Confirmed with Link: The new coach of the Philadelphia Flyers is John Tortorella

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Torts gave Dubinsky top 6 minutes his first two seasons coaching in CBJ.

At 31 he moved him to a lesser role as two young centers emerged, and Dubinsky was breaking down physically (and partially his own fault due to his own admission of less than stellar conditioning).

If Hayes whines about Torts demoting him in favor of Frost in a year, if the later outplays him, who's going to call out Torts for that?

As far as the other whiner, he was a scrub who got a chance in Torts first season, failed to produce his second season and was traded.

Note players like Dubois, who crossed swords with Torts, has nothing but praise for Torts - and has said Torts wasn't the reason he demanded a trade.

It's simple with Torts, the whiners, the thin skinned and those who won't work hard will be gone in a season.
The young mobile D will love the freedom he gives them to make plays in the O-zone.
The forwards will have to play a two way game.

The rest will embrace him b/c he communicates (breath of fresh air after Hakstol and AV), from all reports actually cares about his players as people, and to cap it off, is a serious dog lover who supports organizations that place stray dogs.

This is the biggest thing that people can't seem to wrap their heads around. There's definitely going to be guys in the doghouse and people will definitely get benched or have minutes taken away for making mistakes. Some players will rebound and some will pout and whine and not rebound. I don't want the latter on this team.

In reality though, it doesn't matter. This team sucks. The defense is not going to be good as constructed. Sanheim and Provolone have been the centerpieces for the most part for the past five + years or so. The defense has sucked throughout. Risto sucks. Ellis does not suck but he is hurt and getting older. York will not be a difference maker. Nor will Attard or any other prospect. If they can't DRASTICALLY improve the roster somehow this off season (which they can't), the entire defense should be blown to smithereens. Shot out of a cannon. Traded for whatever they can get, because they will not be successful trodding out the same garbage and pretending it is everyone else's fault except the players.

We have no one on offense who can do anything other than Coots and Farabee. Frost is not going to be a difference maker. JVR and Hayes are not difference makers. Laughton is fine as long as he is on the 4th line. Konecny should be traded to the highest bidder ASAP because his value is only going to crash. Lindblom is also fine as long as he isn't the focal point, which he shouldn't be but he's a hero so he can stay. Brink is not going to be anything special but he has a cool name. The rest is hot garbage.

Torts won't fix this. Trotz wouldn't fix it. Whomever the darling of the advanced stats world or the HFBoards coach of the year is won't fix it. The team sucks. I hate this team. But I am going to watch and complain for the next five years while they continue to suck and make the same mistakes over and over again because pain is life and life is pain.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Old Skool hockey is timeless

 

[FlyerNutter]

The coach is nearly irrelevant to me.

The continued refusal to rebuild, and acknowledge that a lack of high end talent cannot be obtained in enough quantity through FA/trades.

That’s the primary problem. Focusing on nonsense things like “effort”, or the impact of what’s sure to be some nice sound bites from Torts is what shitty organizations do.

Don’t lose sight of the main problems, and the men behind them.

 

[GKJ]

It makes sense why they would look at DeBoer. His teams get off and running. He’s gone to the finals twice in his first year, and then 2 semifinals with Vegas. It’s clear their priority isn’t process, it’s creating buzz and worrying about it not being sustainable later. They want to sprint in a marathon.

 

[Diaper Mask Bandits]

How did CBJ make the playoffs 4 years running in Torts' 2nd to 5th seasons?

Panarin didn't leave b/c of Torts, he left b/c he wanted NYC and $12M a year to play (on and off the ice) there.
Dubois said his trade demands were not due to Torts (probably due to being lowballed by the GM).
Saad wasn't traded b/c f Torts, but b/c they could obtain 2 cost controlled seasons of Panarin.

The only player "run out of town" by Torts was Johansen his first season, traded for Seth Jones. Johansen proceeded to have a career marked by inconsistency in Nashville, probably what got him into Torts' doghouse in the first place.

Torts' "toxicity" is greatly exaggerated. Whereas the Ranger fans warned us about AV, the CBJ fans seemed to love Torts.

