Staple's analysis: Tortorella preaches patience with Rangers

It's been a long first year on the job for John Tortorella. After he was hired Feb. 23, 2009, to replace the fired Tom Renney, the Rangers bowed out of the playoffs in the first round in April, and now they're squarely at .500, sitting two points outside the top eight of the Eastern Conference as the Olympic break looms.

Tortorella, though, has a lot of hope for the future - as long as his bosses don't surrender any of their core group of young talent to boost their playoff hopes for this season.

"I just don't think we can knee-jerk and always look at short term," Tortorella told Newsday in an exclusive interview. "People may not like to hear that. But from a head coach's point of view, I think we need to build. We need to build. We'll suffer as we're trying to build here, and the ups and downs we have, but patience is a huge word for our organization right now."

Tortorella's patience has been tested at times by a team that's been on a roller-coaster ride all season. He's lashed out at times in front of reporters and on the bench, though in the last month, he has taken on a more even, positive tone.

With a group that has included nine regulars 25 and younger, Tortorella has said from the start of the season that there would be bumps in the road. He has lost his temper, he said, when he doesn't get the most basic things from his team night after night.

"With me, where I get my back up, is effort," he said. "Kids, veterans - that's something you can control, and that's what I watch for. And I have been frustrated. You get nowhere in development at all if the effort isn't there."

Tortorella has clashed with a couple of his veterans, notably defenseman Wade Redden, who was benched in December, and Ales Kotalik, who was benched for eight games before being dealt to the Flames last week in the Olli Jokinen deal.

What perks up Tortorella is the thought of having the core group intact. The Rangers have a viable star scorer in Marian Gaborik and a star goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist; both turn 28 in the next few weeks. Marc Staal (23), Michael Del Zotto (19), Matt Gilroy (25), Dan Girardi (25), Artem Anisimov (21), Brandon Dubinsky (23) and Ryan Callahan (24) are the rest of that young core that Tortorella has tried to guide through this rocky season.

"That's the exciting part about this hockey club," he said. "We have holes. But the thing that's very important about this team is we have a goaltender, we have a star player and a really good, young core.

"That's what needs to be built around. We have to keep using that core, and eventually, when we get to where we want to be, we'll be there for a while."

Which means these next few weeks - while Tortorella is assisting the U.S. Olympic team in Vancouver and general manager Glen Sather is mulling his roster as the March 3 trade deadline approaches - might not be what Rangers fans want or have become accustomed to.

The Rangers - who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday - swapped Kotalik's remaining two years and $6 million for pending free agent Jokinen. Unless a team wants to take on Redden's remaining four years and $6.5-million cap charge, or Michal Rozsival's remaining two years and $5-million cap hit, the Rangers' moves will be limited, and with an eye to the future.

That's due in large part to Tortorella, whose strong personality seems to have helped Sather make moves from a long-term perspective rather than making a dash for a low playoff seed.

And Tortorella will continue to do that while trying to get the most out of his inconsistent squad. It's not exactly a pretty picture right now.

"It's a different animal here in New York. I understand that," Tortorella said. "People want it right now. But you have to be careful wanting it right now, because then our decision-making turns to short term. I think it is more of a longer-term process to get where we want to be. Your ultimate goal is to win a Stanley Cup. That's Glen's goal, that's Mr. [Cablevision CEO James] Dolan's goal.

"And it does take longer than a year if you're going to do it the right way."