So much for the Philadelphia Phillies being the biggest story in Philly sports today as Opening Day begins across MLB.
As the Phillies prepare to kick off the regular season against the Washington Nationals, the Philadelphia Flyers stunned the hockey world by announcing they’ve fired head coach John Tortorella after dropping 11 of their last 12 games.
“Today I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach,” Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said in a statement. “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.”
OFFICIAL: The Flyers have relieved John Tortorella of his duties as head coach. Philadelphia Flyers Associate Coach, Brad Shaw, has been named interim head coach and will assume duties immediately. https://t.co/qJuAybRMFT pic.twitter.com/saaH0u62lT
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) March 27, 2025
Brad Shaw will step in as interim coach for the final nine games of the regular season.
Tortorella was dismissed before completing his third full season as Flyers head coach. Despite operating under a rebuild, the Flyers regressed significantly this year after being in playoff contention last season before ultimately collapsing.
The Flyers under Tortorella had shown steady improvement his first two seasons — going from 61 points to 75 and then 87 last year. However, they currently sit last in the Metropolitan division with just 65 points. The Flyers never made the playoffs with Tortorella at the helm, though they weren’t expected to during this rebuilding phase.
The firing comes just days after Flyers president Keith Jones told 94WIP that he believed Tortorella would remain the coach next season.
“I think he’s done some really good things for us,” Jones said of Tortorella, via The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mike Sielski. “I have a very good working relationship with him, as does Danny, but there are always conversations. Everything is always being evaluated because we want to be the best in the end.”
Tortorella’s no-nonsense coaching style often divided the fanbase, particularly his tendency to bench players for mistakes, including rookie phenom Matvei Michkov.
Prior to his firing, Tortorella made damning comments following the Flyers’ 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
“When you’re in this type of situation, you’re losing all the time, and there’s nothing at the end of the tunnel for you, there’s certainly going to be some frustration. This falls on me,” Tortorella told reporters. “I’m not really interested in learning how to coach this type in this type of season, where we’re at right now, but 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.”
Overall, Tortorella compiled a 97-103-33 record with 227 points during his Flyers coaching tenure. With the rebuild still in progress, the organization now faces the task of finding a new head coach to develop their young talent for the future.
