John Tortorella

Tortorella attended Concord-Carlisle High School in Concord, Massachusetts, and he is listed on the school's athletic Hall of Fame wall (1976). He also attended the University of Maine, graduating in 1981. John's brother Jim Tortorella, a goaltender, is also listed on the wall.

Tortorella has been credited by East Coast Hockey League founders Henry Brabham and Bill Coffey with coming up with the name for the league during a league meeting at a Ramada Inn in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At the time, Tortorella was the head coach of Brabham's Virginia Lancers, but left the Lancers to become the assistant coach of the American Hockey League's New Haven Nighthawks before the ECHL's inaugural season in 1988.

On March 11, 2008 with the Lightning defeat of the New York Islanders, Tortorella passed Bob Johnson as the most successful American-born NHL coach with 235 victories.

After he left the Lightning, Tortorella was an in-studio panelist on the NHL on TSN. During this time, on November 7, 2008, Peter Laviolette would overtake his victory total for an American coach.

Tortorella was named head coach of the New York Rangers on February 23, 2009, replacing Tom Renney, who was relieved of his duties earlier that day. On March 17, he again became the American-born coach with the most wins in NHL history, this time surpassing Laviolette.

Tortorella was suspended one game by the NHL for an altercation with several Capitals fans behind the bench in the third period of Game 5 in the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs. Replays show a fan clearly heckling Tortorella, before Tortorella responded by throwing a water bottle at a fan and then grabbing a stick from Aaron Voros and trying to spear the fan through a space between two panes of glass. He did not receive a penalty on the play despite the fact that NHL rules state any physical altercation with fans results in ejection from the game; however, the next day the NHL suspended him.

When Laviolette became coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2009, the rivalry between the two teams became further heated with Tortorella and Laviolette being the U.S.-born coaches with the most wins in NHL history. On November 20, 2010 Tortorella became the first American-born coach to reach 300 NHL victories when the Rangers defeated the Minnesota Wild.

On March 26, 2013 with a 5–2 defeat of Laviolette's Flyers, Tortorella became the first U.S.-born coach to reach 400 career victories.

The Rangers fired Tortorella on May 29, 2013, four days after New York was eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Boston Bruins.

The Vancouver Canucks announced Tortorella as the team's new coach on June 25, 2013. He replaced Alain Vigneault, who coincidentally had been hired by the Rangers to replace Tortorella.

Tortorella earned his first victory with the Canucks against the Edmonton Oilers on October 5, 2013, with a final score of 6–2.

During the first intermission of a game on January 18, 2014, Tortorella entered the Calgary Flames dressing room area in an apparent attempt to confront Flames coach Bob Hartley; after a line brawl in the opening seconds of the 1st period, Tortorella angrily attempted to confront Hartley, accusing him of starting a lineup with intent to injure a star Canuck player. Tortorella had to be physically restrained by several players and coaches. The NHL subsequently suspended him for 15 days without pay, barring him from being in contact with the team during his suspension. Canucks assistant coach Mike Sullivan took over the head coaching job during Tortorella's suspension.

On March 2, 2014, Tortorella sparked controversy when he chose to start Eddie Lack in the 2014 Heritage Classic over Roberto Luongo Luongo was openly disappointed, and traded 2 days later.

Tortorella's tenure with the Canucks would last only a single season, as the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008. On May 1, 2014, Tortorella and assistant coach Mike Sullivan were fired as part of a management overhaul that had also seen General Manager Mike Gillis let go several weeks prior.

On October 21, 2015, Tortorella was hired to replace Todd Richards as the Columbus Blue Jackets' head coach, after the Blue Jackets started the 2015–16 season with a 0–7–0 record. As compensation for hiring Tortorella, the Vancouver Canucks received the 55th overall pick (used to select Jonah Gadjovich) in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft from the Blue Jackets. On March 19, 2016, the Blue Jackets faced the New Jersey Devils and Tortorella became the 26th head coach in NHL history, and the first born in the United States, to coach 1,000 games. On December 18, 2016, the Blue Jackets defeated the Canucks in overtime 4–3, making Tortorella the first American-born coach with 500 victories. On January 10, 2019, Tortorella became the first American-born coach, and 19th overall, to reach 600 victories when the Blue Jackets defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning. In the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, Tortorella's Blue Jackets won their first playoff series in franchise history by eliminating his old team, the Tampa Bay Lightning; also being the first time that the Presidents' Trophy-winning team failed to win any playoff game despite the Lightning matching the record of 62 regular season wins.

On January 1, 2020, Tortorella was fined $20,000 by the NHL for negative comments he made about the on-ice officials on December 29, 2019, after they mishandled the clock in overtime, causing the Blue Jackets to lose 3–2 against the Chicago Blackhawks.