Photo Credit: NHL.com
John Tortorella gave a passionate presser yesterday, one in which he said chose Philadelphia because of the “Emblem”. Tortorella said all the right things, and really was commanding from the start, “Let’s first talk about the emblem,” Tortorella said on why he chose the Flyers. “As I told Chuck, I look at that emblem. Back in ’04 we were fortunate enough, I was coaching Tampa, we went through Philly to win a Stanley Cup, beating Philly in the Conference Finals. I remember telling my wife and I told Chuck this story, ‘Man, that is a place I would love an opportunity to be in and coach.’ The passion of the people, the building, everything about the city. It was really neat for me.
Tortorella continued, “I remember one of my first meetings with Chuck when we started this, he wore a shirt with the emblem and I said, ‘That’s where I want to be.’ That’s an opportunity that I have right now as I speak with you. I know Chuck wants to get going here and turn it around.”
He spoke like he wanted the season to start today, without making predictions for next year. One major takeaway from his presser is how energetic or enthusiastic he was to be the 23rd coach in Flyers history. If I was a player listening to this press conference, then I would run through a wall or do whatever it takes to have his back, “I think I’ve kind of come full circle here, players need to express themselves. You need structure. I think one of the most important attributes of a head coach is to find and teach the structure away from the puck. I work at that. I kind of get coined as that defensive guy. You can coin me anyway you want; you can say what you want about me. That is a huge part of winning.”
“As you see in the payoffs right now, as you listen to some of the players talking about it in the playoffs right now,” Tortorella continued. “It’s a huge part of being who you want to be and I think it really develops a standard of being a hard team to play against. On the other side of that, I think you have to get out of the way. I do think we overcoach at times. It’s something I try to check myself daily as I’m dealing with the players, especially in the offensive part of the game. I don’t have the ability or the sight that offensive people have or the creativity that they have. I need to allow them to play, but it’s going to be a two-way street. It needs to be a two-way street, just show me that you’re willing to give us something away from the puck. Not going to turn you into a checker, but you got to show me and more importantly show your teammates that you’re willing to do some of the other stuff as an offensive guy away from the puck. Then you have something and I think that’s what develops the right camaraderie of a hockey club. It develops the right attitude of a hockey club and how hard you have to be. I think it starts with your top guys. It’s kind of a give and take there. It’s a teaching process as we go through and I am looking forward, already made some calls today, to having some meetings next week with some of the guys, to start this teaching of a standard and the mentality of what we’re going to be. It’ll be a conversation. It going to be a back-and-forth conversation because I want to learn about them as they will learn about me.”
If a player plays the right way, then he will play. If a player players the incorrect way, then he will see the bench. It’s that simple. Players that are willing to sacrifice for this team WILL play, and that is something that has been missing with the Flyers. The Flyers needed a culture change, and it starts with coaching, then filters all the way up to management. The Flyers top brass have to be willing to develop a new culture too, so hopefully it’s a culture if winning, “I told Chuck in conversations I had with him, I don’t know what I enjoy most, trying to develop the hockey player or trying to develop the person because it’s pretty cool. I’m developing a person in a locker room. My daughter is a schoolteacher, she developing young kids in the classroom. My son is in the army, he’s a leader of men. He’s developing people there. It’s all the same thing, trying to develop the people. We have to make changes as coaches as athletes are different. I’m looking forward to listening.”
He continued on the overall culture of the team, “If we want to get to growing and who we want to be, that organization that people look at as a standard, then yeah, the culture has to change. Culture. Accountability. All those words, they are really cool summertime words. People like saying those things during the summer. I think us as coaches, when we get the job, it’s about the culture changing, the accountability. It’s real easy to say. Really difficult to do.”
This will not be an easy training camp as Tortorella alluded to during his presser. There will be lots of skating and it will be tough, but in the end he wanted a well conditioned for a playoff run, “It’s going to be a very difficult camp,” Tortorella said. “High volume skating. They will be told about this during the summer. We’re attacking it. We’re attacking it. It’s not going to be I guess it’s a rebuild, retool, whatever language is used. I am approaching each and every day to try to make each individual player play better, as a player, as a person then as a team trying to get better each and every day.”
“I’m not in the business to embarrass people,” Tortorella continued. “I’m not in the business to run people out of organizations. I will tell you all right now, my job is to push athletes to levels they are not used to getting to and I’m going to do that.”
How this guy es is anyone’s guess, but a person cannot tell me that they did not enjoy what they heard from Tortorella yesterday.
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Team Store!
