John Tortorella On The Michael Kay Show July 23 (Audio Inside)

John Tortorella was a guest on The Michael Kay Show yesterday evening on ESPN New York radio with Michael Kay and Don La Greca and offered his comments on a bunch of stuff, including his thoughts on the Rick Nash trade, losing Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, why Chris Kreider was absolutely untouchable in trade talks, and how he felt to come within two games of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals this past season. It's definitely worth a listen for any Ranger fan.

You can listen to the interview by clicking here and clicking Torts' name under the "sound bytes" section if you scroll down a bit.

The most interesting part of the interview to me was Torts' thoughts on Tim Erixon, who was also sent to Columbus in the Rick Nash trade. Torts said about Erixon: "Erixon has potential, I haven’t seen it yet, to be a really good player." I thought that was a fair assessment of how the Rangers felt about him last season. He was up and down a few times over the course of the season, but unlike Ryan McDonagh the previous season, John Tortorella clearly did not feel like Erixon had matured enough yet to make that jump from Hartford to the NHL. Erixon is projected to develop into a fantastic two-way defenseman down the road, and I have no reason to believe he won't, but it appears as if he still needs some more seasoning in the AHL before being a regular mainstay in an NHL team's lineup.

Then again, the Columbus Blue Jackets may now have a completely different view on Erixon than the Rangers, and maybe they'll throw him right into the fire and let him take his bumps and bruises at the NHL level this season. He's still only 21 years old, though, and some kids just take longer than others to reach their potential. I do think, though, that if he was ready, he would've been playing in the NHL last season with all the injuries the Rangers had on defense last season.

Anyway, I'd definitely give the interview a listen, like I said.