John Tortorella has been fired by the Flyers

Former Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella is known to be a hard-nosed coach, who commands the most from his players. He is not afraid of benching or calling out star studded players either. This was one reason why the majority of the Flyers team reported early for training camp for the past few seasons. They also knew that they would have to give their all to fight to stay in the lineup.

It’s become apparent as some have excelled, and some have had difficulties learning this, but on most nights the Flyers do not have a problem with effort. The team may not be talented enough to beat stiff competition or playoff bound teams on a nightly basis, but they do fight and claw their way into games nine times out of 10, “This falls on me,” Tortorella said following the loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. “I’m not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season, where we are at right now, but I have to do a better job. This falls on me, getting the team prepared to play the proper way until we get to the end.”

Tortorella is a competitor, and he wants to win every night. Unfortunately, his team is just not that talented, especially following the trade deadline, with moving a few key parts of the organizational leadership ladder. It appears some players are still in the fog from such, but this is the business. I think that’s what Tortorella was alluding to. His team hasn’t been fully prepared, mentally, and that’s the part this team is struggling with it appears.

However, a benching of Cam York and possibly shattering his confidence was the final straw in the coffin for the Flyers and Tortorella.

https://twitter.com/NHLFlyers/status/1905244522784698507

“Today, I made the decision to move on from John as our Head Coach,” Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere said.

Cam York’s benching was perplexing, but it’s part of the process

Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store

Cool Matvei Michkov merchandise

Tortorella and the players equally deserve blame for this collapse. It’s not just one person, it’s all, especially the Goaltenders. It has become quite apparent that Tortorella did in fact lose the room.

The post-game comments on tuesday, coupled with another benching of Cam York were the final straws in his firing, as mentioned above. I did not like the York benching, the whole team was demoralized and lethargic, so why bench York? Why hold York to a higher standard, than the other players that played horribly?

In the end, the Flyers top brass viewed Tortorella’s post-game comments as him checking out, rightfully so. They had a lot of discussions I’m sure, that Flyers top brass that is. And they made the conscience decision to fire Tortorella, and clearly they want to move in a different direction, especially with having some cap space to spend in the Summer.

I’m happy Brad Shaw gets a shot, as he becomes the Interim Flyers Head Coach. Good for him, he deserves it. I presume a lot of stuff happened behind the scenes that we don’t know about, but hopefully we will find out soon.

Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere had this to say about firing John Tortorella, “Today I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach. John played a vital role in our rebuild. He set a standard of play and re-established what it means to be a Philadelphia Flyer. John’s passion on the bench was only equaled by his charitable work in our community. As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our team to move forward. I’d like to thank John for his tireless work and commitment to the Flyers.”

“On behalf of the entire Flyers organization, we would like to thank John for his dedication over the past three seasons,” Flyers’ Governor Dan Hilferty and President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones said. “We fully support Danny’s decision in making this change as he continues to do what is needed for the future of our organization. John Tortorella has made a positive impact throughout the Flyers organization, and we are grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to work with him. We wish John, Christine and their family all the best moving forward.”