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John Tortorella

East Notes: Tortorella, York, Svechnikov, Zadorov

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More news continues to come out regarding John Tortorella’s last few weeks as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. In an article from Kevin Kurz of The Athletic (subscription required), the Philadelphia-based reporter succinctly described Tortorella’s growing feud between Flyers’ management and defenseman Cam York.

For context, York was benched for much of Tortorella’s last game as Philadelphia’s head coach and for the entirety of the Flyers’ game yesterday against the Montreal Canadiens, which interim head coach Brad Shaw described as a “disciplinary issue.” As mentioned in Kurz’s article, and later confirmed by Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, there was a heated verbal altercation between Tortorella and York that led to the former’s ouster as head coach and the latter’s lack of ice time last night.

Kurz noted the growing tension between York and Tortorella dating back to the trade deadline, when after being a healthy scratch, York said, “I mean, I’m not playing to prove him anything. I’m playing for the guys in this locker room and the logo on my chest. I’m not playing for him, necessarily, if that makes sense.”

Questioned about the incident after last night’s contest, Kurz quoted York with a generically pacified response saying, “I’m not going to get into the details of it. I will say this, I take full responsibility for my actions. It’s been addressed here in the locker room. It’s something that I’m going to put behind me and move on from. We’ve got eight games left here and that’s my focus right now. We’ll leave it at that.” Frustration had been mounting around Tortorella at all levels of the Flyers’ organization, leading to his ouster shortly before the regular season’s conclusion.

Other notes from the Eastern Conference:

  • According to a team announcement, Andrei Svechnikov will return to the Carolina Hurricanes’ lineup tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. The former second overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft had missed Carolina’s previous seven games with an upper-body injury. Despite being the fourth-highest scorer on the team, the Hurricanes have fared well without Svechnikov, managing a 5-2-0 record in his absence.
  • Moving to the Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins welcomed back defenseman Nikita Zadorov today, who had missed the team’s last game due to a personal leave (Twitter Link). Hopefully, for the Bruins’ sake, Zadorov’s return to the lineup against the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night will give Boston a much-needed jolt. The team has performed dreadfully since the trade deadline in early March, managing a 2-7-1 record in their last 10 games while being outscored by a 19-goal margin.

Philadelphia Flyers Fire John Tortorella

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After nearly three years behind the bench, John Tortorella is no longer the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers announced they’ve relieved Tortorella of head coaching duties and named associate coach Brad Shaw the interim head coach for the remaining schedule.

In the statement, Flyers’ General Manager Daniel Brière said, “Today I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach. John played a vital role in our rebuild. He set a standard of play and re-established what it means to be a Philadelphia Flyer. John’s passion on the bench was only equaled by his charitable work in our community. As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our team to move forward. I’d like to thank John for his tireless work and commitment to the Flyers.”

It’s a bold yet unsurprising move from Brière. From most statements, the Flyers’ front office had honest expectations for the team heading into the 2024-25 season, and even those haven’t been met. The biggest tell that a change behind the bench was incoming was Tortorella’s comments after Philadelphia’s embarrassing defeat against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

Tortorella was quoted saying, “This falls on me. I’m not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season, where we’re at right now. But I have to do a better job. So this falls on me, getting the team prepared to play the proper way until we get to the end.”

He attempted to smooth over the sentence in the same statement; however, Tortorella’s statement that he’s uninterested in learning how to coach in ’this type of season’ is indicative of the duress he was under through March. Philadelphia performed relatively well through the first five months of the season with a 26-26-8 record through 60 games, but the bottom has completely fallen out from underneath them.

Since the calendar turned to March, the Flyers have played 13 games but only won two. Opposing teams are outscoring them by a margin of 29, and they haven’t scored a powerplay goal despite having 31 opportunities to do so. Additionally, the team’s penalty kill operated at a 69.6% rate, which would only be higher than the Detroit Red Wings if that were extrapolated over the entire campaign. Surprisingly, the part that may sting the most for Philadelphia is that they largely controlled play at even strength with a 50.5% CorsiFor% through the month.

The blame can never be placed at the feet of one man, especially in a team sport. Still, a change had to be made after the wheels completely fell off the season. Surprisingly, Philadelphia didn’t wait until the end of the regular season to terminate Tortorella. The veteran coach’s comments from the other night may have been the final nail in the coffin for the Flyers’ management. Tortorella ends his tenure behind Philadelphia’s bench with a 97-107-33 record in 237 games.

Meanwhile, Shaw earns his second stint as a head coach in the National Hockey League for the first time since the 2005-06 season when he replaced Steve Stirling behind the bench for the New York Islanders. Shaw was hired as the Flyers’ associate coach in 2022-23, his second stint on Tortorella’s staff since their time with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

There’s little expectation that Shaw will remain as Philadelphia’s head coach beyond this season. Still, the organization will do their due diligence during the hiring process, and Shaw’s hat may be in the ring. If he doesn’t remain with the team beyond the current campaign, Shaw will only serve 9 games as the Flyers’ head coach.

