The Flyers will start next season with Rick Tocchet as their new head coach. But prior to a nine-game interim stint by former assistant coach (and current Devils assistant coach) Brad Shaw, John Tortorella was behind the bench for the first 73 games of the season. Tortorella wore out his welcome in Philadelphia. In some cases a lot quicker than others.
But despite being canned, he still provided some colorful, candid and at times comically refreshing quotes. Whether regarding the team’s goaltending situation, dealing with Matvei Michkov, or just perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, Tortorella still made things interesting in Flyers land. Here then are five of the better quotes, responses or reactions Tortorella had to the up and down 2024-25 Flyers season.
5) Benching Michkov briefly against Islanders (January 30, 2025)
After sitting Matvei Michkov for two games in the first half of the season, Tortorella was in the crosshairs of some fans and media for the decision. The two games where Michkov was a healthy scratch was later used by some as the reason Michkov didn’t win the Calder for Rookie of the Year. More points in those two games could’ve made him at least a nominee if not a winner. Regardless, that situation eventually passed. Until January 30.
During a stretch in the game, Michkov didn’t do the right thing defensively in terms of getting back in the play. He took a wider angle to the puck which gave the opposition time to score. Tortorella parked Michkov on the bench. Both parties weren’t too happy with the other but nothing really more came of it. After the game Tortorella addressed the situation without giving a detailed account. He also gave a response that showed he was looking at Michkov’s career in a much bigger picture.
“Like I said all along with him, we’re so far ahead of the process with him being here this year, and that continues even tonight, the process,” Tortorella said. “It needs to be, we’re trying to teach him how things are done, how things are done here. The things of understanding the conduct of a pro, all the things you do to play. So I’m not going to get involved in the situation about what went on the bench tonight, I’m not going to give you specifics. But you may not believe it, but it’s for the right reason because we care about him. I care about him and where he is in the process, how far along he is in the process. And I’m not going to fail him by kowtowing away from situations that people might second guess or whatever it might be. We’re going to do it the right way with this kid because we think he’s that special. And it’s my job to do that no matter what happens.”
When pressed on the subject, Tortorella said the player has to accept some responsibility. “I guess that’s the general term I’ll give you. I don’t want to get too involved in it because it’s unfair to him. I get put into a box sometimes with these situations come. This is to help him. In my heart it’s to help him. And I’m going to do the things I think I need to do to help him. And we’re going to continue to go through the process together.”
4) Michkov and Tortorella II: Language barrier & the “Michigan” (December 13, 2024)
Michkov and Tortorella seemed to see eye to eye on a lot of things, even though outside of some universal profanity, they didn’t understand the other. When Tortorella was asked about what he said during an intermission during a December game and whether that inspired Michkov, Tortorella was short.
“I don’t think he understands a word I’m saying between periods,” the coach said with a chuckle. “I don’t. When I speak, Darryl Williams goes to him and gives him the bullet points I guess of what we’re saying witth more time. He takes his time with him. He just pulls him aside. He’s actually getting a lot better, he really is.”
When asked about Michkov’s attempts at a “Michigan” kind of goal, Tortorella again was funny without trying to be. “I’ve lost the battle right, I don’t think it should be in our game, but I’ve lost the battle. I have talked to him earlier in the year when he was doing it every time. It was just turnovers. The thing I want Mich to understand is he such a good player moving the puck and passing the puck when he’s behind the net he’s dangerous to make plays. So what am I going to do, say ‘Don’t do it?’ What I did is I said, ‘You need to understand is there are other plays to be made there too,’ cause a number of times he tried it earlier in the year it lead to turnovers. So yeah, I’ve lost the damn battle with that.”
3) Four Nations Face-Off: Automobiles over planes and trains (February 24, 2025)
When John Tortorella was an assistant on Team USA as part of the Four Nations Face-Off, he said it was a tremendous honor seeing such talent behind the bench. He also saw the U.S. lose to Team Canada in a thrilling overtime win for Canada in Boston, especially given the geopolitical discussions taking place around that time.
When asked if Tortorella flew back with Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim on the charter back to Philadelphia, Tortorella said he drove. “I didn’t charter back, I drove back,” Tortorella said. “I was planning to drive back anyway, but when I knew a bunch of Canadians were gonna be on there, I was definitely driving back. So I left pretty early in the morning, and they took the charter.”
2) Diving into Bruins play (December 7, 2024)
After losing 4-3 to the Bruins in overtime, Tortorella stormed into the postgame media scrum and asked to speak first before taking any questions. “One thing I teach my team to do is not dive,” he said. “Maybe I should start teaching them that. The way this has gone here, the way this shit goes on, maybe I should start teaching them how to dive.”
When questioned further, Tortorella expanded on the issue of what he perceived as Boston embellishing to get calls. “Yeah I’m not going to go too deep into it. It’s one of the things we talk about most as a team, we got to play an honest game. There’s no cheating, there’s no embarrassing referees, you don’t embarrass the referees. And the shit that went on here tonight is just ridiculous. I’m proud of the way our team played. Did we piss another one away? Yeah. But other people had a little bit to do with that also.”
Tortorella was often one of the first to criticize his own team and some players for poor play. But he was also one of the first to defend his team against when he perceived them to be getting the short end of the stick.
1) The final nail in the coffin (March 25, 2025)
Looking a bit out of sorts, and perhaps just tired of the losing, Tortorella was candid in answering a handful of questions after losing 7-2 to the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. When asked a slightly different question about the team feeling frustrated at how things were devolving, Tortorella replied with the following: “Well, when you’re in this type of situation, and 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,” he said. “This falls on me. 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. So this falls on me, to get the team to play the proper way until we get to the end.”
Whether it was the reply of a coach who wanted out, or was just at his wits end with the way the club was performing, Tortorella wanted either a life line. Or to be put out of his misery. After a reported run-in with defenseman (and recently re-signed) Cam York where he allegedly stated he’d make York’s life as a Flyer a living hell, Tortorella was shown the door by Flyers general manager Danny Briere. It was the last final postgame presser as a Flyers coach. And possibly an NHL coach. Time will tell.