NY Post:TORTORELLA TO RIDE RANGERS‘ BEST PLAYERS

“I’m not a four-line guy,” the head coach of the Rangers said yesterday after conducting his first practice. “Your best players need to be your decision-makers.”

Newsday: Lightning GM: Tortorella will bring culture shock

“I think the biggest challenge is going to be the culture shock for management,” Feaster told Newsday yesterday by phone from his home in Tampa. “The guys there will find out real quick you better be on Tortorella time – if there’s a 1 p.m. bus, a 1 p.m. charter, you better be there or he’ll leave without you.

Newsday: Tortorella: Substance behind fire and brimstone

As it is, he does not care that his emotions get bigger publicity than his achievements. It is no big deal that even Glen Sather, the Rangers general manager, kept citing only Tortorella’s “fire” in explaining why the new man is here to replace the composed, cerebral coach Tom Renney.

Newsday: Tortorella wants players ‘to relax a little’

“I just want them to relax a little here,” Tortorella said after 45 minutes of drills at the practice complex before the team left for tonight’s game in Toronto. “I think the team’s been paralyzed with all the things going on … And losing knocks you down. I’m gonna push them, but as a coach, you have to understand when you need to be with them. This is a time to get them to feel decent about themselves. There would be nothing better than a win.”

Journal News: Tortorella makes his mark immediately with Rangers

“I think they’re a little bit beat up. This reputation that I just kick the hell out of people, it takes on a life of its own. As a coach you better understand what your team is right now as far as how they feel, and I think they need to get a little self-confidence and we’re going to allow them to work through that and try to get a win.”