The Flyers ended their season last week on Thursday night, and one major takeaway from the season is they played hard. But, the orange and black lacked high-end talent to overtake playoff bound teams on a nightly basis. There was another-often overlooked ongoing issue that plagued this franchise for sometime, to which it was reassessed this past offseason. That issue being the effectiveness in the Flyers choice of medical staff over the course of the past few seasons.
Unfortunately, the Flyers find themselves having to deal with some long-term injuries, with the likes of Ryan Ellis, Sean Couturier, and Cam Atkinson. But, it’s not like anything like years in the past where the Flyers were missing nearly half of their team due to reoccurring injuries or being rushed back from injuries. For example, former player Derick Brassard or Kevin Hayes, and Tanner Laczynski to name a few. It appears former Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher and his staff actually did a good job with reshaping, or adding to the Flyers medical staff this past offseason.
Ian McKeown was added to oversee the health and wellness of all players for the orange and black this past offseason, “McKeown will establish and oversee a comprehensive and coordinated health and wellness program for all players within the Flyers organization while working closely with the team of doctors and specialists at Penn Medicine,” the Flyers said in a press release this past Summer.
Former Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher also added Tommy Alva as their Head Trainer, Jeff Taylor as Physical Therapist/Rehab Coordinator, and Gavin McClelland as a Data Engineer. The Flyers clearly acknowledged that there is/was a problem within the medical staff department, and these moves forced the move of former Head of Medicine Jim McCrossin to another role within the organization.
Tortorella spoke candidly about the previous Flyers medical staff regime, to which he stated that the former problems have been “Stabilized”:
“I think there was a huge scab with this organization with medical staff and how they were handling things. When I first took the job I didn’t realize how long these medical problems, or how things were being handled were going on for.” a direct John Tortorella said.
Flyers Head Coach Tortorella continued, “It’s not criticizing one person, but it was a mess. I think Tommy and his staff has stabilized this. It is still something on our to do list, I think they’ve done a better job at not jumping into operations, as why I think happened here. Tommy and his staff have gotten a lot better. Players are a pain in the ass when it comes to this, Tommy has done a real good job on handling it. Three important guys here, Coots, TK, Atkinson- three important guys who are stubborn. The history that has gone on here has brought a lack of confidence for players. Chuck and Barry put a lot of time into trying to fix this up here.”
It’s good to hear that things have gotten better in terms of the Flyers medical staff this season, however, Tortorella did also say that the team still has some work to do to further regain the Flyers trust medically. That was the biggest key, and one main reason Fletcher further revamped the Flyers medical staff this past offseason. He knew there was a problem, and Fletcher tried to eradicate the problem.
“Players are a pain in the ass when it comes to this, Tommy has done a real good job on handling it.” – John Tortorella
Look at a few months ago when Tortorella emphatically stated that Couturier wanted to return this season, but the medical staff told him no. It was of his best interest to get stronger and in game shape for next season. In years past, the medical staff would have listened to the player, and let him return to action.
“The medical people, Danny, and I talked about a week and half ago to two weeks, and with Tommy and what he’s been putting him through,” Tortorella said emphatically. “The decision has been made through that group he is not going to play this season.”
Tortorella continued, “Coots is aggravated and I love it. This is what makes him get ready for the strenuous camp. This is different from TK. He (Coots) didn’t have a camp, he’s not up to speed. This is what I respect about Coots. He’s stubborn, it’s the right kind of stubbornness.”
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Circling back to trusting the medical staff. It was good to hear Cam Atkinson at his exit interview state that he trusts the medical staff, and it’s different when it’s actually coming from a player rather than a coach or someone else in the organization:
“It went through a pretty, pretty significant change (Medical Staff), the new head athletic trainers and bringing in new guys that I hadn’t know as well,” Atkinson said. “You’re trying to trust certain people. I have all my trust in Tommy and the team that’s here now. It obviously took a little bit of time just because like I was going through things that I’ve never experienced and listening to this guy, that guy. People telling me this. Someone telling me that. It was just a kind of a gong show. It definitely has gotten straightened out and it’s going to continue to get better. Like I said, I’ve been rehabbing here since my surgery for the last couple months and trust them.”
“Like I said, I’ve been rehabbing here since my surgery for the last couple months and trust them.” – Cam Atkinson said at exit interviews
What I will say, it is nice for once to partake in the exit interview process without players saying they are being scheduled for this surgery, or they are being scheduled for surgery with the hopes of being ready for Training Camp. This season most players didn’t specify any injuries or surgery better being scheduled. The only player in particular that said he had a few minor injuries was Wade Allison, but he did say they should be fine in a few weeks. One major reason for the success this season in this area is the proper diagnosis of minor injuries, coupled with not rushing players back from injury.
The hope is that things continue to improve under Danny Briere’s guidance, especially with his trust that he has built with current players. Having a good, solid Medical Staff is a key dynamic to building a Stanley Cup contender. Of course, the Flyers are nowhere near that, but this is true if the orange and black want to properly succeed with their rebuild.
