Tortorella officially done with the Blue Jackets, but not the NHL.

On Saturday evening we touched on rumors that veteran head coach John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets would be leaving the team at the end of the season, and on Sunday morning the Blue Jackets confirmed those rumors by announcing that they had mutually parted ways with Tortorella.

Although the rumors would have led us to believe that the decision had come from Tortorella himself, with reports suggesting that the head coach had informed some of his players and Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen that he would be leaving at the end of the season, the statement released by the Blue Jackets on Sunday implies that this decision that the head coach and the team made together. Tortorella himself appeared to confirm as much in the statement he released as part of that announcement.

"After discussion and consideration of the future direction of the team, Jarmo and I have come to a mutual agreement to part ways," said Tortorella via the Blue Jackets official website. "I'd like to thank the Columbus Blue Jackets organization for the opportunity to coach this team and live in the great Columbus-area. It has been a privilege to work with the players, coaches and hockey operations staff, which is one of the best in the League. Also, I want to thank the CBJ fans and the community for the support they've given the team and for the work of the CBJ family in support of the community."

Some have speculated that Tortorella, who will turn 63 years old in June of this year, was looking towards retirement but that does not appear to be the case. Following the rumors on Saturday night NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that, in spite of leaving the Blue Jackets, Tortorella will look to continue coaching in the NHL moving forward. 

Although he has always been a controversial figure in the NHL for his hard nosed coaching style, I suspect that Tortorella will have no issues finding another coaching gig within the league. The most obvious destination for Tortorella would be the Seattle Kraken expansion franchise that, at the time of this writing, has yet to announce the first head coach in their franchise's history in spite of the fact that the expansion draft is now just several weeks away.

Only time will tell what the next chapter of Tortorella's NHL career will be.