Best Coach This Year is John Tortorella
The Philadelphia Flyers bench boss has the team playing above expectations and is a sure-fire candidate for the Jack Adams award.
Robert Edwards - USA TODAY Sports - Best Coach This Year is John TortorellaWe are into February and the playoff races are heating up. Most of the teams you expect to be contending are contending.
And yet, the Philadelphia Flyers, a year removed from a total of 75 points and a bottom two finish in the Metropolitan Division, have 62 points in 53 games and sit in a playoff spot.
And so much credit should be going to John Tortorella.
Last year raised plenty of questions. A horrible season seemed like it would set Philadelphia even further back in their rebuild and winning ways would be years away. Tortorella seemed to be the easy scapegoat for the Flyers struggles, being accused of not adapting to the modern-day NHL and going too hard on a very young, inexperienced team.
It is easy to understand those accusations. With previous franchises, Tortorella notoriously did not always get along with players who did not bring the work ethic he desired.
But this year, the players have fully bought into his intensity and they are playing in the image of their coach.
While leadership from longtime Flyers like Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny help build the culture, it is the young players that have stepped up in a big way. Joel Farabee, Owen Tippett, and Morgan Frost have all given this team a big boost, especially from a scoring standpoint. Tortorella deserves plenty of credit for their development over the past two years and the strides they've made.
And while his coaching style in practice is known as relentless and intense, the players have used it as motivation. Even this interaction with Samuel Ersson is a clear sign of how Tortorella believes in his team.
Tortorella has coached over 1,500 games in the NHL and has won two Jack Adams awards. If this team sneaks into the playoffs, Tortorella should be in line to win his third.