What Does Coach John Tortorella Bring To The Philadelphia Flyers?

According to multiple reports, the Philadelphia Flyers are hiring John Tortorella as their next head coach.

The news was first reported on Tuesday by Kevin Weekes and confirmed on Thursday. He has been Tortorella’s broadcast colleague at ESPN this season.

**Breaking News** 🚨 🗞
Per my initial on #ThePoint ; I can confirm @NHLFlyers are hiring HC John Tortorella in the neighborhood of 4yr X 4M deal, and @GoldenKnights HC Cassidy in the neighborhood of 5 yr X 4.5 M. Coaching Carousel 🎠 continues . @espn @NHL #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/Uvvq5NufM3

— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) June 16, 2022

Sam Carchidi of Philly Hockey Now reports that general manager Chuck Fletcher said Wednesday night that an announcement was coming “soon,” but did not confirm Tortorella by name.

On Thursday morning, Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic suggested that the official announcement would likely come on Friday.

Hearing that negotiations between the Flyers and John Tortorella are in the final stages. Seems like it's more likely the official announcement of the hire will come tomorrow and not today, but it's coming.

— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) June 16, 2022

Barry Trotz Declines

The Flyers’ offer to Tortorella seems to have come after Barry Trotz took himself out of the running. Trotz was believed to have been the Flyers’ first choice to take the coaching reins. But Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported Wednesday that the 2018 Stanley Cup winner decided to go in another direction.

Anthony SanFilippo of Crossing Broad reported Tuesday that Trotz turned down the Flyers’ offer to make him the highest-paid coach in the NHL. One source indicated to SanFilippo that Philadelphia’s offer was north of $7 million per season.

The stumbling point may have been Trotz’s rumored desire to eventually move into management. The two-time Jack Adams award winner as coach of the year turns 60 in July. He has been behind an NHL bench consistently since 1998, with the Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals and New York Islanders.

Trotz’s next step may take him full circle. Michael Gallagher of the Nashville Post reported on Tuesday that Trotz and his wife have just completed the purchase of a new three-bedroom home in Nashville.

Tortorella Preaches Practice Habits

Tortorella’s name has been linked to the Flyers since the end of the season. At his season-ending exit interview, Cam Atkinson gave him a ringing endorsement from his time with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“I think it all starts with practice, you practice how you play,” said the first-year Flyer. “Especially when I turned pro, I learned that from John Tortorella. He was great in that aspect.”

Atkinson pointed out that with the Olympic break initially built into the 2021-22 schedule, there wasn’t much practice time for the Flyers to come together last season. Of course, the 56-game season in 2021 was also tightly packed and further impeded by strict Covid-19 protocols.

The 2022-23 schedule should be back to normal — and include more practice time. If Tortorella is handed the reins this week, he’ll have ample time to prepare ahead of his first training camp in Philadelphia.

The players will need time to prepare, too. Tortorella’s training camps are notoriously intense and high levels of conditioning are expected. Most notoriously, players asked to run two miles in 12 minutes or less.

“Everyone fears the tests, but you shouldn’t train for tests,” said Brandon Dubinsky in 2017, when he served as an assistant captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets under Tortorella. “You should train to be a hockey player and to be in elite condition.

“Guys that put in the work are going to get the benefit, and when the games come you feel fresh. As Torts says, ‘games can be won or lost in the last five minutes.'”

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About Those Finishes

The Flyers need to improve virtually all aspects of their game. After all, they finished 29th in the NHL standings in the 2021-22 season, with a record of 25-46-11 for 61 points.

Goals against were a significant issue. They finished 27th in that category, allowing 3.59 goals per game. And they did become more porous as games went on. In first periods, Philadelphia allowed 80 goals in 82 games, then 103 goals in second periods and 104 goals in third periods.

That trend continued past 60 minutes. In 3-on-3 overtime, Philadelphia’s record was 4-7. In the shootout, it was 1-3.

By contrast, their own scoring was pretty consistent: 68 goals scored in the first period, 71 in the second and 67 in the third.

Upping The Intensity

Atkinson also called out the Flyers for being “a pretty soft team this year in my opinion.” He declared that “we need to find a way to have some more grit, some more jam, some more ‘F you’ to our game.”

That’s also the Tortorella way. He preaches a defense-first structure and a strong work ethic. As currently constructed, the Flyers roster doesn’t have enough skill to match up against the top teams in the NHL. But being hard to play against is all about effort, and sticking to systems. If players buy in, they’ll do a lot better at limiting opposing scoring chances and, subsequently, keeping games close.

Of course, Torts’ demands sometimes rub players the wrong way — and no star is too elite for his criticism.

He has mellowed significantly since he earned a 15-day suspension after attempting to storm the Calgary Flames’ dressing room in 2014, during his single season with the Vancouver Canucks.

But you likely won’t see many Michigan goals on his watch. When Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks set the hockey world ablaze with his behind-the-net flip pass to Sonny Milano early last season, Tortorella said, “Our game has gone so far away from what the game should be — a hard game, an honest game. It’s almost gotten to showman.

“I know you need to have it, you need to sell the game. But I’m from the ilk that an honest hockey game needs to be played.”

Can Tortorella’s old-school thinking still breed success in today’s NHL?

Flyers fans are about to find out.