Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia Flyers have hired a former Stanley Cup winning Head Coach John Tortorella to a four year deal, worth $16 million, per Kevin Weekes. He won a Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning back in the 2003-04 season. 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.
For his efforts, Tortorella is the second most winningest American born coach in history to Peter Laviolette. He has a record of 239-222-36 (Ties)-38 (OTL losses) as a Head Coach, and Tortorella becomes the 23rd Head Coach in Flyers history.
The Flyers have been bottom feeders in the league for the past two years. One had to believe that a no non-sense coach was in the cards in the distant future. This current Flyers team needs a sense of direction and guidance, as they really had an embarrassing campaign this past season of historic proportions in a bad way.
Flyers’ CEO Dave Scott even chimed in on Tortorella, “This is a critical moment for our franchise, and Chuck has made a strong selection in John Tortorella as the next Head Coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. John embodies the values of this franchise and city – hard work, grit, and determination – and I’m excited for him to get to work with our team right away.”
Tortorella is not afraid to call out starts, as he had a rocky relationship with Patrik Laine when he was a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, one of Tortorella’s players gave kudos to him at exit interviews, with none other than Cam Atkinson.
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Chuck Fletcher just wants the Flyers to become harder to play against, and John Tortorella emphasizes that same notion, as well:
“Bottom line, I want the team to be harder. I think we need to present ourselves, look harder, coming off the bus, coming into buildings. I want other teams to say you know what we’ve got our hands full tonight.” – John Tortorella
This won’t be an easy overnight process, however, at least the Flyers should be a fun team to watch again, a competitive team. The Flyers were soft last season, in a sense they were not competitive for three quarters of the season. How this will work out is anyone’s guess, but hopefully this is a long-term investment for the Flyers, as Tortorella becomes the fifth Head Coach hired in six seasons for the orange and black. This is a trend hopefully the Flyers have cured with hiring Tortorella.
Maybe they can try Viagra.