There’s never a dull moment when it comes to the Philadelphia Flyers. As the team continues to struggle to amass victories as their playoff hopes are now in serious jeopardy in the hotly contested Eastern Conference, head coach John Tortorella has made some roster tweaks, and most recently that came in the form of scratching recently-named captain Sean Couturier.
Couts has held the “C” for all of 34 days before he got scratched. He’s been on the fourth line for much of the last month as his ice time dropped along with his overall caliber of play. But it’s not exactly shocking that the 31-year-old with nearly 800 games over 13 years coming off two back surgeries that forced him to miss 22 consecutive months play would be declining at the 60+ game point of the season.
The one question that continues to come to the forefront of the conversation remains the same- why did the Flyers name Sean Couturier in the first place?
The organization’s over-reliance on culture and their current leadership pyramid never made much sense when the topic was given more than a few seconds of thought. If the previous leadership group was so atrocious and poisonous, why was Scott Laughton, who’s been here since 2012, the de facto captain over the last year and a half? And Couturier, who’s been here since 2011 and was Claude Giroux’s right hand man for much of that time, named captain?
Basically since Tortorella first arrived in Philly he shut down the idea of having a captain, a notion he reaffirmed as recently as late 2023. Which made the out-of-the-blue announcement all the more strange.
It also didn’t make a ton of sense that they were championing the culture but declined to hand out more letters. With Laughton the only player wearing an “A” since the start of the 2022-23 campaign.
Tortorella’s refusal to name a captain felt like one of the very few signs that this organization was actually rebuilding. They were going to save the “C” for a home run free agent addition down the road, or wait until someone like Cam York or Tyson Foerster stepped up and earned it. It made sense and would be a much bigger crowning achievement when someone was actually handed the captaincy again.
The main theory that emerged when Couturier was originally handed the “C” was that he was destined for it all along. He was always the natural successor to Giroux (in large part because he’s under contract for the rest of time) but he couldn’t have been given the “C” because he missed 22 months with multiple back surgeries. Then the reason he wasn’t named captain on opening night was they wanted to make sure he had gas left in the tank and could still play, thus they finally named him captain in the middle of February, which, ironically enough was right before his play fell off a cliff.
One of the more intriguing theories that has popped up on Twitter is that the call to name Couturier captain came from someone higher than Tortorella. And it is a suitable theory that explains some of the questions. He was given the “C” just a few days before the Stadium Series. With motive like jersey sales and a chance for the organization to flaunt their cultural progress to a national audience, it’s feasible GM Danny Briere and PoHO Keith Jones pressured Tortorella into making a decision and Couturier was the best he had considering the trade deadline was also on the horizon which potentially disqualified Scott Laughton who could’ve (should’ve?) been out the door.
Does the Couturier versus Tortorella battle lead to anything? Who knows. It sure doesn’t seem like a great scenario based on the media reports from both sides, but considering Couturier is carrying an anchor of a contract and Tortorella isn’t leaving any time soon, they might just have to grin and bear it. But we know the track record of players that get on Tortorella’s bad side. It’s like a bad mafia movie, but instead of cement shoes and getting thrown overboard into the Atlantic, they’re shipped to Columbus or St. Louis.
The Flyers are going to continue to honk their cultural horn, but the dust up with Couturier could be a quick peak behind the curtain that their perfect little world they’re trying to sell isn’t as impenetrable as it seems at face value. The Flyers did beat the Leafs without Couturier, which historically means Torts is going to keep his lineups the same next game. So there’s a decent chance we haven’t heard the last of this drama. Grab some popcorn and enjoy the show!
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: NHL.com
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