Willie Desjardins is not John Tortorella.
We’ll say that again, in case you didn’t hear it the first time:
WILLIE DESJARDINS IS NOT JOHN TORTORELLA.
Sorry for the all-caps, but that sure seems to be the theme coming out of Vancouver today. See for yourself:
Hamhuis indicated Desjardins has done a good job of reaching out to guys "he came to Smithers and my daughters gave him a tour of the house"
— Jon Abbott (@AbbsPxP) September 18, 2014
Interesting to hear players talk about Willie Desjardins and the effort he made to talk with/visit them during summer. #Canucks
— Cam Tucker (@CamTucker_Sport) September 18, 2014
Willie Desjardins visited Burrows in Montreal this summer. "He's great for this team, it's going to be nice" - @aburr14 #VanCamp
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) September 18, 2014
That last quote from Burrows comes a day after the veteran forward went on TSN 1040 radio in Vancouver (audio) and said, “I don’t think I had a conversation with Torts until Christmas last year.”
When asked how that was possible, Burrows replied, “Well, you tell me.”
[audio mp3="https://nhl.nbcsports.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2014/09/burrows.mp3”][/audio]
So Desjardins is the anti-Torts. Which is all well and good, unless the new guy can’t coax better results out of the roster than the last guy. The expectation from management is that Vancouver will compete for a playoff spot, while also playing a more up-tempo, entertaining style than it did last season.
The Canucks open their preseason schedule Tuesday versus San Jose.
Related: For Desjardins, responsibilities include both winning and entertaining