The New York Rangers recently made it official that two-time Stanley Cup champion Mike Sullivan will be their 38th head coach in franchise history. Along with the hiring of Sullivan came speculation that former Rangers head coach John Tortorella would follow along as an assistant.
It makes sense that Sullivan and Tortorella would reunite in New York, as they were an assistant and head coach duo for multiple teams, including the Rangers between 2009 and 2013. Sullivan served as an assistant to Tortorella between the Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.
While re-joining forces would make sense, there is apparently nothing to the speculation. TSN’s Darren Dreger refuted the Tortorella to New York rumors with a quick tweet.
“I don’t believe there’s anything to that,” Dreger tweeted.
Sullivan and Tortorella were also recently coaching partners for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Tortorella was recently fired by the Philadelphia Flyers and is one of the most successful coaches in NHL history. It’s possible he’s looking for another head coaching job in the NHL, rather than be an assistant to a former protégé.
In 23 seasons behind NHL benches as a head coach, Tortorella has a 770-648-37-165 record in 1,620 games. He won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004 in just his third full season as an NHL bench boss.
Sullivan is coming off of a decade-long run with the Pittsburgh Penguins that saw him elevate to the winningest head coach in franchise history. In 753 games with the Penguins, Sullivan coached them to a 409-255-89 record and Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
The Rangers are looking to fill assistant coaching slots, but it’s unlikely they look in Tortorella’s direction.
Tortorella was linked to the Rangers not long ago as a possible replacement for Peter Laviolette for the head coaching spot, but the Athletic’s Arthur Staple noted that wasn’t happening. Staple doubled down on that by saying he also hears Tortorella will not join Sullivan as an assistant.
