James Nichols
The New Jersey Devils won’t see the Philadelphia Flyers anymore this season. Moving forward, they certainly won’t see John Tortorella behind the Devils’ rival bench anymore.
READ MORE: Sheldon Keefe’s Intensity Weighing on Devils?
The Flyers announced on Thursday that they have relieved head coach John Tortorella of his duties.
Associate Coach, Brad Shaw, has been named interim head coach and will assume duties immediately.
The writing was on the wall with Tortorella.
Amid a six game losing streak in which the Flyers lost in embarrassing fashion to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tortorella conceded he’s at a loss on how to help Philadelphia in their current state.
“When you’re in this type of situation, you’re losing all of the time, and there is nothing at the end of the tunnel for you; there’s certainly going to be some frustration,” Tortorella said following the Flyers’ loss on Tuesday. “This falls on me. I’m not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season where we’re at right now. I have to do a better job. This falls on me; getting the team prepared to play the proper way until we get to the end.”
It was the second night in a row that the Flyers gave up a total of seven goals through 60 minutes, allowing just as many against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Despite the struggles, GM Danny Briere thanked Tortorella for his role in the organizations previous chapter.
“Today I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach,” said Briere. “John played a vital role in our rebuild. He set a standard of play and re-established what it means to be a Philadelphia Flyer. John’s passion on the bench was only equaled by his charitable work in our community. As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our team to move forward. I’d like to thank John for his tireless work and commitment to the Flyers.”
Tortorella was certainly polarizing. He squeezed as much out of certain players as he could. All while making puzzling decisions like scratching rookie phenom, Matvei Michkov, and benching his captain, Sean Couturier.
Regardless, there is a new direction in Philly. Will James of Philly Hockey Now says there’s an obvious choice for Tortorella’s successor.
David Carle is perhaps the hottest free agent coach out there. However, it’s going to take some mighty convincing to pry him from his situation at the University of Denver.
That should give Devils fans pause, as Carle is believed to be one of the best up-and-coming coaches there is.
We’ll see how things shake out for the Devils rival this summer, making for an interesting storyline to follow heading into 2025-26.
For more Devils news, visit New Jersey Hockey Now, subscribe to our YouTube and like our Facebook page.
Follow us on :
@NJDHockeyNow, @JamesNicholsNHL, @NickNatale10
And on Threads:
