The Philadelphia Flyers weren't top of mind when predicting breakout teams before the season, including in a THN poll. But they wildly exceeded expectations thanks in part to their coaching.

If the NHL was deciding this season’s winner of the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top bench boss, the winner should absolutely be Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella.

This writer has always had a bit of a conflicted relationship as it pertains to Tortorella. On the one hand, Tortorella has been lauded for his fiery approach to the coaching fraternity, but we see a guy who unnecessarily rips on media. It would be one thing if Tortorella truly couldn’t bring himself to understand what the media’s role is in the larger sporting picture, but this is someone who takes media jobs when he’s been between coaching gigs.

That said, if you’re going to criticize the Flyers coach for his flaws, you have to give him credit for steering Philadelphia to where they are today – second place in the highly competitive Metropolitan Division, just four standings points behind the top-ranked New York Rangers.

Indeed, when THN’s staffers were asked to predict breakout NHL teams this season, most respondents picked the Buffalo Sabres, with the Ottawa Senators finishing second in that category. Both teams are Eastern Conference bottom-feeders right now, both struggling more than expected. Not a single voter picked the Flyers.

There was good reason for their omission: Philly GM Daniel Briere made it clear this past off-season that his team was in the early stages of a massive rebuild. Flyers ownership bought into Briere’s long-term vision for the organization, and Flyers fans understood there would be pain ahead as they acquired younger players with higher competitive ceilings.

Instead of pain, though, Tortorella and the Flyers have wildly exceeded expectations. That said, there’s still the matter of the second half of the regular season playing out, and there’s absolutely time for Philadelphia to stumble and wind up outside of the Stanley Cup playoff picture by the time the season ends in April. But we’re well beyond the point of a small sample size with the Flyers. 

They’re the seventh-best defensive team in the league, averaging just 2.68 goals-against per game, and that’s in no small part about Tortorella’s impact and expectations for this mixed bag of decent-enough veterans and still-evolving youngsters. The coach raised the bar, and the Flyers have responded about as well as any team employee could’ve hoped.

There’s still the matter of the NHL trade deadline to roll around March 8, and many will be expecting to see Briere trade one or two of his soon-to-be UFA defensemen, Sean Walker, Nick Seeler and Marc Staal. But at this point, nobody should be expecting a step back for the Flyers. They’re more than the sum of their parts, and they’re playing with house money right now. There’s really no pressure on them to make the playoffs, although ownership would welcome the cash infusion that comes along with at least two post-season games. They can play free and happy with the knowledge that the world isn’t on their collective shoulders. There’s a chance they could even have a home-ice advantage in a playoff series. That would be a massive achievement for the group and their coach.

Tortorella isn’t everybody’s cup of coffee, but you can’t take away the credit he’s earned this season with the Flyers. He’s going to rub some people the wrong way, but so long as he delivers impressive results the way he’s delivered them this year, he’s going to be Philadelphia’s coach for a long time to come.