John Tortorella, Blue Jackets Agree to 2-Year Contract Extension

The Columbus Blue Jackets announced Wednesday they had reached an agreement with head coach John Tortorella on a two-year contract extension through the 2020-21 NHL season.

General manager Jarmo Kekalainen said of the move:

"Our team has been one of the winningest in the NHL over the past two seasons and John Tortorella has played a critical role in that success and in raising the level of our team's play since his arrival. His passion and commitment to being the best has permeated our team and we believe will lead to even greater success in the future."

Columbus hired Tortorella in October 2015 after the team started the 2015-16 campaign with seven consecutive losses.

Although the Jackets missed the playoffs that season, they have qualified for the postseason each of the past two years after accumulating 108 points in 2016-17 and 97 points in 2017-18.

Tortorella won the Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach for the team's 2016-17 success.

After Columbus was eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals in last season's playoffs, the 60-year-old coach stressed it was time to raise expectations.

"We're going to talk about how there was some progression within our game, within the individuals, but we're six games and we're done," he told reporters in April. "That's what I want to get away from. I want us to be more aggressive in our thinking and expect some more, not be satisfied as far as the process."

Tortorella owns a 129-87-23 record with the Blue Jackets to bring his career mark to 575-462-37-101 across 17 years as an NHL head coach. He previously coached the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Vancouver Canucks and led the Bolts to the Stanley Cup in 2004.

OddsShark notes the Jackets are early 30-1 to capture next season's championship.