Yes, he'll probably rub a couple players the wrong way, but odds are those players will be traded and go on to have mediocre careers elsewhere, b/c what will get them in his doghouse is some combination of inconsistent motor, lack of conditioning or unwillingness/inability to play a two way game.

He's more likely to rub the PTB the wrong way, b/c he'll call out their bullshit, and if he becomes a fan favorite with his straight shooting, and turns the team around, will threaten the power of some of the old circle.

If Eric Lindros couldn't threaten Bob Clarke's power grip over the organization, then I doubt Torts will pose a serious threat

 

[Beef Invictus]

Enjoying the dissonance of "Tortorella is a development mastermind" and "it's fine so many good prospects flop after playing under him"

 

[Tripod]

Torts is a better pick than the other trash finalists.

In the end, he will make the team better, and more uncomfortable. But it won’t matter because we keep losing skill and assets with every move we make.

 

[deadhead]

Not so long ago the Flyers young guys were highly thought of. They haven't met expectations. Maybe they aren't that good but maybe it was development and usage that held some of them back. Perhaps Torts can get more out of them than AV did. Heck AV never even saw some of them play on tape or in front of him. As we saw with Cates and Attard when they came up and settled in, there is some talent there with them and others.

The ones who didn't meet expectations are pretty much gone, Patrick, Myers, Rubtsov, Laberge, Bunnaman, NAK, Friedman, Vorobyev. None have done squat elsewhere, #6/#7 D-men, 4th line/AHL+ forwards.

The underachievers left are Frost, Ratcliffe, Allison, Laczynski, Hogberg, Wylie, JOB.

The next wave is arriving N Cates, Tippett, York, Brink, Attard, Fedotov, Lycksell, Foerster, Andrae, Wisdom, Desnoyers.

This is the group Torts has to elevate for this team to have a future.

Just as important, to get their core group, Hart, Farabee, TK, Lindblom, Provorov, Sanheim to take their game up a level.

 

[Diaper Mask Bandits]

This is the biggest thing that people can't seem to wrap their heads around. There's definitely going to be guys in the doghouse and people will definitely get benched or have minutes taken away for making mistakes. Some players will rebound and some will pout and whine and not rebound. I don't want the latter on this team.

In reality though, it doesn't matter. This team sucks. The defense is not going to be good as constructed. Sanheim and Provolone have been the centerpieces for the most part for the past five + years or so. The defense has sucked throughout. Risto sucks. Ellis does not suck but he is hurt and getting older. York will not be a difference maker. Nor will Attard or any other prospect. If they can't DRASTICALLY improve the roster somehow this off season (which they can't), the entire defense should be blown to smithereens. Shot out of a cannon. Traded for whatever they can get, because they will not be successful trodding out the same garbage and pretending it is everyone else's fault except the players.

We have no one on offense who can do anything other than Coots and Farabee. Frost is not going to be a difference maker. JVR and Hayes are not difference makers. Laughton is fine as long as he is on the 4th line. Konecny should be traded to the highest bidder ASAP because his value is only going to crash. Lindblom is also fine as long as he isn't the focal point, which he shouldn't be but he's a hero so he can stay. Brink is not going to be anything special but he has a cool name. The rest is hot garbage.

Torts won't fix this. Trotz wouldn't fix it. Whomever the darling of the advanced stats world or the HFBoards coach of the year is won't fix it. The team sucks. I hate this team. But I am going to watch and complain for the next five years while they continue to suck and make the same mistakes over and over again because pain is life and life is pain.

i totally agree but I haven't watched in over 2 years.... not going to start again now.

but I enjoy reading about how bad they are

 

[bobbythebrain]

Wonder if Flutch will start the presser by praising Yandle again

 

[Flyerfan4life]

with Torts being offical now, i wonder how much sway he will have over the roster this off season..

hopefully all of Hayes buddies can get flushed and we stop offering roster slots to the old dogs.. but really i have no faith left..

Torts aint gunan do jack shit here, the roster is what it is.. a collection of broken misfit toys..

so typical of my luk, to finaly get Torts at a time when the roster is as dogshit as its ever been

 

[GKJ]

Torts is a better pick than the other trash finalists.

In the end, he will make the team better, and more uncomfortable. But it won’t matter because we keep losing skill and assets with every move we make.

