Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis has always admired John Tortorella — both as a coach and a human being.
As a player, St. Louis had Tortorella as his head coach for seven seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning and they won the Stanley Cup together in 2004. St. Louis also won the Hart Trophy that season at league MVP and the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer with 38-56-94 totals.
After St. Louis retired as a player, he worked as a special-teams consultant during the 2018-19 season when Tortorella was head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The two men remain good friends, have off-season homes near each other in Connecticut and get together often during the summer.
“He’s a passionate human, great human,” St. Louis has said in the past about Tortorella. “Demanding, but fair. There’s so many things that Torts goes by and they’re very aligned with my values.”
Tortorella is now heading into his third season as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.
On Monday, Tortorella invited Guy Gaudreau — the father of Johnny and Matthew — to help coach the Flyers practice at their training facility in Voorhees, N.J., before the team flew to Montreal to face the Canadiens in a pre-season game that night at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens won the game 5-0.
Johnny, a star player with the Blue Jackets, and Matthew were both killed on Aug. 29 when they were struck by a suspected drunken driver while riding their bicycles on a rural road in Salem County, N.J., the night before the scheduled wedding for their sister, Katie.
Guy Gaudreau used to coach his two sons at Gloucester Catholic High School in New Jersey.
St. Louis wasn’t surprised Tortorella would invite Guy Gaudreau to help coach the Flyers as he continues to deal with the tragic loss of his two sons.
“It’s par for the course for him,” St. Louis said after the Canadiens morning skate Tuesday in Brossard before facing the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. “I think he does that (kind of thing) all the time.”
When asked if Tortorella — who has a reputation for being a very tough coach known for outbursts against players and the media — was misunderstood, St. Louis said: “From people that don’t know him, yes. But people that know him, he’s not misunderstood. You got to really know someone before you judge him.”
Tortorella didn’t know Guy Gaudreau before inviting him to help out at practice Monday. Tortorella did attend the funeral service for Gaudreau’s two sons.
“I called him and I wanted to know if he wanted to come out,” Tortorella told reporters at the Flyers’ practice facility Monday before flying to Montreal. “It’s pretty close to home here as far as with his family and all, what’s going on there. He’s a coach. First time I met him was today.
“I never met Johnny and Matt,” Tortorella added about the two brothers. “I never met them in my travels as a coach. But their family’s here, a horrific situation going on and he’s a coach and he’s done some great work out here with some of the youth out here and I figured it’s perfect just to get him in with us. He was hesitant at first and we kind of let him go at his timetable and I think it worked out really well today. I gave him my (training) camp book. We’re going to check in next week and see if we can get him out here a couple of more times and have him be part of it.
“I don’t want it to be just come out here. I want him to be a part of it,” Tortorella continued. “I think it will be therapeutic for him to be around us and run some drills. He’s done it before. He’s a coach. It was great to have him here and we’ll see where it goes.”
The Canadiens’ Josh Anderson had Tortorella as his head coach for five seasons with the Blue Jackets and has described him in the past as “one hell of a coach.”
“I loved him ever since I was there,” Anderson has said about his time in Columbus with Tortorella. “I’ve had no issues with him. He’s an honest guy and you know where you stand with him.”
Tortorella said Monday that Guy Gaudreau was “giving me s—” for yelling at the Flyers players during practice to skate harder.
“He says, ‘You only have three lines out here,” Tortorella said. “‘How much harder can they go?’ So he’s paying attention. It was good.”
It was reported that Tortorella invited Guy Gaudreau to join the Flyers for the trip to Montreal, but the father took a pass, saying it might be too soon.
Johnny Gaudreau’s wife was touched by what Tortorella did, writing on X: “John & Matty would love this. They’re both so proud of their dad, I know this made them smile as they watched down from heaven.”