Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan and ex-Rangers head coach John Tortorella go way back.
Since 2007, Sullivan and Tortorella have served on the same coaching staff six different times. Sullivan was an assistant to Tortorella in Tampa Bay, New York and Vancouver for a total of six seasons. He also was on Tortorella’s U.S. staff for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
The two have since swapped roles, with Tortorella serving as an assistant to Sullivan for Team USA at 4 Nations and the Milan Cortina Olympic Games.
When asked to weigh in on Tortorella’s stunning hiring in Vegas with single-digit games left in the 2025-26 season and a probable playoff run afoot, Sullivan offered high praise for the 67-year-old.
“I think he’s an excellent coach,” Sullivan said before the Rangers took on the Devils Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. “One of the things that he excels at is crisis management. He brings a ton of energy. I know he’ll bring a lot of energy to Vegas. I think, as I said, he’s an excellent coach. One of the things that has always impressed me with Torts — and obviously, I have a longstanding relationship with him. I worked with him for almost a decade. He was on our staff with the Olympic team, the 4 Nations team. In a lot of ways, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work with him, because I learned so much from him. We’re very different in how we go about it, but I’ve learned a lot from him. As far as what it takes to win and how to instill an environment that’s conducive to winning.
“He has had the ability to evolve with the game. The evolution of the game is fast. The way the game’s being played today is very different than the way it was being played, for example, when him and I were working together coaching the Rangers in 2010. The way the game’s being played is very different. And Torts, because he’s a student of the game, he’s evolved with the game. The modern strategies, the evolution of the game. What’s the modern NHL look like? What’s the modern game look like? We talk about that. We have that conversation all the time with our coaching staff, because we’re trying to study evolution. And it’s copy cat League. Everybody steals from one another because of technology, film, all of those things. So everybody’s paying attention to that stuff.
“If you’re in coaching and you love what you do, you immerse yourself in a learning experience. And Torts has done that his whole career. He puts a lot of work into that. He prides himself in it. That’s been the most impressive thing for me in watching him. I think he’ll do what he does. I think he’ll do a terrific job.”
Sullivan and Tortorella won gold together with USA Hockey last month in the NHL’s highly anticipated return to the Olympics. They also spent four seasons together in New York from 2009-13.
Urho Vaakanainen participated in morning skate on Tuesday in a red non-contact jersey before missing his seventh straight game with an upper-body injury.
The wins over Chicago and Florida this past weekend counted as the Rangers’ first back-to-back victories at home this season. Tuesday night’s matchup with New Jersey marked the third of a season-high seven-game homestand.