Entering his second season with the team, Tortorella, the current Flyers’ head coach, might be in for the long haul, which is backed up by quite a few reasons. It seems as though this is a sentiment shared throughout the organization.
Tortorella Did His Job in Year One
Tortorella was hired last season with the expectation that the team would not be playoff-caliber immediately. Not having access to veterans like Sean Couturier, Cam Atkinson, and Ryan Ellis for the entire season solidified this.
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Despite the restrictions in roster talent, Tortorella did what was expected of him. While a 31-38-13 record may not suggest this, the strides that many of his young players took absolutely do.
Tortorella leaned on young players to lead his team, including forwards Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett, and Noah Cates, as well as defenseman Cam York and goaltender Carter Hart. Tortorella saw pretty significant progress out of all of them.
Frost was used as a top-six player consistently last season and has earned himself what seems to be a long-term spot on the team. Tippett was a strong goal scorer for the Flyers in his first full season with the team where he finished second on the team with 27. Tippett showed some flashes in 2021-22 but really shined last season. Cates flourished in his two-way role with the team, where he received Calder and Selke votes for his play.
York played in a top-four role with the Flyers last season and was a player Tortorella relied on pretty heavily. As for Hart, his .907 save percentage and 2.94 goals-against average are much better than what he had in previous season. This is especially true given the team’s weaknesses defensively. Under Tortorella, Hart showed flashes of his old self. This was arguably his best full season in the league given his circumstances. This should give the team hope.
Tortorella was only expected to improve his players – not necessarily make the playoffs. His younger players were the leaders on the team even if he wasn’t given much of a choice with how badly bruised the team was. He did even better than what fans might have expected out of him.
Flyers Not Expected to Be a Contender
The Flyers aren’t currently seen as a playoff team, and the team didn’t do much to change that in the offseason. While Couturier and Atkinson are set to return, that doesn’t mean this team is playoff caliber quite yet. The defense on this team is still being worked on, and the offense ranked 29th out of 32 teams last season in terms of scoring. While additions were made, the Flyers are still expected to be a work in progress.
Coaches on teams that are in the midst of a rebuild generally have more time to figure things out. This is especially true if a coach is seeing active improvement out of his young players like Tortorella is. With hope for the future and no desire to rush through the rebuilding process, Tortorella likely has some job security.
Trust From the Flyers’ Organization
Tortorella was given much more leniency than other first-year head coaches are in most cases. In April, Tortorella was present in the Flyers’ press box rather than behind the bench in some games. This shows an obvious power dynamic in that Tortorella is perhaps higher up in terms of involvement than many typical head coaches are. Tortorella chose to be with the Flyers, and he is willing to ride along.
While it’s not necessarily common for a new general manager (GM) to pursue a new head coach, it’s not something we haven’t seen before. When GM Danny Briere took over the reins for the Flyers, he could have had complete control. Instead, he let Tortorella be a part of the long-term vision.
“If you look at this year alone, [Tortorella] bought in to what we’re trying to do, giving the chance to the young guys to play.”
Briere on Tortorella via 2022-23 season-ending press conference
If Briere didn’t replace Tortorella at the end of the season, nothing suggests he will now. The two seem pretty close based on some of the dialogue coming from them both.
If All Goes to Plan, Tortorella Has Long Leash
If the Flyers’ rebuild goes the way that management is anticipating, nothing is suggesting that Tortorella will be let go of his coaching duties anytime soon. Tortorella seems to be on board with this.