John Tortorella is the current face of the Philadelphia Flyers and he’s the guy tasked with being on the front lines of the rebuild and overseeing the development of the main roster during his second season behind the bench in Philly. He’s a complex individual who is simultaneously stuck in his curmudgeonly ways yet seems ready to embrace change and establish the future of the Flyers.
Tortorella guided them into the “rebuilding” era, as he called for change long before Chuck Fletcher was even fired, and he is a big part of the new leadership structure, seeming having an equal say in the “triumvirate of leadership” along with general manager Danny Briere and president Keith Jones.
The 2022-23 season (while a miserable failure overall) ended up being a success when it came to Torts. He lit a fire under the roster with a work ethic that hadn’t been seen in years and he help along quite a few of the younger players, even if there were a few hiccups along the way. Now, with a rebuild officially in place, the 2023-24 season means Tortorella will have to double down and lead the Flyers back to success, but is it really going to be that easy of a storybook for Tortorella to follow?
Even though Danny Briere signed off on everything, a vast majority of the 2023 offseason moves were crafted in the image of John Tortorella. The signings of Marc Staal and Garnet Hathaway, the refusal to trade Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton and the bullet-biting moves of removing Kevin Hayes and Tony DeAngelo despite the financial ripple effects that came with them, all centered around Tortorella.
A lot of the moves were slightly baffling under the guise of a rebuild and has set the roster up for a battle of youth versus veterans for the open spots. Maybe it sets up some healthy competition, but it also leaves an out for Tortorella to ice the washed up veterans instead of the mistake-prone youth, something that should not be regularly happening at this point.
To give Tortorella credit, he did a good job deploying some young guys last season. Noah Cates was a rookie and was crafted into a Selke-caliber center, Owen Tippett found success in his first full NHL campaign, and despite some hiccups with Cam York and Morgan Frost, both had career seasons and played big roles in their respective positions.
The problem is, it’s not just a case of continuing the development of a handful of the same players; they also need to incorporate another potential half dozen prospects who could be ready for NHL action. Players like Tyson Foerster, Elliot Desnoyers, Bobby Brink, Egor Zamula and Ronnie Attard among others could all be ready to make the jump and challenge for main roster spots, and it’s where the battle between young and old will be fought.
Do “Torts guys” like Nick Seeler, Garnet Hathaway and Marc Staal get favorable deployment? Or will the development of potential key players of the future be the number one priority? It’s a rather important distinction when the franchise is supposed to be laying the foundation for the future.
Chances are, reality lies somewhere in between. Tortorella is going to have his favorite over-relied upon veterans as most coaches do, but with so many bodies at his disposal, chances are he’s rotating players in and out with regularity. There’s a good chance most of the players outside the top lines don’t play every night. As questionable a decision as that is right now, it’s better than players being completely stuck in the AHL for another season.
It’s about not punishing the mistakes with long stint of press box time, but rather having the confidence that he can let the young guys learn from their gaffes without having to fall back on the veterans at the first sign of struggle. It’s a rebuild, after all. The prospects making mistakes and developing into NHLers is the entire point of the season.
Another aspect of Tortorella is the “82-game playoff” style of coaching he brings. He demands an unmatched work ethic and energy during every shift. It’s a great little battle cry and bar to set, but it’s also something that doesn’t necessarily have a long shelf life in the modern day NHL, especially when all that hard work doesn’t actually pay off in a real playoff spot.
For the most part, the majority of the team kept up their momentum through the entirety of last season. They fought to the bitter end despite never being in postseason contention. But can they keep the same hard-nosed pace during year two when they reach the doldrums of the season and the playoffs are out of reach? The breaking point is going to occur sooner or later if the work the players put in isn’t reciprocated with success in some fashion. The Flyers have a history of giving up on coaches lately after the slightest bit of adversity, and the team will probably reach that point during the 2023-24 season, it’s about how they respond this time around when the going gets tough.
Because of the way the 2022-23 season panned, out Tortorella does deserve the benefit of the doubt for the time being. There was clearly a method to his madness. It’s arguable that he was the best thing to happen to the organization on the whole for over a decade. That being said, the organization is not in a place to rest on their laurels. The Flyers front office as a whole needs to be cognizant of their goals and the uphill battle they have in front of them, and Tortorella is going to be the leading edge of it all. Will he play the kids over the vets? Will he allow Briere to make the roster moves for the brightest future? He needs to prove the old dog can learn new tricks for the best possible chance for the Philadelphia Flyers organization to regain their former glory.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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