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John Tortorella Canucks Interview Fires Up Twitter (VIDEO, TWEETS)

The Canucks' Next Coach?
CP

One of the NHL's most fiery personalities is in Vancouver to interview for the Canucks' head coaching position.

John Tortorella, the Stanley Cup-winning coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning who was recently fired after an unsuccessful tenure with the New York Rangers, is in talks with the Canucks to replace Alain Vigneault, The Province's Ben Kuzma reported.

The Canucks are considering several candidates for the vacant position including current Kings assistant coach John Stevens, former Dallas Stars coach Glen Gulutzan and Scott Arniel, coach of the Chicago Wolves, the Canucks' AHL affiliate.

But Tortorella is reportedly a strong candidate for the job, RDS reporter Renaud Lavoie tweeted Tuesday.

Tortorella, also known by the nickname "Torts," has distinguished himself as an exuberant personality who has had many run-ins with sports journalists while coaching the Lightning and the New York Rangers.

One of his most famous exchanges came in April 2007, when the then-Lightning coach responded to most questions with, "We know what we did" after a frustrating loss to New Jersey.

When a reporter challenged on his responses, Tortorella fired back, "Yeah I guess that's what I'm saying Brooksie, you get that through your head?"

The reporter challenged him once more and he responded, "Well then get the f*** out of here. Okay, see you!"

Tortorella, 54, coached the Lightning for seven seasons, leading them to a Stanley Cup victory over the Calgary Flames in 2004. He was fired in 2008 when the team missed the playoffs.

After working for a short time as a TSN analyst, he was hired to coach the New York Rangers and led the team to two first-round playoff losses, the 2012 Eastern Conference final and a second-round loss to the Boston Bruins this year.

Opinions vary on whether Tortorella would be the right coach for the Canucks. The Province columnist Tony Gallagher writes that he'd be wrong for the team because the Rangers struggled to score goals in the playoffs, just like the Canucks did.

Twitter lit up with hockey fans' opinions when it became known that Tortorella was in Vancouver.

The Hockey News writer Adam Proteau tweeted, "I hope John Tortorella gets hired to coach the Canucks. Vancouver has had a reputation as a laid-back, happy city for far too long."

Ontario Hockey League (OHL) scout Danny McIlhone tweeted the following: "Why would anyone want to hire John Tortorella to coach their team? Gillis must have rocks in his head!"

Check out what Twitter users had to say about John Tortorella interviewing for the Canucks coaching job:

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