Welcome back to the NHL, John Tortorella. 

According to Kevin Weekes, the Flyers are hiring John Tortorella as the 23rd head coach in franchise history. Tortorella will receive a contract of 4 years, paying him a total of $4 million dollars per year. Tortorella is 673-541-132 in his career as a head coach, last coaching the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2015-2016 to 2020-2021. 

We are officially 21 days away from the NHL draft and the Flyers hold the 5th overall pick. Getting a head coach in now, so he can get acclimated with the players and front office is significant. 

“Torts” is known to be a coach that demands a lot of his players and will ensure they’re aware of that, so I’m excited to see what he can do with this team. Between now and pre-season games in September, the roster will definitely be different so I’m interested to see how Chuck Fletcher now conducts his summer knowing who will be behind the bench. 

Hopefully with Torts now the bench boss, it will be the end of lazy plays, cheating up the neutral zone, and blowing defensive coverages by a mile. Not saying blown coverages aren’t going to happen from time to time, it’s impossible not to, but hopefully this is the end of it happening so frequently. 

At exit interviews, after this dreaded season ended, Cam Atkinson admitted that he thought this team was “soft” and they needed to play with more grit and passion for one another. With Tortorella now here, I’m confident that he’ll be able to kick this locker room in the ass. I’m not sitting here saying he’s going to come in here and completely revitalize this franchise but depending on Chuck’s summer, I’m sure this team will at least look like they give a shit when the chips are down. 

Welcome to Philadelphia, John. You have a tall task in front of you. 

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