No More Entitlement

After Wednesday's depressing 2-1 loss to the rival Islanders, John Tortorella made it clear that there needed to be change from a coaching perspective, and how different situations are handled. Torts is beginning to live up to his word, starting with the benching of veteran defenseman Wade Redden last night in the second game of the home-and-home series with the Isles. Based on what has been said, there is to be more accountability, along with more punishment for the players that are expected to be a contributing factor on the Rangers but have not been that just yet. There will no longer be entitlement, and by that I mean a player's experience and contract are not going to make him an automatic in the lineup, but rather the way in which he performs and produces will determine if that specific individual sits or if he plays.

Check out this quote from John Tortorella at today's practice to get an idea of what I am talking about: “This isn’t to make an example out of Wade Redden, Wade Redden hasn’t played well enough to be in the lineup,” Tortorella said. “I’m not interested in making examples out of people. A coach’s responsibility is to put the best lineup on the ice. I felt I did that last night. It will be the same lineup going into Philly (tomorrow afternoon). For 25-30 games we tried to stay with him, we tried to bring confidence in with him and go about it that way and it hasn’t worked. It’s still trying to gain confidence but there’s going to be no entitlement around here. I think it kind of stinks of that around here. We’ve got kids and this coaching staff and manager want to infuse some kids into our lineup becase we feel that’s going to be the best way to build it. We’ll go through some bumps in the road with kids but not with underachieving veterans. I just don’t buy it and it’s not going to work that way.” (full story at Ranger Rants)

In addition to the expunging of Redden's name from the lineup list, Ales Kotalik also found himself watching from the press box, and Captain Chris Drury was demoted to the fourth line. Unlike Redden, Drury accepted it and played his heart out in a game that felt like it was a must win if the Blueshirts want to move forward here.

“I had a very honest conversation with Chris,” Tortorella said. “He accepted it and embraced his role. It was a hard conversation for me with Chris because he’s done a lot of great things in this league but I have to assess how it’s going.”

With all of this being said, expect to see call-ups from the Hartford Wolf Pack in the near future in order to replace any players who may be underachieving, or just simply not playing well in Tortorella's eyes. In the beginning of the season, many felt that Tortorella's policy of accountability was a fleeting concept, but now he is backing up his words with action, which is a theme around this team right now. It is all a matter of hitting the ice and winning hockey games, not just saying you want to win and then come out with a piss poor effort.

Torts also went on to mention that Redden and Kotalik will not return to the lineup in Philly tomorrow--he is going with the squad that came out with a 5-2 winning effort on Thursday, hoping they will do the same against a sinking Flyers team.
(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)