When John Tortorella was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers in the summer of 2022, he mentioned that this would be his final coaching gig. However, what ensued shortly afterwards was the notion that he would then be promoted to an upper management position.
With one year left on his deal, could that promotion take place this summer?
As has been the case nearly his entire coaching career, there’s a clear divide between those that agree with his hard-nosed, old-school mentality and those that believe his old school methods no longer fly or work in the modern game.
Assistant coach Brad Shaw is a popular guy around the NHL and has had a lot of interest over the last few seasons for head coaching gigs elsewhere. Things have never transpired further though and he’s remained in Philadelphia, much to the delight of the Flyers’ upper management group.
If Tortorella does jump into a management position in what is supposed to be the final year of his 4-year coaching contract, Shaw would more than likely get the promotion to head coach, which would leave the fanbase and the players in a peculiar position.
Many players have come out in defense of Tortorella, especially those who played under him in Tampa Bay or New York. However, there’s been a constant belief that certain players don’t want to play in Philadelphia due to his coaching habits.
Just recently, forward Patrik Laine reportedly refused a trade to Philadelphia before accepting one to Montréal due to his history with Tortorella.
In a recent NHL poll conducted by The Athletic, unnamed players were asked what coach they would most like to play for and conversely who they wouldn’t want to play under. Tortorella got the 7th-most votes for the former, trailing Jon Cooper, Paul Maurice, Rod Brind’Amour, Craig Berube, Jim Montgomery, and Pete DeBoer.
On the other side of the poll, Tortorella cleared with 38.46% of the vote for which could you would least like to play for. He ranked ahead of Bruce Cassidy (12.31%) and even Mike Babcock (7.69%).
Players like Kevin Hayes, Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, and Tony DeAngelo were all on the wrong side of Tortorella’s hard coaching and eventually found themselves traded or bought out.
On top of that, they weren’t quiet about their disdain towards what they believed was unfair treatment, like Farabee talked about on Saturday night.
Sean Couturier was another interesting case because shortly after he was named captain, he was scratched, benched, or demoted for nearly the entirety of the second half of the 2023-24 season. There’s certainly a method to Tortorella’s madness but it very rarely lasts as long as it did, especially to a player like Couturier who was having a great first half of the season.
Former Flyer Chris Pronger talked about it during a visit to the Nasty Knuckles podcast and talked about how stuff like that affects the team’s ability to keep or even go after players during free agency.
It’s a small league and everyone knows everything and it certainly plays a factor, especially when you consider how mild mannered Couturier is, and for him to publicly address it speaks volumes.
Now you have his treatment with Matvei Michkov making the rounds. Some believe it’s ludicrous to bench your most skilled player when your team can barely score one goal per game. However, there’s many that believe he needs to be taught the ins and outs of the NHL, even if it leads to being benched or being made a healthy scratch.
It’s been an up-and-down season for the Russian rookie after he recorded 27 points in his first 27 games. He’s been made a healthy scratch a few times, rode the bench here and there, was seen having a spat with Tortorella on the bench during a game against the New York Islanders in January, and was stapled to the bench in the first period after an error during Sunday’s game.
He’s had a fantastic run since the 4 Nations Face-Off and has been the be-all-end-all of the Flyers offense since the tournament came to a close and the NHL resumed its schedule. However, continuous errors like the one he performed on Sunday will assuredly lead to more in-game spats.
He returned back to the ice to his usual line and ice-time the rest of the way but it was another episode that was also featured on a national broadcast to bring more eyes on the situation.
After the game, Tortorella was expectedly pressed by the media about the Michkov situation and he didn’t mince his words or feelings.
“Let me tell you guys something, okay. There are a number of things that come into play, not one specific play, okay. And you’re at a disadvantage because I’m not going to give you information. It’s not always the play on the ice that I’m trying to teach. Use that as a context before you start all your bulls—.
“There are so many things that go on with me trying to develop that player and we’re going to continue to do it the way that I think it should be done but don’t just look at ‘the play’, no he didn’t do the job as far as backchecking, no he didn’t do the job in the offensive zone, but there are a number of other things that come into play and again, I need to show you the respect that I’m not going to give you that information and you don’t realize that. So don’t make a bigger deal out of it than you think you need to.”
Tortorella’s mantra has always been that no one is above the law and that rubbed certain players the wrong way, like Hayes for example. The lackadaisical effort off the puck is what drives him mad and we’ve seen it affect players like Hayes, Farabee, Cam York, and Travis Sanheim. Some players bounce back after the fact, some don’t.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom with players like Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Rasmus Ristolainen, Noah Cates, and Scott Laughton having done very well or even a lot better than their previous seasons under Tortorella’s guidance.
However, when you hear from outside voices that maybe players will think twice about Philadelphia because of the coach, it makes you question his methods and whether or not he’s the right man for the job.
To his credit, Tortorella didn’t bench Michkov the entire game, as it was just the latter segment of the first period. Michkov is still only 20 years old and he has a lot to learn about the ins and outs of the NHL, especially away from the puck.
It’s a learning curve and Tortorella doesn’t want to deal with him with kid gloves as he alluded to in his recent tirade. Everyone understands the importance of Michkov and what he means for the present and the future standing of this organization.
They want him to learn about all facets of NHL hockey and because of that, he’s been under a microscope compared to some of his other teammates. The Konecnys and the Tippetts can sometimes get away with some of the same mistakes.
Unfortunately, he’s the type of head coach where he gets run out of town due to his antics and theatrics. They’ve certainly rubbed a large faction of the fanbase the wrong way – and a lot of them were originally on his side.
It’s frustrating because sometimes it just doesn’t make sense.
Couturier should have never been banished for as long as he was last year, Frost had a very tight leash in the first few seasons, Emil Andrae looked really good before riding the pine, Aleksei Kolosov got a lot more run than needed over Ivan Fedotov, and now Michkov riding the pine even once is more than enough for fans to be irate again.
You’re more than entitled to have your opinion on whether or not Tortorella is the right fit for the Flyers and there are certainly arguments to be displayed from both sides that make sense. Nevertheless, as bumpy as the ride has been at times, he has instilled some level of identity, culture, and accountability, all of which were lacking before he got here.
In saying that, you might not have to wait all that long because if it’s not next season, it will more than likely happen when his contract runs out. At that point he’s expected to find himself in an upper management role, leaving the coaching duties to someone else.
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