Tortorella declines to answer questions about Bobrovsky incident

John Tortorella isn't interested in divulging the reason Sergei Bobrovsky was disciplined by his team.

The Columbus Blue Jackets head coach repeatedly stated "the (press) release will speak for itself" when asked to elaborate on the situation Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the club announced the goaltender would not be with the team for its game against the Nashville Predators, with Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen revealing in the release that an incident occurred in which Bobrovsky failed to meet "certain expectations and values" established within the organization.

Kekalainen also said it was an internal matter and that the club would have "no further comment at this time."

"There's no sense asking," Tortorella told reporters when asked about it Thursday. "My answer is the release will speak for itself, and as far as the players (go), I've already told the players. There's no sense in talking to them, either. This will be handled inside (the team). Jarmo and I will do the speaking on it if any more speaking needs to be done, but the release speaks for itself."

The Blue Jackets bench boss was later asked by The Athletic's Aaron Portzline if there's a chance Bobrovsky has played his final game with Columbus.

"How can you ask me that question?" Tortorella replied after beginning to answer with his familiar refrain about the press release.

"I'm just worried about this hockey game," he added. "I'm not trying to be inconsiderate. We have a game to play, and it's a very important game for us. As you need to worry about the fans, I need to worry about the hockey team."

The incident in question took place sometime between the latter stages of the Blue Jackets' 4-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday and before the team flew home an hour or so after the game, sources told Portzline.