Could Flyers coach John Tortorella move from the bench to the front office next season? (2024)

The ample speculation that Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella could move into a front-office role at some point got ramped up again recently.

In an appearance on the “Real Kyper and Bourne” podcast on March 22, former Columbus Blue Jackets general manager turned media personality Doug MacLean suggested that in Tortorella’s final season in Columbus in 2020-21, he requested a transition into management rather than continuing to serve as the team’s coach. But then-general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen rejected the proposition, and Tortorella departed after the season.

“In his last (year) in Columbus, he wanted to move into management and actually move out of coaching,” MacLean said. “And Kekäläinen wanted nothing to do with that. He wanted him to coach, and at the end of the day, it was a mutual parting of the ways. … They both decided to move on.”

“It would not surprise me,” MacLean continued, “that after this season Tortorella will move into management with the Philadelphia Flyers.”

According to former #CBJ GM Doug MacLean, John Tortorella parted ways with #CBJ because he wanted to move into management in his last year, but Kekalainen wouldn’t allow it. Says he wouldn’t be surprised if torts moves into #LetsGoFlyers management as soon as after this year. pic.twitter.com/1f4fdzeho1

— John Puck (@johnpuck1992) March 24, 2024

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Regardless of the veracity of MacLean’s claims — it’s worth noting he left Columbus in 2007, eight years before Tortorella became the coach there — the possibility is worth discussing for a few reasons. First and foremost is the Flyers getting demolished again by the Canadiens on Tuesday, 9-3, effectively ending any chance they had at making the playoffs. It was their eighth straight loss (0-6-2), and the latest evidence that all of the noise that’s surrounded the team — much of it coming from Tortorella himself — has adversely affected their performance.

There’s more to it, though. Over the last calendar year, there have been a few signs that Tortorella might prefer to be involved in some of the higher-level decisions that are typically above an NHL coach’s pay grade and job description.

It dates back to late last season when Tortorella removed himself from behind the Flyers’ bench to watch the game from various other locations, including the press box and on television in the dressing room.

One reason for that, he explained: “I think I have (a) responsibility to my coaching staff, (to) help them develop. I think we’re all trying to develop, just like the players are, in these type of situations.”

Assistant coach Brad Shaw, 59, was briefly an NHL head coach for the New York Islanders for 40 games in 2005-06. Tortorella has regularly and effusively praised his work with the Flyers’ defensem*n. Fellow assistant Rocky Thompson, 46, has also been mentioned as a potential NHL head coach at some point down the line.

Further, Tortorella was intimately involved in the acquisition of defenseman Jamie Drysdale. He said he watched tape of Drysdale — and, presumably, other potential targets — and offered his input to general manager Daniel Briere before the deal with the Anaheim Ducks for prospect Cutter Gauthier was consummated in January.

That’s not unique, but the extent to which Tortorella was involved was significant, judging from how he explained it.

“It was basically Danny, myself (and Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones) had conversations,” Tortorella explained Jan. 9. “I brought Brad Shaw into it, had Brad look at tape. We all looked at tape. … This has been going on for quite a while, and there has been constant conversation about where we go with this situation for well over five or six months.”

There were also other indications leading up to the March 8 trade deadline that Tortorella had a significant say in the moves that were made. Many NHL coaches, when pressed for more information about how their team might approach the deadline, will simply reply that it’s out of their control. Not Tortorella, who, like Briere and Jones have been, was very transparent and open about the kinds of discussions that were going on behind closed doors among the brain trust and with the players.

It’s evident that those above Tortorella trust him when it comes to establishing the correct culture in the dressing room. Players who were not on the same wavelength as the coach from a hockey standpoint, like Kevin Hayes and Tony DeAngelo, were shipped out last summer. Others, like Scott Laughton — who could have been traded twice by now but is valued for what he brings to the dressing room — and Nick Seeler, were retained. Briere reiterated shortly after the deadline that he views the Flyers’ culture as the foundation of their ongoing rebuild and therefore trusts Tortorella to help determine who should be a part of the organization.

In many ways, even with their late collapse, it’s already been a success from that standpoint. No one in the club is pointing to the culture as a reason for its recent struggles. Just the opposite, in fact.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things you see on other teams: When things don’t go your way, guys can turn on each other. There hasn’t been one little bit of that,” Owen Tippett said Monday. “We’ve all stuck together. The only way we get out of it is if we all stick together as a team and work as one. There hasn’t been one little bit of guys turning on each other. We’re all doing the best we can to stick together through this and get out of it on top.”

Said Travis Konecny: “Group’s been great all year. It’s light when we need it to be and serious when we need it to be. Group’s been amazing. The room’s awesome.”

That bodes well for the future, even if the vibes are presently awful. A strong culture allows the team to make moves to acquire players who perhaps need a bit more structure in their professional lives. If the Flyers are indeed interested in someone like, say, Trevor Zegras, whose attitude has been called into question a bit lately, they can put their faith in that dressing room culture to get that player on the correct path.

If Briere and Jones are confident the culture has been fully restored, the next step is finding more talent. Moving the 65-year-old Tortorella to the front office to free him up to help find more players who would ultimately improve that talent level could make sense. The current losing streak has loudly reinforced that the Flyers just don’t have enough of it at the moment.

I asked Jones in December during an interview in Vancouver whether Tortorella, who has two years left on his contract, has more of a role in the decision-making process regarding team personnel than coaches typically have.

“I don’t think so. I think there’s balance to that,” Jones said. “He’s coaching. That’s his No. 1 priority. He’s coaching the players that are playing for him.”

And Tortorella, who became just the eighth coach to reach 1,500 games on that same trip, reiterated how much he still enjoys the day-to-day of being a coach when listing his favorite aspects of the job.

“Teaching. The controversy, the conflicts. The good stuff. The winning, the losing. How to figure (it out),” he said. “I like being with the athletes. I like being in that locker room.”

Still, if the Flyers indeed end up on the outside of the playoff picture, that’s going to leave some sour tastes in people’s mouths. And some of Tortorella’s decisions and actions — like getting kicked out of a road game against the Tampa Bay Lightning and suspended for two games, harshly criticizing the team after a loss to the New York Islanders on April 1, scratching captain Sean Couturier for two games, and overplaying goalie Samuel Ersson — are going to be fairly scrutinized.

Perhaps Shaw or Thompson — or Craig Berube, who remains tight with Jones and has been attending Flyers games regularly since he was fired by the St. Louis Blues in December — will take the reins, with Tortorella watching from above and working in a different capacity to build upon a foundation he has already helped to restore.

It might be best for him, and it might be best for the team, considering the way they’ve all come crashing down over the past two weeks.

(Photo: Len Redkoles / NHLI via Getty Images)