Image courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.

Metropolitan Notes: Pettersson, Tortorella, Vesey

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The Penguins intend to wait a while before deciding if they’ll proceed with any significant discussions about an extension for defenseman Marcus Pettersson, relays David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (Twitter link).  The 28-year-old has become a key cog on Pittsburgh’s back end in recent years and is heading for a raise on his current price tag of just over $4.0.25MM.  However, the Penguins need to determine if they’re going to be a team that’s vying for a playoff spot in the second half of the season or a possible seller if things aren’t going so well.  If it’s the latter, they could decide the better move is to move him as a rental player at the trade deadline where there would be a strong market for his services.  Accordingly, don’t expect a decision on that front for a while yet.  Pettersson has four points in nine games so far this season while averaging over 21 minutes a night of playing time.

More from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Despite a slow start to the season that saw the Flyers collect just one win in their first seven games, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that head coach John Tortorella has the complete and total support of the team. The veteran bench boss is in his third season with Philadelphia with the expectations potentially being a bit higher last season after the rebuilding Flyers nearly made the playoffs last year.  Tortorella is signed through 2025-26 but was inherited by GM Daniel Briere who was a special assistant to the GM at the time the 66-year-old was hired.
  • Rangers winger Jimmy Vesey took part in the morning skate today in a non-contact jersey, relays Mollie Walker of the New York Post (Twitter link). The 31-year-old has yet to play this season due to an upper-body injury sustained in the preseason, landing him on LTIR in the process.  Vesey was a capable depth scorer for New York last season, recording 13 goals and 13 assists in 80 games, the best offensive numbers he had since the final year of his first stint with the team back in 2018-19.  Because of the LTIR placement, he has to miss 10 games and 24 days, meaning the earliest he can be activated is their November 3rd contest.

USA Hockey Adds David Quinn, John Tortorella To 4 Nations Coaching Staff

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USA Hockey has added Penguins assistant coach David Quinn and Flyers head coach John Tortorella to its staff for next year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, the governing body announced Wednesday.

Quinn and Tortorella will serve under the former’s new boss, Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan, at the event. They complete the core coaching staff after Wild head coach John Hynes was announced as an assistant earlier this summer.

In recent years, the 58-year-old Quinn has become a fixture behind the U.S. men’s national team bench. The Rhode Island native was the Americans’ head coach at the 2022 Winter Olympics and World Championship and returned in the same role at the Worlds in 2023.

However, Quinn failed to lead the U.S. to a medal at any event. He also served as an assistant at the 2007, 2012 and 2016 Worlds, going medalless in those as well.

Tortorella’s international experience is much more limited. The 66-year-old was last involved with Team USA at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, serving as head coach. He didn’t medal there, nor did he as head coach at the 2008 World Championship and as an assistant at the Worlds in 2005.

Both are experienced winners at the collegiate and professional levels, though. Tortorella guided the Lightning to their first championship in 2004 and won the Jack Adams Award twice, first in the championship year with Tampa Bay and again with the Blue Jackets in 2017. He also won the Calder Cup as head coach of the AHL’s Rochester Americans in 1996.

Quinn, meanwhile, won five Hockey East championships as an associate and head coach at Boston University. He was also the associate coach on the Terriers team that won the national championship in 2009.

Jack Eichel, Adam Fox, Quinn Hughes, Auston Matthews, Charlie McAvoy, and Matthew Tkachuk were the first six players named to the U.S. roster for the tournament back in June. The rest of the NHL-only contingent will be announced later this year.

Evening Notes: Tortorella, Fantilli, Jones, Vlasic

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Despite their recent collapse, it doesn’t appear as though the Philadelphia Flyers are planning to make a coaching change to replace John Tortorella anytime soon. This news comes from TSN’s Darren Dreger who reports that Flyers sources have told him that “Torts is not leaving the bench.” The speculation around Tortorella’s job security makes sense given that the team is mired in a 1-6-3 streak in their last ten and are currently chasing a playoff spot after sitting comfortably in third place in the Metropolitan Division just a few short weeks ago.

The Flyers are winless in eight straight games and have looked lost the last month, particularly in their last three games where they have been outscored 19-7 by the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens. Last night’s 9-3 loss to Montreal was particularly difficult to watch as the Canadiens dominated the Flyers from start to finish which further added to speculation about Tortorella’s future.

