Tortorella looking for speed as Blue Jackets face Maple Leafs

To sound clichéd, John Tortorella has a need for speed.

But it also helps that the Blue Jackets coach has an appreciation for it, too.

Few attributes seem to get the coach more excited when he's talking to the media than discussing players who can scoot. His eyes practically light up at the possibilities provided by such players as Eric Robinson and Liam Foudy, who might be among the fastest players in the NHL.

And Tortorella sees a need for that speed -- there we go again -- as the Blue Jackets get ready to play another fast, youthful team in Toronto in the NHL's return to play.

"It's a fast game," Tortorella said. "It's played with pace. The game has changed to that. The team we are playing is a very fast team, so I'll tell you this, I'm looking at guys that can bring that pace vs. some other guys that may bring other things to the table.

"I'm certainly looking at guys who can skate. In this series here, I think that's a very important thing that we need to see, and see if we can plug them into the lineup."

When the Blue Jackets' summer training camp opened, Tortorella put both Robinson and Foudy on the same line together, which might have created the fastest pair of wingers in the league. Since then, the two have been split up, but both are going to get long, hard looks at being part of the team's lineup vs. the Maple Leafs if Tortorella is serious about putting as much speed as possible on the ice.

Foudy, who has been part of the team's top 12 forwards throughout camp despite having played just two NHL games, has been lauded for his legs since being chosen in the first round of the 2018 draft by the Blue Jackets. And he comes upon it naturally, as he's the son of an Olympic sprinter (France Gareau) and a former CFL player in his father Sean.

"Speed has always been my biggest, best thing," Foudy said when he was called up earlier this year to make his NHL debut. "I'm going to try to use that to the best of my ability and try to make an impact."

Tortorella says it's hard to look past Foudy's skating ability when it comes to drafting a lineup, and his focus in this summer training camp is to make sure the 20-year-old uses his legs as much as possible.

"The biggest thing with him -- and I've talked to him quite a bit about it already in the first four or five days here -- we just want him to move his legs at all times," Tortorella said. "I have been concentrating a lot with him offensively. I think if he keeps his legs moving and not look to make a play right away when he gets the puck -- when he starts looking to make a play, he stops skating.

"I want to see him beat people. I want to see him carry the puck more and then maybe plays will work off of that. … For me, for him, to give him the biggest opportunity to crack the lineup is to show us that speed all the time."

Then there's Robinson, whose speed will come as no surprise to Blue Jackets fans who have watched the 25-year-old use his jets to post seven goals and 12 points in 64 NHL games to this point.

Robinson's full game is rounding into form, but you're also starting to see his hands catch up to that speed, as he used a bullet of a shot to score some key goals before the coronavirus pause and had a hat trick in practice Monday during a scrimmage.

"He scored a couple of nice goals today as far as his shot is concerned, but I think what puts him in those spots is that speed," Tortorella said. "He is one of the fastest players in the National Hockey League, and that's a very important asset the way the game is played these days."

As observers have noted, the game keeps getting faster and faster, especially as obstruction penalties have been called more and more and the game has opened up over the past decade.

"I just think the league is general is a fast league, so I think we match up pretty well in that category," captain Nick Foligno said. "I think we have a lot of fast players. Speed kills. It's hard to defend. I think for us, the way we're going to play, if we can have that speed, that's going to benefit us a lot."

The matchup is also a key factor, as Tortorella looks across the ice and sees a team the Blue Jackets will have to go step for step with in the five-game Stanley Cup qualifying series.

"We're playing a very fast hockey club," the head coach said. "We need to get as much speed in our lineup as we possibly can."