As per a few inside sources, including Kevin Weekes of ESPN, the Philadelphia Flyers have offered the open head coaching position to John Tortorella. While the deal is not finalized, Torts is meeting with the Flyers today to talk about a contract and an official announcement could come later this afternoon or Thursday.
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There are a number of opinions floating around regarding the news of this pending deal. Some are being critical of the Flyers for being stuck in the stone age and bringing in an old-school coach that doesn’t have a strong way with younger players and his methods don’t work with today’s players. Others are arguing that structure and discipline is exactly what the Flyers need. To many, the feeling is while Tortorella’s style might not be popular, he is far from a monster with zero tolerance and a lack of understanding for today’s game.
Tortorella has spent the past year working as an analyst and has gone viral on a couple of occasions for comments he’s made about skilled players being bad for the NHL game. Specifically, he took aim at the Michigan-style goals and flipping the puck over the net to a teammate like Trevor Zegras did on an assist to Sonny Milano.
All that said, it’s hard to deny Tortorella’s accomplishments as a head coach. Now 63 years old, he is the winningest American-born coach in NHL history, as well as a two-time Jack Adams winner, and Stanley Cup champion.
When the announcement of the hiring is made official by the Flyers, we’ll be sure to update this article.
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