Canucks Rewind: The 2014 Heritage Classic and Luongo’s trade
The John Tortorella era will go down in history for the Vancouver Canucks and their fans, but for all the wrong reasons.
Let’s rewind to the summer of 2013.
Despite securing two straight President Trophies in 2011 and 2012, it was clear that the Canucks were undoubtedly trending in the wrong direction.
The franchise had just come off of their second-straight first-round exit in the playoffs, having only won one postseason game during that span. Their aging core was on the wrong side of 30, and the success from their 2011 playoff run seemed like a distant memory.
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Their window to win was starting to close, and the front office felt that the franchise needed a drastic change.
Enter Torts.
Tortorella was hired by the franchise on June 25th, 2013, replacing long-time bench boss Alain Vigneault, who was let go from the position a month earlier.
Tortorella had an impressive track record leading up to this point, including a Jack Adams Award and Stanley Cup victory with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2004-05 campaign, and he was slowly climbing the ranks for most wins by an American-born coach.
Tortorella was well-known throughout the league for his brash, hot-headed leadership style, but it seemed to work for his teams, and the Canucks were hoping that his arrival would spark the same kind of success.
Spoiler alert: it did not.
Tortorella only lasted one season in Vancouver, posting a 36-35-11 record, good for 25th in the league. The team finished the campaign with a -27 goal differential, and were eight points out of a wild-card spot.
Ouch.
Despite the unsuccessful, yet expected finish to the 2013-14 season, Tortorella did provide some exciting, soon-to-be viral moments behind the bench, including his hot-tempered altercation against Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley on January 18th, 2014. Simply remembered as the “line brawl” game, Tortorella tried to confront Hartley during the first intermission, accusing him of attempting to injure his players by putting out his fourth line on the opening shift. Tortorella was suspended for 15 days as a result.
Of course, this was just the tip of the iceberg for Tortorella.
The real drama took place just over a month and a half later during the Heritage Classic on March 2nd, 2014, and this is where our weekly rewind truly takes off.