Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella met with the media after the team held an optional skate practice on Wednesday morning, and his press conference went viral—but this time, for all the right reasons.
Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella met with the media after the team held an optional skate practice on Wednesday morning, and his press conference went viral—but this time, for all the right reasons.
Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella met with the media after the team held an optional skate practice on Wednesday morning, and his press conference went viral—but this time, for all the right reasons.
As the Flyers enter their final six games of the regular season, they're staring at a massive mountain to climb to make it into the playoffs in what has proven to be a suffocatingly tight race.
In his postgame presser after the Flyers' overtime loss to the New York Islanders, Tortorella expressed his concern that some of his players weren't up for the challenge of staying in third place in the Metro Division. It shocked viewers, who interpreted it as a harsh call-out of his players, but he clarified on Wednesday that he does believe any struggling players can be brought up to speed.
"When [the end of the season comes], we don't want to say, 'Goddamn, why didn't I do that? Why didn't we get to that level?' I don't want regrets," he said. "I don't know if we get in [the playoffs], I don't know what happens. But I don't want us to fade now. It's about getting to another level, and I do think some guys are struggling to get there, and I think it can be taught.
"Some guys have it in them. But to get to another level, a level you don't even think you know about, that can be taught. That's part of my job. Whether we succeed or not, at least we can look at ourselves in the mirror at the end of it and say we tried. We're not there now."
And if a player doesn't think they have it in them...well...Tortorella won't hesitate to show them where the door is.
"If a player's gonna quit on me, so be it," he shrugged. "If a player or players are gonna quit on me because I'm trying to make them better athletes, you got the wrong damn coach here and you got the wrong damn people here. My job is, I am going to push athletes...What I said [after the Islanders game], I meant."
This brutal honesty isn't uncharacteristic for Tortorella, but he did make it clear that the entire organization has adopted a philosophy of being open and being able to express one's opinion no matter what.
"I know one thing we are—from the coaches to Danny [Briere], [Keith Jones], the players—we are transparent down there," he said. "There's no wondering what the guys are thinking. To me, that's the most important thing—from our ownership right on down, we're transparent with one another, and I think we've done a pretty good job of being transparent with [the media]. I think that's so important in the position we're in and building this team.
"Every guy gets a chance to say what he wants to say. I think that's really important, and what happens, if you're truthful and you're honest and you care, there's gonna be conflict. Not everyone is going to agree. Everybody gets freaked out around us sometimes when there's some truth said or honesty brought out. I think it's so healthy because there's no agenda."
One thing that Tortorella won't tolerate is his team falling on the sword of the narrative that they shouldn't be in a position to get into the playoffs, after being predicted to be a bottom five team at the beginning of the season.
"I'm so proud of the team getting here, and I guess now the narrative out there is that they're young, they're not supposed to be here—bulls***!" he emphasized. "We're here. We're here, face it. And let's be better. I don't think we're ready to be better, and that's my problem with us right now.
"I have not done a good enough job to get them over the hump after playing those seven games...to make them understand that we have to be different now, we have to be on a different level. That's my frustration with me, and that's my frustration with the team. If people can't handle it, so be it."
Tortorella has said multiple times in the past that he doesn't believe that he needs to hold the hands of this Flyers team, and reiterated that sentiment when discussing his general avoidance of one-on-one meetings with players.
"There's not a lot of one-on-one meetings here," he explained. "All our meetings, whether it be good, bad, on a particular player—it's transparency...I used to do it where you bring them in your office, they won't say anything to you because they're sitting across from you, you're sitting there—some coaches even have a chair that's higher, they try to look down on the player, back in the day—I don't do it that way.
"It's off the cuff, it's in the room, and who knows where it goes. I'm always prepared to go whichever way it wants to go, but I think it's healthy that way. I don't think we should be afraid of that. I don't think we should make it a big deal. It's not a big deal, it's just honesty. It's respectful to be honest that way. I want the same honesty, for the player to come at me if he needs to come at me, and that's happened too, and it's turned into a really healthy situation."
At the end of the day, Tortorella emphasized that while he can acknowledge how well his players have done so far this season, he believes that they still have much more to give—and he's going to everything he can to get it out of them.
"I'm proud of our team," he stated. "I love coming to the rink and working with these guys. But it's my job to make sure they understand where we're at now. We're not regular season now. We have put ourself in this spot—let's not fade away and say, 'We're not even supposed to be here.' That sucks. We're here! That's where I think I've done a s****y job. I want to make sure we're gonna go at this the proper way."
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