John Tortorella is no stranger to weird press conferences and happenstances, but this season it was taken to a new level due to increased attention on the Blue Jackets and cell phones going off during press conferences.
It all started with a phone and TV play-by-play man Jeff Rimer, which lead to the first of three press conferences filled with ringing phones, two of them involving Rimer and the last one involving him being kicked out of the room by a laughing Tortorella.
Then, a hoodie changed the game for Tortorella (#HoodieTorts) and made headline news across the NHL.
We see your name change, @BlueJacketsNHL pic.twitter.com/lqCIi1FmTv
— #JayAndDan (@JayAndDan) December 7, 2018
Artemi Panarin had an illness right around the trade deadline and Tortorella was hammered with questions about him, before relenting to say Panarin was throwing up and "shitting himself," which took the focus off Panarin (somewhat).
Then, during the middle of one of Tortorella's press conferences, The Athletic's Tom Reed received a call from his mother – and the head coach picked up the phone, leading to Tortorella telling Mrs. Reed that he would prefer to speak with her over her son.
Tortorella is seen as a stickler and tough on the media, but if this season has shown anything, it is that he likes to have fun as well.
