John Tortorella & Danny Briere Flyers end of the season press conference

[Hollywood Cannon]

I'm serious when I asked this:

WHEN THE F*** DID WE HIRE DANY HEATLEY

Back in the general preseason time. I think they hired him and Bob Murray at the same time, IIRC.

Two integral "culture" guys.

 

[ajgoal]

I'm serious when I asked this:

WHEN THE F*** DID WE HIRE DANY HEATLEY

Last offseason, iirc.

 

[GKJ]

They hired Heatley as a scout I believe.

 

[Striiker]

Don’t see a problem trade half of 8 1st and 2nd round picks + Barkey, Bonk, Tuomaala (until nobody understands they are busts) for turn this roster to contender.

But unfortunately fans want mooooooore picks for everyone who can skate

That's not how you build a contender, Chuck. That's how you end up a shit franchise who never competes, like this one.

 

[Boocowski]

32 Thoughts made a comment about Buffalo "trading for Torts" which made me laugh but there's our top trade partner. They have made it known they want grit/character/toughness (whatever terms you want to use) and they have an abundance of fast, skilled, talented young players. They took us to the cleaners on Risto so they'd be happy to (think) they could do it again. There is opportunity there (even if the Torts trade idea was a joke).

 

[Tarpongg]

Seravalli on nasty knuckles is worth a listen. First media person not licking torte’s balls, pretty refreshing.

-Said he’s a really good coach, but THE worst coach for this team. Will squeeze 10-15 more points out than the roster merits.
-players are unhappy, despite the public face. Coots benching changed the demeanor of the team. Publicly undressing Brink, scratching Sanheim
-has too much power, has Hilferty’s ear, has say in personnel… too much
-so many buttons he could push, but he’s always pushing the giant red one, it’s his nature.

 

[Flyerfan4life]

Seravalli on nasty knuckles is worth a listen. First media person not licking torte’s balls, pretty refreshing.

-Said he’s a really good coach, but THE worst coach for this team. Will squeeze 10-15 more points out than the roster merits.
-players are unhappy, despite the public face. Coots benching changed the demeanor of the team. Publicly undressing Brink, scratching Sanheim
-has too much power, has Hilferty’s ear, has say in personnel… too much
-so many buttons he could push, but he’s always pushing the giant red one, it’s his nature.

not one person here could have called this...

not one..

Maximumpain

 

[Nizzle]

The Tortorella Flyers

 

[Beef Invictus]

There should be zero link between Hilferty and Tortorella besides the occasional cordial greetings.

 

[TheKingPin]

Seravalli on nasty knuckles is worth a listen. First media person not licking torte’s balls, pretty refreshing.

-Said he’s a really good coach, but THE worst coach for this team. Will squeeze 10-15 more points out than the roster merits.
-players are unhappy, despite the public face. Coots benching changed the demeanor of the team. Publicly undressing Brink, scratching Sanheim
-has too much power, has Hilferty’s ear, has say in personnel… too much
-so many buttons he could push, but he’s always pushing the giant red one, it’s his nature.

Wow this is spot on.

We are trying to tank. We should have easily hired Lappy to be the fall guy. Torts falsely elevates things for no purpose at all.

 

[Chinatown88]

 

[renberg]

I could see Buffalo wanting Tortorella and it being a mutual love affair. It's been a long time since the Flyers traded a coach but it would be great if they could do it here and now. However the odds of that are minuscule.
My prediction is that the club will suffer a severe regression next season. Tortorella's act has started to wear on the players. Once the guys go home and get to rehash the season in their minds, they'll see that there for the grace of God could have gone them with Tortorella's abuse.
Under examination, exactly what does Tortorella's scheme bring? Accountability for some but not others; public embarrassment/humiliation; boring predictable hockey; a lack of creativity and more. If not for Shaw being able to squeeze water out of rocks on defense, this team would be bottom three level in the League. Torts got the jump on the League last fall but it caught up with him this spring. In '24-25, the opponents will be on him from the first game on.

