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NHL Players Take a Shot at John Tortorella and Mike Babcock in Recent Player Poll

Originally posted on Blade of Steel
By Graham Montgomery | Last updated Feb 5, 2025 4:23 PM ET

The Athletic recently released a player poll in which players stated who their favorite and least favorite coaches are.

Every season, the Athletic releases polls where they survey NHL players asking them various questions about the state of the league.

Typically, we get a couple of polls like this every year. Today, the Athletic released the most recent edition that has revealed some interesting facts about the players in the league.

One of the questions the survey asked was which head coach would you least like to play for.

Notably, the options included coaches that do not currently have a job in the NHL.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Flyers head coach John Tortorella topped the list getting a staggering 38% of responses.

Infamous former NHL head coach Mike Babcock also received a little more than 7% of votes, which is still a lot considering he has not been in the league for some time now.

This is not surprising considering how poorly he treated his players.

For example, Hockey Hall of Fame forward Mike Modano once told a story how Babcock prevented him from reaching a major career milestone.

Interestingly though, Golden Knights bench boss Bruce Cassidy scored higher than Babcock, getting 12% of votes.

Of course, the survey also asked players which coach they would most like to play for and the answers here were not surprising in the slightest.

Jon Cooper topped the list getting 24% of the vote, Paul Maurice came in second with 13% and Hurricanes coach Rob Brind'Amour rounded out the top three getting 9%.

This should be a strong message for head coaches around the NHL. Be more like Jon Cooper and less like John Tortorella.

This article first appeared on Blade of Steel and was syndicated with permission.

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