The Columbus Blue Jackets enter the 2018-19 season with two star players likely to walk next summer. But bench boss John Tortorella says he won’t let the uncertain futures of Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky distract him or his team once the players return to the ice.

“It doesn’t. It can’t. It won’t,” Tortorella said in a long-ranging interview with Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. “You guys have to report on it. It’s one of my biggest parts of my job this year, to handle it. Do we want those to be distractions? Are we going to be able to handle it as a room, or does it turn into a distraction? I think I need to coach that.

“But s*** happens. We’re not the only team that has things go on like this.”

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