Tortorella says Kessel tweet 'self-serving,' Lombardi won't forget it
It's safe to say John Tortorella won't be signing up for a Twitter account anytime soon.
The United States head coach spoke with media Thursday and discussed, among other things, Phil Kessel's tweet seen around the hockey world.
Just sitting around the house tonight w my dog. Felt like I should be doing something important, but couldn't put my finger on it.
— Phil Kessel (@PKessel81) September 21, 2016
Kessel dropped that bomb Wednesday night after the U.S. was eliminated from the World Cup by Canada.
Tortorella said he likes Kessel, but called the tweet "self-serving."
"I wish Phil ... I just wish he didn't say anything because it makes him look bad," Tortorella said, according to CSN Chicago's Tracey Myers. "It's so easy to start chucking dirt when things go bad."
Tortorella added that the tweet reflects poorly on USA Hockey, which Kessel has represented. His sentiment was echoed by U.S. general manager Dean Lombardi.
"Part of that will be in my book down the road, but let me say this," Lombardi said, told ESPN's Pierre LeBrun. "If you're talking about Justin Abdelkader, Blake Wheeler, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Kesler, David Backes, I'll take those guys any day, any day.
"You're going to have to play against those guys in a little while," Lombardi added about Kessel, "but that's basically the trade-off. Those guys have big-time heart and when I talk about caring, they'd be the nucleus of the caring and they compete and they can play for me any day."
Captain Joe Pavelski said U.S. hockey needs to stick together right now.
"(Kessel's tweet), I don't think it was about us," Pavelski said, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. "He wanted to be a part of it and couldn't help ... but it's tough to see. Everyone who said something has been part of this before. Every one of them has gone through what we are going through ... you think they would understand."