The Philadelphia Flyers had nearly three full seasons of John Tortorella behind the bench, and for a good portion of that time, the Flyers were a hockey team surrounded by an ongoing soap opera. What was the fiery Tortorella going to do next? Who would he put in the doghouse? Who would he scratch? Who would find themselves benched? What would he do with his goaltenders not just from game-to-game, but period-to-period? All kinds of questions that didn’t deter Flyers general manager Danny Briere from the bigger picture and the organization’s rebuild. But perhaps made it a little more difficult than even Briere envisioned.
And while it’s only been almost seven months since Tortorella was fired by the Flyers, it seems like it’s been a lot longer given the subtle changes Rick Tocchet has made not just with the team’s style of play but with the players themselves. A lot of Flyers would say they enjoyed playing for Tortorella. A lot more are probably enjoying Tocchet, his staff, and his overall style through training camp, the exhibition schedule, and four games into the 2025-26 season. Here then are four notable differences (not including the rope skate) that Tocchet has instilled in a rather short amount of time.
Communication lines are open
Under Tortorella, the give-and-take between a player and a coach didn’t seem to be pleasing or all that constructive. One only has to remember the Morgan Frost situation to prove that Tortorella went about things quite differently. After all, not many players have been compared to a toilet seat. Frost seemingly received praise from Tortorella midway through the 2023-24 season when he approached him and they basically had it out behind closed doors. It was something Tortorella was hoping to happen so they could clear the air. It was also similar (and much more damaging) when it came to Flyers captain Sean Couturier. Couturier (who has thrown some shade in Tortorella’s direction since he’s left) was benched for two games in 2024-25 with Couturier not knowing exactly why. The fact Couturier stated before this season that he had more discussions with Tocchet than he did during his entire time under Tortorella was quite telling. And damning.
Tortorella’s communication skills were one thing. Rick Tocchet’s communication skills seem to be the antithesis of Tortorella’s blueprint. Tocchet spoke with Couturier during the summer and reportedly got his input when it came to giving players some down time, travel schedules and other things that come with an 82-game schedule. It wasn’t a huge thing. But for a team coming to terms with PTSD (Post Tortorella Stress Disorder), the gesture was something that instantly opened the lines of communication. “I just really like his way of communicating and making sure that it’s not about him,” Couturier said in a recent episode of “The Flyers Way: Brick by Brick,” perhaps another subtle (or not so subtle) dig at Tortorella. “He seems to really do whatever it takes to help the team, to be close to his players and get some feedback.”
Tocchet also recently came to Matvei Michkov’s defense in some respects, especially when Michkov didn’t see the ice during an overtime loss to Carolina. Tocchet noted Michkov’s ankle issue while Michkov was quick to deny the ailment was the reason he was still seeking his first point. Under Tortorella one could only envision a possible demotion to the fourth line for not playing up to his potential. Or being an early season healthy scratch.
And it’s not just Tocchet but his staff that have that open door quality. A glimpse at the recent aforementioned episode showed assistant coach Todd Reirden breaking down different plays and getting input from Dan Vladar, Travis Sanheim, Noah Juulsen and others. It’s nothing new to these players most likely. Yet the way the coaching staff probably went about each session was far different than what they might have experienced under Tortorella in almost three years. It wasn’t a screed on what they did wrong, but more along the lines of what needed to be improved on. Most likely the same message was delivered, just in totally different ways.
Power play potential
Without throwing more dirt on the corpse that was the Flyers power play under Tortorella and Rocky Thompson, it was almost comically bad. Being the third-worst team in the league last year was actually seen as a small improvement. The 5-on-4 advantage could not do anything correctly. It looked too slow, too formulaic and just far too cautious at times to look like it could score at will. If at all. The fact Michkov was able to muster 17 power-play points was almost a miracle given how bad the Thompson-tested power play was.
Now, with some much needed talent in Trevor Zegras added to the lineup, the power play under Rick Tocchet looks like it’s a bit quicker and effective. There’s still a lot of work to do, but the passing looks like it’s keeping the opposing penalty killers far less comfortable. And with Michkov and Zegras, units now have not one but two playmakers who can set something up or simply score on their own. One only has to look at the ridiculous pass Zegras made to Sean Couturier late in Monday night’s game against Florida to see that passes like that weren’t on the radar under Tortorella. Hell, possibly scoring a goal like the “Michigan” was something Tortorella initially thought wasn’t great for hockey.