In other evening notes:

  • Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that Columbus Blue Jackets forward Adam Fantilli won’t play again this season after suffering a lacerated calf against the Seattle Kraken back on January 28th. While that news isn’t overly surprising given that there are just a handful of games left on the NHL schedule, what is surprising to hear is that the 19-year-old rookie might play for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships if he is healthy a month from now. Fantilli played for Team Canada last year at the tournament and could return on May 10th if he is at 100 percent. Last year’s third-overall pick will finish his first NHL regular season with 12 goals and 15 assists in 49 games.
  • Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Chicago Blackhawks defensemen Seth Jones and Alex Vlasic will suit up for Team U.S.A. at the IIHF World Championships. The 22-year-old Vlasic hasn’t represented the United States internationally for over five years, last suiting up for the Americans at the U18 World Championship in 2018-19. Jones last suited up internationally two years ago at the World Championships when he captained the Americans to a fourth-place finish.

Metropolitan Notes: Flyers, Pelech, Varlamov

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The Philadelphia Flyers have announced they will healthy scratching veteran forward Cam Atkinson tonight when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The long-time former Blue Jacket had a terrific start to the year in Philadelphia and has eight goals and 10 assists on the season in 37 games. However, he has struggled as of late with just three assists in his last 17 games and no goals in his last 22 games.

The Flyers also announced that young center Morgan Frost will be a healthy scratch. Frost set career highs last season with 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games but is on pace for just 33 points this season. The 24-year-old has been far less physical this season and has been somewhat sheltered as he’s seen over 70 percent of his shifts start in the offensive zone. Frost has run very hot and cold this season as he started the year pointless in his first six games before rallying for four points in his next three games. His season has been a cycle of putting up points in bunches and then disappearing from the scoresheet for an extended period.

Both players are unlikely to be held out of the lineup for too long as the club is likely being sent a message by head coach John Tortorella after dropping five of their last six games.

In other Metropolitan Notes:

  • Stefan Rosner of NHL.com is reporting that defenseman Adam Pelech of the New York Islanders is getting closer to returning from injury. Pelech has been out of the Islanders lineup since November 24th when he suffered an upper-body injury in a game against the Ottawa Senators. The Toronto, Ontario native struggled to start the year, registering just three assists in his first 16 games while struggling at 5 on 5. He started to put together a stretch of good games leading up to the injury, but unfortunately, he was forced out of the lineup just as he was trending upward.
  • Stefan Rosner is also reporting that Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov is dealing with a lower-body injury and will be out day-to-day. According to Rosner, Varlamov will remain with the team on the Islanders’ road trip but will likely not play in the coming days. Varlamov had been dealing with an undisclosed injury late in December and sat out a game on December 29th against the Washington Capitals.

Evening Notes: Tortorella, Askarov, Joseph, Suzdalev

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Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella made history on Friday, become the eighth man to coach in 1,500 NHL games. The milestone was reached via a matchup with the Seattle Kraken that ended in a 2-1 overtime loss for the Flyers. But despite dropping his most recent game, Tortorella has been fantastically successful for much of the rest of this season, currently boasting a 19-11-5 record that has Philadelphia ranked third in the Metropolitan Division. This comes despite Philadelphia being considered one of the league’s rebuilders entering the season, with many expecting the team to start off slow under a new general manager and a second-year head coach.

But Tortorella has pulled the Flyers above their expectations, following an interesting pattern of missing the playoffs in his first full season with a new team but driving towards the post-season in his second year. Tortorella has done the same for every club that he’s coached for, save for the Vancouver Canucks, who he only spent one season with.

Tortorella joins an exclusive list by hitting the 1,500-game mark. Only seven other head coaches have hit the mark – and, interestingly, only three coaches in the Top 10 of games played are officially retired. Four coaches on the list are currently behind NHL benches – with Tortorella joined by Florida’s Paul Maurice, New Jersey’s Lindy Ruff, and New York’s Peter Laviolette. The list also features Barry Trotz, who is taking a break from coaching to serve as the Nashville Predators general manager, and Joel Quenneville and Darryl Sutter, who are both coaching free agents with differing levels of optimism around if they may coach again in the future.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Nashville Predators have sent top goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov to the minor leagues. Askarov played in two games while with the Predators roster, saving 33 of a possible 35 shots. Askarov has also played in 15 AHL games this season, setting an 8-6-1 record and .908 save percentage.
  • Pierre-Olivier Joseph is set to miss the Penguins’ Sunday night matchup against the New York Islanders, continuing to sit out with illness. Joseph’s last game was on December 16th. He’s played in eight NHL games this year, recording one assist and a -3.
  • Washington Capitals 2022 second-round draft pick Alexander Suzdalev has had his WHL rights traded from the Regina Pats to the Saskatoon Blades. Regina received three players and three draft picks in return, including a first round pick in the 2026 Draft. Suzdalev scored 86 points in 66 WHL games last season, adding 10 points in seven playoff games. But he’s since returned to Sweden, playing in 13 games and scoring three points with Mora IK of Sweden’s second league. This blockbuster WHL move could be a sign that Suzdalev is poised for a return to Canadian juniors.

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