s on Tuesday, promising to rein in the combative personality that turned him into more of a caricature than a coach, at least when it comes to dealing with the media.The players can expect more of the fire that made him famous -- or infamous.Fired by the New York Rangers shortly after losing to the Boston Bruins in five games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Tortorella landed quickly on his feet with a five-year contract from a Canucks team trying to recover from a second-straight first-round exit that cost coach Alain Vigneault his job.With Vigneault hired to replace Tortorella in New York last Friday, it essentially became an offseason coaching swap -- a first in the NHL, according to the Elias Sports Bureau -- between the Rangers and Canucks, with the two fired coaches talking "every other day" for two weeks, according to Tortorella."It is a little bizarre," Tortorella said,Shane Doan Jersey, "but speaking for myself, at my stage of my career, to have this opportunity in Canada,Patrick Kane Authentic Jersey, in this city, I am pinching myself."Despite the unique circumstances, and a lot of questions about how he planned to get an aging team out of two-year Stanley Cup Playoff funk, or why the Canucks hired a coach who preaches a shot-blocking style Vancouver general manager Mike Gillis has openly lamented, Tortorella spent most of a half-hour introductory press conference trying to explain past confrontations with the media."When you lose your job, you crawl into a hole a little, you reassess yourself, you try and learn," Tortorella said. "Have I made mistakes? Absolutely. I make my own bed in this type of situation with the perception of myself in the media. I know how important it is with this job here, especially in this city, in Canada."I am going to work at that to cultivate a relationship with all of you."Tortorella said it was troubling that his reputation overshadows a coaching career that includes winning the Stanley Cup and Jack Adams Award with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, and a silver medal as an assistant coach with the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics.He has a 410-330-37-67 record in the NHL -- the most wins by an active American-born coach -- and three straight playoff appearances in New York, including an Eastern Conference Final appearance two seasons ago.The Canucks went out of their way to start crafting a new image for Tortorella,Mike Richards Jersey, with a story on the team website featuring him talking about a desire to end his legacy as "that lunatic," a graphic highlighting numerous and admirable charity programs he works with, and an online question-and-answer session with fans.That appeared hours before his first public availability, but it didn't deter the dominant line of questioning from reporters about his persona and why it often blows up."Because I hate losing," Tortorella said. "I can't stand losing. Everybody says, 'Be a good loser.' I think if you are a good loser, you are a loser. But I certainly can't put people in the situations I've put them in, especially this year, when I put a couple of players in a bad situation by my actions with you."For all of Tortorella's talk of wanting to "rectify that," there were no apologies for how he coaches, even if there was some resistance to the label of "defensive coach." And despite saying several times he needed to "learn more" about his new players, there was no hesitation -- but few specifics -- about how he planned to improve a team that came within one win of a Stanley Cup in 2011 but has one win the past two playoffs combined, including being swept by the San Jose Sharks this year."We need more bite," Tortorella said. "The attitude of this being a stiffer team is going to come to the forefront as we try to build this to get this to another level."As for where it will come from, Tortorella stressed the importance of developing more young players like he did in New York, a past criticism of Vigneault and something Gillis has stressed since the season ende