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Sedin backs Tortorella and staff: ‘We love playing for these coaches’

SedinTorts

Canucks captain Henrik Sedin has jumped to the defense of embattled head coach John Tortorella.

“We love playing for these coaches, that’s the bottom line,” Sedin said, per the Vancouver Sun. “I mean, they put in a system where we know we can win each and every game.”

There’s been much discussion over the last few weeks about Tortorella’s job security in Vancouver. The Canucks have gone 5-12-1 and fallen to 10th in the Western Conference since his infamous attack attempt on Calgary coach Bob Hartley on Jan. 18 and, on Wednesday, GM Mike Gillis didn’t give Tortorella a vote of confidence when asked about the coach’s future in Vancouver.

“Again, that’s rumor and speculation,” Gillis said, per the Sun. “I’m not commenting on that because it just lends credibility to what’s out there with bloggers and all kinds of different people. So it’s unfair to comment on any future plans other than what we’ve already said, which is we’re trying to get younger, we’re trying to re-tool and we’re trying to do some things a little differently in the next 1-3-5 years.”

Gillis also declined to say if he felt Tortorella lost the Canucks’ dressing room.

As such, getting the captain’s backing has to be a good sign for Tortorella and assistants Mike Sullivan and Glen Gulutzan. Sedin is a well-respected voice in both the room and throughout the organization and despite going through a down year offensively -- something many have pinned on Tortorella’s conservative playing style -- Sedin insisted the players are the ones responsible for the poor performance this year.

“What’s been missing this year, so far, has been us making mistakes and it’s cost us. I think that has been our biggest problem,” he explained. “We have a lot of guys in here who care extremely much about this team.”