Photo Credit: NHL.com
Throughout the summer, John Tortorella has preached about the changes he was going to put in place to evolve the culture of the Flyers locker room. It didn’t take long, as a Tortorella ran a quiet practice, with a smaller crowd than normal, that focused heavily on skating and testing the player’s will to compete. To some people it might appear boring or some kind of punishment to the players for past sins, but that is a misconception. This is the new standard that Tortorella was referring to all summer. This is a true culture change and one that does not come from words, but from action. It has been a long time since the Flyers were considered a disciplined and heavily conditioned team and that should be completely unacceptable for an organization chasing excellence.
Typically the Flyers have gotten by on the talent of a handful of star players to carry them out of mediocrity and into a playoff spot. However, that luxury is now gone and it could end up being some of the best thing that ever happened to some of the players who watched their leaders leave town. It is now their time to elevate their game, and take it to the next level. Years ago Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, and Sean Couturier all made a choice to get more discipline in their preparation. It paid off, as all of them saw elite stardom during their tenure with the team. The extra work to their nightly performances on the ice to a superior level of others around them. Now that opportunity is laid forth on the feet of players like Travis Konecny, Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, Owen Tippett, Ivan Provorov, and many others who have already shown that they can play at a high level, but have yet to hit that next gear to league stardom. Well it’s that time and for the first point in over a decade, the Flyers have a man who demands that level of discipline out of everyone on the team. Sure this season could be more of the same, but seeing a start like this can’t help bring up the question, “What happens if it works?”. Time will tell and the Flyers have plenty of work to do, but this is damn good place to start.
On this episode of Gettin Gritty With It Yariv and Vasili talk about the Flyers slew of recent injury updates, the beginning of training camp, and John Tortorella’s latest press conference. Even with the recent bad news of Ellis and Couturier’s injuries, it’s hard to not feel the energy coming from Tortorella’s attitude and it’s become infections. Listen to this latest episode as we go through our latest impressions on the status of the team and ask if it’s time to panic or stay the course for this 2022-23 NHL season.
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