 

[Curufinwe]

They hired Heatley as a scout I believe.

Not as the bus driver?

Seravalli on nasty knuckles is worth a listen. First media person not licking torte’s balls, pretty refreshing.

-Said he’s a really good coach, but THE worst coach for this team. Will squeeze 10-15 more points out than the roster merits.
-players are unhappy, despite the public face. Coots benching changed the demeanor of the team. Publicly undressing Brink, scratching Sanheim
-has too much power, has Hilferty’s ear, has say in personnel… too much
-so many buttons he could push, but he’s always pushing the giant red one, it’s his nature.

The Sanheim scratch was last season tbf

 

[04hockey]

-players are unhappy, despite the public face. Coots benching changed the demeanor of the team.

that was a mind boggler, making him Captain then scratching him ??

that raised eyebrows around the NHL

.....wouldn't surprise me if he's asked to go upstairs during the off season

 

[BrindamoursNose]

Frank Seravalli spitting nothing but facts about Tortorella and the situation the Flyers have put themselves in...his alienation of young, core players. (should jump right to Frank discussing Torts' biggest issues around the 28:11 mark).

 

[FlyerNutter]

Avalanche have a great top line, but the rest of the lineup is just so fun to watch.

Aggressive, and fast like meth.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Avalanche have a great top line, but the rest of the lineup is just so fun to watch.

Aggressive, and fast like meth.

Their depth isn't nearly what it was, and I'd probably favor WPG's bottom roster, but they sure do figure "well we will probably get scored on so let's try to score more" is the best solution.

 

[FlyerNutter]

Ehlers when healthy (rare) has vintage Giroux vibes.

Solid game.

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Their depth isn't nearly what it was, and I'd probably favor WPG's bottom roster, but they sure do figure "well we will probably get scored on so let's try to score more" is the best solution.

Their depth was never good.

 

[GapToothedWonder]

Only because they got like 5 first overall picks... but then again they have still done nothing.

Your version of nothing is 4 straight seasons of .635 or better hockey and 3 playoff series wins?

Did you also think the Avs were over rated? What about TB?

 

[Beef Invictus]

For all the fear of a rebuild not working to perfection, the Flyers have become a cautionary tale for why you should rebuild. If I'm a fan of an aging or stuck team, weighing options, "if we don't rebuild we will become Philadelphia" would be the major concern.

 

[Ironmanrulez]

Who are they trading all that shit for?

The point of accumulating the picks is to make them or, yes, trade them. But you want to be getting your high-impact guys through the draft, so you have them from the very start of their careers with as much salary control and flexibility as possible. Then you want to be trading the excess picks and prospects for established talent to complement the impact players you've drafted.

The caliber of star talent this team needs isn't like, "OK we'll get this guy with a 1st and a 2nd, and that guy with a 2nd and Barkey, and boom now we're an elite contender."

Say a big-ass impact player becomes available. Brady Tkachuk, maybe. He alone is going to cost you all those "spare" picks and prospects. And then you get a single guy, already eating into his prime, without much salary control long-term.

This is how the league works today. You need 3 or 4 really big guns, at least one of whom is a C and another of whom is a D. And then you need a wealth of really good players around them. They're just so, so far away from having them or the resources to get them.

Look at the past few Cup winners.

Vegas had Pietrangelo + Eichel + Stone + Theodore and insane depth like Karlsson, Marchessault et. al.

The Avalanche had MacKinnon + Rantanen + Makar + Landeskog and a sprinkling of Toews, Nichushkin, Kadri...

Tampa? Jesus. Kucherov + Point + Hedman + Vasilevskiy + Stamkos...Sergachev, McDonagh...

The 5th or 6th or 7th best players on those teams would be the best player on the Flyers today. By miles. They don't have a C as good as Kadri or a D as good as aging McDonagh anywhere in their system, let alone any of the guys above them. So far away. Until it's Michkov + X + Y + Z, backed up by a host of strong depth players...there's no contender to be built.

Very good Post! Thx!