Their number one need is a young elite 1-C to play with MM. Shaw better understand that getting a top 3 pick is critical to finding that. Lose out Brad, lose out. That’s the goal for the next 9 games. Rebuilds start with elite talent, then development of that talent, not the other way around. They lack elite talent at 1-C, 1-D, and goalie. Keep focused Danny B. Your number one job is to fill these three key spots as soon as possible, with superstar talent. MM is a nice complement, but does not play one of these key positions. Stay focused. Drafting in the top 3 spots, or even the top 5 spots, gives you a chance to fill one of these three critical building block spots. Don’t screw it up with a winning streak over the next 9 games. Lose out.

I think that last point, regarding the quality of the underlying play, gives me a lot of hope. I am certainly not lamenting Torts departure, and it always seemed like an odd fit. But I think we have a lot of pieces that can contribute to a good team.

If we can add a legit difference maker in the draft, hopefully use our cap space to some beneficial effect, and find a decent 1/b goaltender to pair with Ersson, I think we will see a strong rebound next year. I also think we will be an attractive spot for the better available coaching candidates.

I see a lot of doom and gloom in the social media-sphere, but I honestly don’t share it.

It seems to me the Flyers should avoid hiring a future Hall of Famer as their next coach. Recent history and all that.

My assumption here is that either Danny discussed the York stuff (and likely other young players in the Torts system) and found the response alarming, or he broached the idea of moving Torts upstairs at the end of the season, and was rebuked. I was a fan of the Torts hire, more so the idea behind it and the organizations need to reset itself on all levels. I just don’t think Torts was getting the team where they needed to go this year. I am fine with benching players here and there, tough love, what have you, as long as there is communication and progress.

The York benching, while warranted given the play he was guilty of, was overkill at 50 minutes. Unless Torts had been hammering York about some aspect of his play that he has refused to address, that reared its head on the turnover/goal, but I doubt that was what happened. I just don’t see how that level of punishment helps a young player or the team. Bench him for the rest of the period, sure. Pull him aside between periods, talk to him, and give him another shot to rebound and help his team. A 50 minute benching, coupled with apparently a lack of communication with York in particular, really punishes the team as a whole at a time when they are struggling emotionally and physically.

Not that I am a coach, but from a teaching philosophy, this part of the season in which you have no shot at the playoffs is a very unique time to allow players some more freedom to address parts of their game and experiment a little with your system and usage of players. Alas, the players were just getting hounded on and off the ice.

The timeline on this decision & what they do next in terms of a leadership group are what interest me the most. Glad we got Charlie on top of it.

I think the discontent articles have been overstated. If you are going to point to an under-performing player being unhappy with being benched as proof of this, it is also worth linking to the video where Erik Johnson talks about how great it was to play for Torts – and all the other players who also speak very highly of him. Most of this angst is because fans see themselves as having a boss like him, and get upset – not realising that their work culture is very different from the work culture of someone being paid millions in guaranteed money and expected to be in the top 1% of their chosen profession.

As far as I recall, the purpose of a coach is to extract the most out of the players – not to provide them a safe space for being happy (obviously, within reason – the Vigneault era was a good example of things going too far and the culture becoming really bad). There is nothing to indicate that this was the case with the Flyers, other than occasional players being unhappy over justifiable benchings/cutting short of ice time – and in each of those cases, it was to reach a decision on what to do with a middling player.

I dont even see that statement of his as being particularly egregious – the context was that he wasn’t riding his players so hard right now, because it was clear to everyone that the team was in full tank mode, and that he didnt enjoy this part of the process. But in this era of soundbites, we prefer to just focus on a few phrases than understand the entire context, I guess.

My personal theory is that this move was indeed driven by PR – I see numerous people moaning “fire the coach” after the recent losses, seemingly unaware of how bad the goaltending is and how under-manned an already talent-bereft team is, and I think the Flyers are trying to minimise further discontent from that segment of the fan base. I mean, these are the same mouth-breathers who are complaining about 20 years of mediocrity AND lack the patience to handle a rebuild on a team which started the process with no cap space and no meaningful talent – sometimes, I think we Philly fans get the sports teams we deserve.

I had said this before – this team has played with the best structure I have seen since Terry Murray was the coach. That’s a sign of a good coach. Everything else is just noise. And as a dog lover myself, I have the utmost respect for a guy who did so much for shelter dogs in Philly. Good luck, Torts.

Going forward,

When an objective view is taken of Tort’s performance as a coach, yes he instilled discipline, yes he ran a system that got wins from a weak roster of talent, but was any of this of value for a rebuilding team with no or very little elite talent? No. All he did was keep the Flyers from drafting in the top five, where their roster should have been drafting, which was counter to their number one need, to find three stud superstars at three tentpole positions. They overachieved under him, but that is not how you build a perennial Cup contender. So, his skill set, his focus, was counter to the Flyer’s rebuild from the start. Great coach, wrong roster, wrong strategic plan with him at the helm. If a roster is filled with talent, sure, hire Torts.
Second, one has to ask the question, being objective, did any of the young players on the roster develop into better players under Torts? I cannot think of one. A rebuilding roster requires a coach who can develop young players. Being objective, I do not see that was accomplished under Torts.
Third, and this is just a question, how did the Flyers blow the Gauthier situation? A top five pick, a center, and he got away??? Who is to blame for that setback? Was it on the GM? Or the Prez? or was it the kid did not want to play under Torts, so wasn’t having any? Did Torts as coach contribute to losing Gauthier? Just asking. Sure would love to know that one. Maybe not. But maybe Gauthier was turned off by Torts style.
Regardless, time to get some elite talent in here, DB, and time for you to earn your pay. And I seriously doubt the fans ran Torts out of town. He did it to himself.

The entire idea of giving a head coach so much power in the org was always, from the start, absolutely assinine. Now, maybe we can put together a healthier organizational power structure. I never liked Torts as a coach, but I’d happily buy him a beer, now

“I’m not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season, where we’re at right now.”

As soon as I saw this comment over the weekend, I began to suspect that the end was near. That sounded like a man who wanted out.

But I did not expect that end to come this quickly.

Well, they won Thursday against Montreal, about the dumbest thing the organization can do at this point. Guess DB likes to draft in the teens. Firing the coach, while necessary, would have been better served after the season ended. It gave them the adrenaline to win too much over the final 9 games. Brutal. They can’t even tank the right way. Dreadful organization. Dreadful. They were on the doorstep of 3rd position in the lottery odds. Brutal win. So where is the elite talent going to come from DB?

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the press and the public didn’t know the extent of the Flyer’s concern with Tortorella’s coaching until he was fired. The Briere regime is known for avoiding leaks. And no organization is going to give status updates on their satisfaction/dissatisfaction with a. employee.

As to Briere reading from prepared remarks, that’s not at all unusual in a situation like this — particularly when, as here the relationship was complex. No doubt Briere was very, very nervous for the first three or so minutes of the presser. But that didn’t strike me as insincere at all. Before and Torts clearly had a complex relationship, and Danny became much more relaxed and spontaneous when he started talking about Torts as a complex person and a complex coach — but one who Briere said has made him a better general manager. What came across to me was that despite what obviously were problems between the two, professionally, Briere genuinely respects Torts, and did not relish having to fire him.