Many coaching careers do not have a second act, let alone a third or a fourth.
So the fact that John Tortorella has changed the narrative with his Act IV, reminding all of the good parts in Acts I and II while making his brief Act III seem like a mere aberration, is one of the NHL's best dramas this season.
On Sunday, Tortorella became the first American-born coach to reach 500 wins in the league as his Blue Jackets won their ninth straight with a 4-3 overtime victory at Vancouver, the site of his aborted Act III which most assumed would bring down the curtain on his career.
But, at age 58, Tortorella has assumed somewhat of a different role. Still fiery and passionate, there's now more of a humanity in the way he acts, a humbleness that makes much more of a likeable character, rather than the black-hat villain.
"I'm trying to enjoy it more," Tortorella told the media in Vancouver. "I'm on the back nine. That's just the way it is. I'm fortunate enough to be in the league a long time. I know it's not going to be forever so I do want to try and enjoy it."
That's a marked difference from Tortorella's past lives, when he was loathe to discuss himself at all or put anything in perspective other than that day's game.
Tortorella's Act III with the Canucks, when the lasting image was him trying to storm the Flames' dressing room during the first intermission, which led to his firing after one season, made it hard to see how another NHL team could take a chance on his unpredictable nature.
But give Blue Jackets president John Davidson credit. He saw past that mess and remembered the good things from Act I, when Tortorella pushed the young Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2004, and Act II, when Tortorella, at the forefront of the league's shot-blocking crazed, tightened the Rangers into an Eastern Conference finalist in 2012 before his act wore thin on the players and he was fired in 2013.
So, after the Blues Jackets started last season with seven straight losses, Tortorella was brought in to replace Todd Richards. This season, with a first chance to put his team through his legendarily tough training camp and with two foundation pieces in young defensemen Seth Jones, 22, who scored the winner at Vancouver, and Zach Werenski, 19, the Blue Jackets have responded to Tortorella's leadership.
"I have been so privileged to have the opportunity to coach as many games as I have in the league and to get this opportunity with this club when there are so many other people dying to get in," said Tortorella, now 500-413-37-90 lifetime, on Sunday. "That's what I'm so grateful for. Not numbers, just having the opportunity."
Through the good and bad, Tortorella's show has always been worth watching.
