John Tortorella was named the 25th best coach among the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL in their latest coaching rankings.
The question was posed to a panel of ESPN cross-sport experts and stressed long-term success over their ability to win a single game. Other determinations, such as age, were also considered.
Tortorella was the deemed the sixth-best NHL coach behind Mike Babcock, Mike Sullivan, Joel Quenneville, Peter Laviolette and Barry Trotz.
As of the publication, Tortorella boasted a career record of 578-464-37 (.548), and with Thursday's win over the Philadelphia Flyers, make that 579.
Here's what ESPN had to say about Tortorella:
"Tortorella has taken four different franchises to the Stanley Cup playoffs, winning it all with 2003-04 Lightning, but last getting out of the first round with the 2012-13 Rangers. Tortorella's strong, publicly stated aversion to analytics was a drawback with some of our respondents -- as it might be with actual, future Tortorella employers."
Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots was ranked first. The top-ranked NHL coach was the Toronto Maple Leafs' Babcock, who was ranked seventh overall.
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