The power play will have its highs and lows over the season. Heading into the Winnipeg game Thursday night they were sitting 26th in the league at just 10 per cent. After the game that fell to 7.7 per cent, good for, er, 31st. If the Flyers can be middle of the pack in terms of power play rankings in the NHL then they should be in a great position for a playoff spot. An effective power play also should help lessen the burden on the Flyers goaltenders, which brings us to the third difference.
See more shots, stop more shots
Through four games, the Flyers found themselves allowing 28.5 shots per game, putting them in 19th position. That’s a lot of shots and more under Rick Tocchet then they allowed most nights with Tortorella at the helm. Tortorella preached blocking shots. Everyone blocked shots. It didn’t matter the score, the player or the situation, you were to toss yourself in front of the speeding chunk of rubber to prevent it from getting to the goaltender or in the net. It was painful, judging by the Flyers leading the NHL in the stat last year. And having a lot of players in the top 100 league-wide, that pain and ice packs were spread around.
This year, Tocchet’s approach has been vastly different. Philadelphia are still blocking shots, but they are often giving up low-percentage shots that the tandem of Sam Ersson and Dan Vladar have thus far generally been able to handle without constantly wilting. They are seeing the puck. And stopping them more often than not. This concept of simply clearing the lanes for the goaltender to make the stop and see the puck isn’t revolutionary. Yet for a team who prided itself on shot blocking, it has to be a welcome reprieve for everyone. It should also instill some much-needed confidence in Ersson and Vladar. Ersson and Vladar are being given the burden of making the first stop. It’s up to the skaters to clear traffic and rebounds. Aside from the Jets game where Ersson looked more like last season’s vintage, the goalies have been good in three out of the four games. A long, long way to go though.
As well, it might be a minor thing to some, but the four Flyers goaltenders between the big club and in Lehigh Valley now know their roles. There’s no three-goalie circus like most of last year, with Tortorella basically lost for words at how badly Ersson, Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov looked. Each goaltender knows their role. The goaltenders were awful last year. Maybe the system under Tortorella didn’t exactly help them. A new blueprint might make Ersson resemble a goaltender who can be in the .900 save percentage ballpark more often than not.
Patience with the lineup
As much as Danny Briere preached patience in this rebuild since it started, Tortorella seemed to be the polar opposite of someone who had patience. He did when it came to the horrid power play and his belief in Rocky Thompson. But elsewhere Tortorella’s hair trigger came with some collateral damage. The number of healthy scratches and benchings over his three years are too many to recount here. It was rare for a player to avoid either, particularly after a rough stretch or a few miscues. Tortorella more often than not blew up, whether it was on the bench in Tampa, the comically terse press conferences, the shrugs regarding questions about goaltenders, or players not knowing where they stood with him.
With Tortorella as coach, if the Flyers weren’t going or lines weren’t producing, they were juggled. Anything to get an instant reaction. Same goes for the goaltenders, with the keepers pulled on an almost weekly basis at some points. However, in the four games (a very small sample size), Tocchet has yet to pull either Vladar or Ersson (unless for an extra attacker). He has stayed with the same three lines up front for the most part with a slight adjustment where Zegras is slated as a wing/center more than a center as Christian Dvorak was put down the middle on Thursday night. Only on the fourth line has he replaced Rodrigo Abols and Nic Deslauriers with Nikita Grebenkin and Jett Luchanko. It remains to be seen what happens with Luchanko. But so far he hasn’t received the ice time Briere would prefer.
Tocchet knows it’s going to take time to develop Philadelphia into a playoff contender. It’s going to take time for the “lane clearing” mindset to be instinctual. And it’s going to take time unfortunately for the power play to get off and running. Or at least off the ground from time to time. He knows the club is young, is going to make mistakes, but is willing to teach the players what they did wrong and throw them back out again. One mistake isn’t going to cost a player playing time or a roster spot. You couldn’t guarantee that the last three years.
The goal this year is competing for a playoff spot. And adding players when the time comes. Ideally the Flyers would love to be unbeaten against three of the elite teams in the NHL thus far. But they did manage to get three out of eight points, and probably deserved a better fate against Carolina. Either way, Tocchet seems to be the steadying presence the locker room needs after the previous fire and brimstone taskmaster. A weight has been lifted off the shoulders of some of the players. And a clean slate is probably what many needed in order to take that next step. Tortorella’s rope is gone. Tocchet seems to be giving his players a much longer, yank-free leash.