I’d be completely fine with getting players up to be attractive trade pieces. That’s what’s going to happen anyways when team craters, and the powers that be decide the next step is purging the roster again

 

[Captain3rdLine]

So a guy on the Flyers media payroll is doing spin control. Colour me shocked.

Regardless of who it’s coming from, despite the narrative that Torts’s players hate playing for him there’s a lot more evidence to support the contrary.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Wonder if GoFletchYourself will start the presser by praising Yandle again

 

[TheKingPin]

The flyers are an absolute disaster. If this were a company, would anyone invest? They hired an outside firm to tell them to hire Torts which was always the most likely. They hired stat pros to tell them not to trade or sign Risto and do it anyway. They are paying a ton for two coaches when you can only use 1. They lose in every margin possible.

Ironically, Comcast internet failed at my work yesterday costing us profits. I personally have ATT.

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Wonder if Flutch will start the presser by praising Yandle again

Torts is probably holding out for a few more dollars. Chuck will happily oblige.

 

[TheKingPin]

Torts is probably holding out for a few more dollars. Chuck will happily oblige.

Chuck defaults to Minnesota time.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

I mean I'm sure Torts has his fans (Atkinson), but what do you expect players to say in public?

I mean they don’t have to full on endorse him do they?
There’s a lot more evidence to suggest players like playing for torts than there is that they don’t.

 

[deadhead]

We'll see. If Torts first seasons in CBJ is any indicator, there won't be a lot of additions in FA, not only do the Flyers lack cap room, but Torts doesn't seem to roll that way - he's more focused on getting the most of the players he has, and the Flyers have a lot of young players with upside potential.

Torts does give talented D-man more leeway to make plays on offense, that bodes well for Provorov, Sanheim, York and Attard.
And he did turn David Savard into a solid D-man, so there's some hope for Risto.

One of the bizarre aspects of Torts' reputation is that players who get into his doghouse seem to retain their trade value as other GMs seem to blame Torts, not the players.

 

[Tripod]

My wife's reaction to me telling her we hired Torts:

"Oh god. Well you stopped watching because they were boring. Are you going to watch to see the drama?"

It's nice to be married to a woman who watches lots of hockey as she has seen lots of his antics.

 

[Beef Invictus]

We'll see. If Torts first seasons in CBJ is any indicator, there won't be a lot of additions in FA, not only do the Flyers lack cap room, but Torts doesn't seem to roll that way - he's more focused on getting the most of the players he has, and the Flyers have a lot of young players with upside potential.

Torts does give talented D-man more leeway to make plays on offense, that bodes well for Provorov, Sanheim, York and Attard.
And he did turn David Savard into a solid D-man, so there's some hope for Risto.

One of the bizarre aspects of Torts' reputation is that players who get into his doghouse seem to retain their trade value as other GMs seem to blame Torts, not the players.

Tortorella isn't the GM.

Part of the end in Columbus, in fact, involved him requesting to be let go because his boss (the general manager of the team, who is in charge of roster construction) was building more towards the inevitable future of the league and leaving Torts behind. He recognized it and wanted out, and they refused him. (Never mind how ominous that is for the Flyers as we are only getting deeper into this skill-favoring era)

See, if Tortorella had roster control, he'd have just built the team differently instead. But he is a coach, so that isn't his job. Just as it isn't his job now. Nor was it AV's. It is Fletcher's. Coaches are not general managers. They are distinct positions.

Glad to have helped.

 

[PhillyWings]

Wonder if Flutch will start the presser by praising Yandle again

Where will the PC be broadcast?

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Some company the Flyers hired for this process. Represented Tortorella and Capuano (no word yet on DeBoer) in the past through other agencies.

 

[kudymen]

Big question: will a great coach like John Tortorella succeed with an unlucky GM Chuck Fletcher who is fighting through many bizzare, weird or unlucky years lately? :-O

 

[FLYguy3911]

I mean they don’t have to full on endorse him do they?
There’s a lot more evidence to suggest players like playing for torts than there is that they don’t.

We're talking about hockey players here. The ones that regurgitate cliches unlike any other sport. If a player is asked at a year-end press availability, he's either going to say he liked the coach or he will take the high-road. You won't find many examples of active hockey players who trash their former coaches. These often don't come out until they are retired (if at all).