Here Come The Leaks Now To Douse A Little More Gasoline On The Patrik Laine vs Torts Fire
Jamie Sabau. Getty Images.The Athletic - Blue Jackets star forward Patrik Laine was benched during Monday’s win over Carolina because he “verbally disrespected” a member of the coaching staff, a source told The Athletic on Tuesday.
Laine didn’t play for the final 26:19, missing the entire third period in a tight game, but it wasn’t the result of his repeated defensive miscues.
Neither Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen nor coach John Tortorella would comment when reached by The Athletic. Laine’s agents, Mike Liut and Andy Scott, did not respond to requests for comment.
After Monday night's game John Tortorella told the media that the decision to bench Patrik Laine for the final 26:19 of the game would "remain in the locker room". Just about 24 hours later, apparently the locker room now extends to www [dot] TheAthletic [dot] com.
Now if you know anything about Torts, you know that he's probably the last person you want to cross if you are in a position that puts you within close proximity to him on a regular basis. His wires are always a millimeter away from crossing at any given moment. You cross Torts, you have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of your life. Which leads me to believe that nobody within the Columbus Blue Jackets organization would ever leak something like this out without getting permission from Torts in the first place. If John Tortorella said he was going to keep this in the locker room and then someone went rogue to tell the media that Laine snapped at a coach? That person would get tied up to the goal posts and he'd send Seth Jones to be the firing squad to unleash 100 clappers from the top of the circles.
So why leak this out to the media?
It's pretty simple, really. Torts wants out of Columbus. But he won't get hired again if he's out here benching star players just because they coasted on a backcheck and missed a defensive assignment. He's sick of Jarmo bringing him all these guys who he knows he's going to hate right off the bat. Max Domi? Way too reckless and inconsistent to be a Torts guy. Patrik Laine? Way too offensive minded to be a Torts guy. It's like Jarmo is daring him to quit, and now Torts is daring Jarmo to fire him.
So you get it out to the media that Laine is actually the bad guy here for mouthing off to coach, and Torts comes out clean for when it comes time to get hired somewhere else. It's the perfect crime.