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VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- John Tortorella has a chance to reach a coaching milestone Sunday night against the team that fired him.The Columbus coach will post his 500th National Hockey League career win if the Blue Jackets (19-5-4) beat his former Vancouver Canucks (13-6-2) at Rogers Arena.It means Ive been in the league a long time, Tortorella told the Columbus Dispatch.He repeatedly contended the milestone will mean nothing, but this season has been quite meaningful for the Blue Jackets. They have won eight straight games -- one shy of a franchise-record winning streak -- and are among the top teams in the Eastern Conference.Tortorellas second campaign in Columbus is another chapter in his redemption story. It began in Vancouver in 2014-15 after he and former Canucks coach Alain Vigneault swapped teams.Vigneault went to the New York Rangers after the fiery Tortorella was unceremoniously dismissed in the Big Apple following battles with players, particularly Brad Richards, and media. Supposedly mellower, Tortorella was suspended for six games by the NHL after (by his own admission) he tried to get then Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley between periods following a first-period brawl in Vancouver.In other words, Tortorella wanted to beat up Hartley. But the Canucks were never the same after the January 2014 incident.Vancouvers new president of hockey operations, Trevor Linden, fired Tortorella after his first season, and it looked like he would not get another chance to coach in the NHL. It also looked like the Canucks would be on the hook financially for the four years left on Tortorellas contract. But Blue Jackets president John Davidson, who was a TV broadcaster in New York while Tortorella was an assistant with the Rangers during an earlier stint 20 years ago, hired him to replace Todd Richards only seven games into the 2015-16 season.Now, the Blue Jackets appear to be a lock to make the playoffs, and Tortorella should easily surpass the 34-33-8 record he posted in his first season in Columbus. He is also a strong candidate for coach of the year.Thus far, Tortorella, who led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 2004 Stanley Cup title and ranks as the NHLs all-time winningest U.S.-born coach, has kept his emotions in check.Now, hes earned the perception -- and we talked extensively about that, too, Davidson, referring to the coachs hotheadedness, told the Globe and Mail. But we wanted someone thats won, someone with a passion for the game and someone who wanted to prove he could still do it. He checked all the boxes.The Blue Jackets are also checking several boxes on the ice. Sergei Bobrovsky, who ranks among the leagues best goaltenders with a sparkling 1.97 goals-against average, has won seven of the eight games during the win streak. In the past nine games, the Blue Jackets have allowed only 13 goals -- never more than two per outing.Offensively, the Blue Jackets, who have no superstars, are getting most of their points from lesser lights. Cam Atkinson, a 27-year-old Riverside, Conn., native who was drafted by Columbus in the eighth round (157th overall) in 2008, leads the team with 29 points. Alexander Wennberg, a 22-year-old Swede drafted 14th overall by Columbus in 2013, ranks second with 25 points and Brandon Saad, a former Chicago Blackhawks pest who is in his second season with Columbus, sits third with 23.Clearly, Tortorella is getting a lot -- if not the most yet -- from his youth-laden players.I think were much more comfortable with one another, he told the Globe and Mail. Im not so sure if its about roles. Its just about a standard of play for the team -- individually, but as a team, too. You have to raise the standard if you want to compete in this league.Meanwhile, the Canucks, hard-pressed to make the playoffs as Tortorellas mild mannered replacement Willie Desjardins faces speculation about his future, will try to prove that they have also raised their standard.(The Blue Jackets) have been playing really hard as a team, said Vancouver winger Loui Eriksson. Everyone knows the kind of coach they have there. Theyve been doing a good job. Its definitely going to be a tough challenge for us.While Tortorellas redemption story continues, the Canucks will try to show that they have redeemed themselves following a 1-4 road trip that ended before their home win over Tampa Bay.Weve shown we can be a good team, said Vancouver defenseman Luca Sbisa. We beat (Tampa Bay) twice in (approximately) a week. We showed we can do it. We just have to find consistency. (Sundays game) is going to be a test again. (The Blue Jackets) are probably the best team in the league right now. Its nice to get the win (over Tampa Bay) and go into that game with a good feeling.The Canucks will feel even better if they can prevent their former bench boss from reaching a coaching milestone. Willie Horton Jersey . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. Victor Martinez Jersey . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. https://www.cheaptigers.com/1899z-brandon-dixon-jersey-tigers.html . 