]

Whether the tickets are sold or distributed, the people still come to cheer for TB. Other cities aren't so lucky.
So you're both right, how's that?
One little thing Ajax,
CanadiAn teams.
The CanadiEns.
A and E, in different contexts. E only for Mtl. A for everything else.
Us Canadians are particular about that, especially Mtl Canadiens.
P.