John Tortorella
In a poll conducted by The Athletic ranking NHL front office confidence levels based on fan input, the Flyers ranked dead last, 32nd in the NHL.
The NHL Draft has come and gone, blink and you missed free agency. The final piece of the Flyers offseason outlook is to focus on line combinations for the upcoming season.
The Flyers will buy out forward Oskar Lindblom, who was set to enter the final year of a three-year deal in the 2022-23 season, placing him on conditional waivers on Tuesday afternoon. His current cap hit was $3 million and the buyout saves the Flyers $3.33 million toward the cap.
On Wednesday, you saw that the current regime is incapable of handling a rebuild. They insisted upon an aggressive retool for a fast fix, not the necessary rebuild needed. Now it’s time to start that rebuild anyway, but focus on the front office that has so clearly set the Flyers back.
The latest Flyers news and notes, including an update on Ivan Fedotov, the hiring of Brad Shaw as an associate coach, rumors involving Alex DeBrincat, and the Flyers preseason schedule.
The guys are back to discuss the hiring of John Tortorella as Flyers head coach, Joel Farabee’s injury, recap the Stanley Cup Final, and more.
John Tortorella certainly knew all the right things to say, but doesn’t have much of a filter. What you see is what you get with him, there’s no gray area. That hardly appears to be the case with Flyers management. There’s a lot of gray area right now, in terms of making decisions, who is on board with what, and what the future may hold.
John Tortorella has been around long enough in the league to have seen many elements of coaching evolve. That includes communication between players and coaches and how to effectively make the connection between the “two-way street” to have a strong working relationship.
At his introductory press conference, John Tortorella recalled thinking about what an opportunity to coach in Philadelphia would be like as far back as the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals. Now he gets that opportunity, trying to restore a standard for the Orange and Black emblem that he expressed great respect for on Friday.
If you were wondering just what the Flyers were going to try to do with this offseason or questioning if they were serious about an aggressive approach, you got your answer on Thursday. Tortorella is only the first piece of what could be a very busy offseason that features equally as many changes and moves as the last, likely even more aggressive than ever before.
