Before the 2023 offseason unfolded and the new Philadelphia Flyers’ front office was being introduced, the organization made it clear that head coach John Tortorella was part of the “triumvirate of leadership” along with GM Danny Briere and POHO Keith Jones.
Tortorella, easily the most outspoken of the three, has never been afraid to interject his opinion on the roster, so, at the time, it made us wonder how much power did he hold going into the offseason?
Given he was the using the phrase “rebuild” long before the rest of the organization was, maybe it was an indication he was going to step back and let the new-look front office do what’s best for the team moving forward. But did that actually happen?
Now that the dust has settled from the offseason, the answer appears to be no… or at least not as much as originally hoped.
It’s probably not a coincidence that all the moves that were made (and some of the rumors that never came to fruition) seemed to center around the players Tortorella liked and disliked the most.
The first domino to fall this summer was defenseman Ivan Provorov, someone who Tortorella relied upon heavily last season. So when he got traded to Columbus in a three-team deal that was beneficial to the Flyers’ rebuilding efforts, it felt as though Tortorella may actually let the front office work. But that ultimately was the end of the feel-good smart rebuilding plans.
Then they followed that up by trading Kevin Hayes, who had a very public feud with Tortorella last season. The Flyers ended up retaining 50% of his contract ($3.6 million for three years) in order to make the deal with the Blues. Now, there’s two sides to this coin. There was originally a rumored massive deal with St. Louis that fell apart after defenseman Torey Krug refused to waive his no-trade clause to come to Philly. On the flip side, there was no real reason (other than Tortorella) that the Flyers had to move Hayes in the first place. Why trade him from a position of weakness now when they could keep him for another year, tell he and Torts to grin and bear it and hope the rising cap and less term could mean an easier, more friendly deal could’ve been had in the 2024 offseason?
While the addition of depth center Ryan Poehling is actually an upgrade down the middle, it pushes Tanner Laczynksi out of the lineup, a guy Tortorella has openly buried since day one.
The Hathaway signing more than likely pushes Wade Allison to the outs, another guy that didn’t exactly fit the Tortorella mold.
Marc Staal was reunited with Tortorella from their days in New York. Even Briere himself said they signed him because he was a Torts guy and could help convey his message to the locker room.
The Staal signing was perhaps the most interesting red flag. What do you need a Tortorella-to-english interpreter for during year two of his tenure when the roster is near identical plus Cam Atkinson is coming back? Do they smell a mutiny? Will it be hard to get his workhorse message across a second time when the team only wins 20 games? Not to mention the defense was insanely crowded as is, the last thing they needed was a 36-year-old “Torts guy” who is going to play some bad hockey and, at some point, take away ice time from the kids.
The most recent rumor (that has not officially happened as of this writing) is defenseman Tony DeAngelo getting dealt back to Carolina and the Flyers retaining 50% of his contract to ship him there. While it’s not a long-term headache like Hayes, they devalued a 40-point RHD powerplay defenseman because he and Tortorella had a major, yet very secret, falling out at season’s end. Much like Hayes, keeping him until the trade deadline would’ve raised his value, at least from the dirt worst state they sold him for (provided he didn’t try and punch anyone out again).
Despite weeks of trade rumors, veteran forwards Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny are still on the roster. Laughton was the de facto captain last season and a relied upon leader both on and off the ice, and Konecny is a gritty forward that produces some points, whom Tortorella also seems for favor.
The biggest problem here is both players were coming off career years, their individual trade value was never higher and the Flyers’ new rebuilding efforts could’ve been helped out big time by a few extra high picks in the 2023 draft. Yet both players remain on the roster despite rumored significant interest from across the league.
At the end of the day, while Tortorella may not have the final say on the decisions being made, it’s pretty obvious his opinion was clearly heavily valued by Briere and Jones and the roster moves were made with his consideration playing a big role.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing that Tortorella has a big input, but when moves are made (or not made) that are obviously not the best step for the organization, then it clouds the end goal of their rebuild.
The Flyers ultimately not trading Scott Laughton despite the rumored first round pick+ in return for his services because Tortorella respects his leadership (so much so that he refuses to give Laughton the “C”) during a stacked 2023 draft is not in the best interest of the team.
Retaining $3.6 million for three more years on Kevin Hayes’ contract strictly because the two prima donnas can’t be work together is not in the best interest of the team.
Signing random “Torts Guy” depth players that further compact an already overcrowded roster situation, potentially boxing out some of their top prospects from regular NHL minutes is not in the best interest of the team.
The Philadelphia Flyers desperately needed someone to come in an establish a new culture. To gain control of a rogue locker room that has been lost in the woods for several years. Tortorella did and will continue to serve that role. There are few people who could do it better than him. But it does beg the question as to whether or not the franchise put the cart before the horse trying to build a culture before the nucleus of the future was in place.
Hopefully the questionable offseason moves aren’t overly indicative that the Flyers have hit a snag in their in-house development already. The 2023-24 season should very much be about getting as many prospects regular NHL time as possible, but now it’s not as certain as it could’ve (or should’ve) been. Maybe the worry is for naught. Maybe it’s a major problem brewing right underneath out noses. We’ll just have to wait until the puck drops in October to find out.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: NHL.com
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