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And beyond the admiration for his skills, there will have been envy - what Pakistan would give to have their own Rabada right now - followed by a sigh, because they would remember, more than most, that it wasnt long ago that Pakistan seemed to hold the trademark on young speed demons.Last month Bangladeshs Mehedi Hasan became only the 13th player to take a Test five-for before his 19th birthday. Of the previous 12, six were Pakistanis, four of them fast bowlers. And that list doesnt even include the likes of Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Zahid and Shoaib Akhtar, all of whom managed the feat in their early 20s.It is in this context that the supposed current travails of Pakistani fast bowling are measured. Of the five quick bowlers Pakistan have taken to New Zealand (Mohammad Amir, Imran Khan, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan and Wahab Riaz), and will most likely retain for the Australia leg of the tour, only one is under the age of 28 - Amir, who has already lived a life far more eventful than most people his age have done.The tours to New Zealand and Australia are significant - perhaps the biggest since, well, this summers trip to England. And despite the players protestations about how the Tests in New Zealand are likely to be more difficult than those across the Tasman Sea, its obvious where their legacies will be defined.Pakistan havent lost a Test series to New Zealand in 30 years, while their two wins in Australia since 1980 came in dead rubbers after they lost the series. The tour to Australia is how ex-players define how hard Test cricket is. They tell stories, of big, hairy men, ready to kill them at a moments notice.Pakistan will go to Australia for the first time in 17 years with a realistic chance of returning victorious. But, perhaps for the first time in living memory, their worries are primarily over their fast bowling. Its an odd feeling for a Pakistan fan. Decades of experience tell them that it will be up to the teams batsmen and spinners to ensure that the fast bowlers efforts wont be in vain. And while over the last six years this team has busted one Pakistani myth after another, it would appear that their brand of spin-heavy control cricket might finally come undone down under.Twenty months after Wahab became a household name, 11 months after Amir made his return to the national side, the concern for Pakistan fans, and their captain, remains with the fast-bowling unit. This isnt what the script promised.There are a lot of reasons for why Pakistan find themselves in this situation. As always, the finger-pointing goes back to domestic cricket, where a combination of helpful pitches, substandard balls, and the fact that the cricket season is in the winter end up helping mediumm-pacers and discouraging old-school Pakistani fast bowling.dddddddddddd The result is that in the current season of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, there are as many as ten medium-pacers who have taken over a dozen wickets at under 20.Then you have to consider the nostalgia bias - far more prevalent than any recency bias - that affects the Pakistani cricket fraternity. If they are to be believed, there were a dozen or so fast bowlers in the 90s who would have all been world-class if given enough of a chance (usually stated as: If Wasim and Waqar hadnt destroyed their careers). Yet the numbers dont bear that out. During Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis golden period - 1990 to 2003 - the other quick bowlers (those who took at least 20 wickets) combined to average 34 with the ball. Thats what the current five fast bowlers achieve - mostly in less helpful conditions.And thats the crux of the issue really. The myths that feed Pakistani exceptionalism might proclaim otherwise, but has there ever been that much depth? Right now Pakistan are operating with what should have been their second-string attack. Is this attacks performance any worse than those achieved by second-string attacks in the past? And are these bowlers as bad as is being suggested? Not really.Amir still doesnt have a full season under his belt; Rahat performs a very specific role, which he has nearly always succeeded at; Imran and Sohail, in helpful conditions, have delivered repeatedly. And Wahab is far better than his critics suggest. For all his proclivity to being smashed around like a drum, only four bowlers who have taken over 30 wickets in Asia over the last decade have had a better average than him.For all their limitations, the West Indies series, where they supposedly failed to turn up, was an exception rather than the rule for these bowlers. For six years they have operated mostly in unhelpful conditions and delivered more often than not.But as always, the thoughts turn to the what-ifs and the potential. Thats why the young speed demon will always be favoured, for his promise makes even his possible ineffectiveness worth it.In that ideal world, Pakistan would have gone on this tour with an ageing Asif ready to say his goodbyes, having spent six years tutoring Amir and a Junaid Khan who wasnt made of papier-maché. With Wahab ready to bowl on tracks that suit his style of bluster, Pakistan would have started the New Zealand series with fast bowling their strength rather than their supposed weakness.In the real world, though, Pakistan have travelled to the southern hemisphere with five pacers, all with question marks over them, wanting to change history. They may be able to affect what will happen, but theyll never change what has already gone by. And that, it would seem, will never be good enough. ' ' '