John Tortorella, now head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, has often garnered attention for his outbursts to reporters and opposing players, but of course also to his own troops, and one of them has already been tipped with some rather dubious advice.
On the Missin Curfew podcast a few days ago, former hockey player Brandon Prust went back to a particular case that happened while he was playing for the New York Rangers. The story in question particularly pertains to Brad Richards, who worked with Tortorella on several occasions: In addition to developing during the first seven seasons of his National League career under his commands with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he also returned to the blueshirts for two years, from 2011 to 2013.
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Also, at some point during his first year in the Big Apple, the pilot seemed quite dissatisfied with Richards’ performance and wasn’t afraid to express his dismay to him. Except that the recommendations were something that raised eyebrows.
“Richy started out a bit slow, as did the team and Torts […] We probably didn’t sleep when we lost. Then one night we went out after the game and on the way back Richy told us, Torts just called me and advised me to do substances. So Torts said to him, “Richy, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but get out of your house, do some drugs or something,” Prust said, laughing.
In the 2011-12 season, Richards had 66 points in 82 appearances, while the previous season he had 77 points in 72 games with the Dallas Stars.