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.
“I am very happy to bring in John to be the next head coach and voice behind the bench of the Flyers,” said Fletcher via a Flyers press release. “John demands the best out of his players every single game. He is a Stanley Cup Champion and has a lengthy track record of both regular season and playoff success. During the interview process we discussed a number of factors that are crucial to bring this team immediate success and it became clear to me that his vision and style makes him the right person to restore a winning environment to our locker room.”
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:
“I think it all starts with practice,” Atkinson said at exit interviews about their season. “You practice how you play. Especially when I turned pro, I learned that from John Tortorella. He was great in that aspect. I think going into next year, we need to find a way to have some more grit, some more jam, more ‘F you” to our game, on both sides of the puck, in our crease, defending our goalie and in their crease. I thought we were a pretty soft team this year in my opinion.”
What should be expected?
Of course, the Flyers are not Stanley Cup contenders, however, one thing that is for certain, the Flyers will be hard to play against next season. Even if the Flyers miss the playoffs, they will not be the pushovers of the league anymore with the hiring Tortorella. How many times last season or season’s for that matter have the Flyers been pushovers? It has been a common theme since at least the 2019-20 team.
Gone are the days of the Flyers being soft, or players not sticking up for one another. This team needs a culture change, and it starts with Tortorella. He is the perfect coach to implement a no non-sense type system that the Flyers so desperately needs. If a player takes a shift off, then say adios, he hits the bench.
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 5th Head Coach hired in six seasons for the orange and black.
“I am very excited to be joining such a historic and well-respected franchise like the Philadelphia Flyers. From my very first conversation with Chuck, I knew this was the right fit for me and I believe in the direction this team is heading. Having faced the Flyers for several years, I know firsthand how tough of a city Philly is to play in and I look forward to being on the right side of the bench on opening night in front of such a loyal and passionate crowd of Flyers fans.” – John Tortorella
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Dude. You really need to learn how to write! At the VERY least proofread. Awful