If you were to look at Todd Reirden’s career as a player, he was around the block. Make that three or four blocks. Whether playing for the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks or the Jacksonville Lizard Kings of the East Coast Hockey League, or a few clubs in the International Hockey League, or a bevy of teams in the American Hockey League, Reirden had to roll with whatever punches came along. He was flexible, and finished his playing days in Europe, one season in Germany, the last in Austria.
Aside from two years as the head coach of the Capitals, Reirden has stayed in the game as an assistant, having two different stints with the Penguins before the Flyers hired him last June. And over the last 92 regular season and playoff games, Reirden’s guidance and openness with Philadelphia’s defenseman has been a breath of fresh air among the blueliners. Four defensemen ended up with more points this season over last (Travis Sanheim, Jamie Drysdale, Cam York, and Emil Andrae (although Andrae played roughly 20 more games)). While that happened, Philadelphia was fourth in the league in terms of shots against per game. Simply put, they didn’t give up a lot, and they weren’t often guilty of being way out of position.
Despite the new system Rick Tocchet and his staff implemented, those defensemen who spoke at their exit interviews Tuesday all shared one common theme: Reirden was a great tactical coach, and extremely eager to collaborate with defensemen one-on-one or in group sessions.
Travis Sanheim didn’t disagree at all with what his fellow Flyers defensemen stated on Tuesday, noticing just how personable Reirden was during the entire season. It sounds like there was far more discussions and video work in 2025-26 than there was at any point in the last few seasons. Of course, the play of Dan Vladar had a huge impact in making the defense look good. But the six defensemen on most nights were doing everything they could to make getting into danger zones for the opposition virtually non-existent.
“I just thought from our back end, we did a great job all year of defending, and defending hard and playing well defensively,” Sanheim said. “I thought you saw some guys take a big step, Jamie especially in the way that he defends. That was awesome to see from my point of view. The way that he continued to get better and better with more minutes and harder competition. I’m excited to see where his game gets to as we move this thing along.”
As far as work off and on the ice, Sanheim said there seemed to be far more conversations of between Reirden and the players and also amongst the players themselves. The goal was essentially to make everyone better collectively and constructively, not pinpointing miscues and chewing out guys for those mistakes.
“I think just we did a lot of D meetings this year, which is new for me,” Sanheim said. “So you have different guys speaking on different clips. And it might not be in the clip, it might be something that you see and the way that you would’ve handled it. Or just the way the scenario played out. To have those conversations, to share those ideas. You’re all working together, you’re all trying to get to the ultimate goal of winning in this league. If you can share different experiences that you’ve gone through or scenarios of how you would’ve done it differently to help them for the next time.
“I’m learning just as much as those guys are and the young guys that are coming up. I’m continuing to try to get better. I want that information. I want to know what Jamie’s doing on a breakout and what he’s seeing versus what I’m seeing and kind of help my game and make me better. Ultimately I think doing it that way benefits a lot of us and you saw that throughout the season.”
Cam York and Jamie Drysdale have nothing but praise
One of the more vocal supporters regarding Reirden in the exit interviews was Cam York. Of course York and former head coach John Tortorella didn’t see eye-to-eye, with a rather nasty argument or spat spelling the end for Tortorella last March. But York, who said this past season was the “most fun” he had since turning pro, said both Reirden and head coach Rick Tocchet offered a vastly different, and refreshing change from last year.
“Just his personality, and how he goes about his business fits well with our group and how we go about ours. In terms of video and stuff, compared to the staff before, I feel like we covered a lot more and I think that’s good for our group. Honestly, as a person, I think he’s just the right guy for our team.”
York, who was still elated with the series-clinching goal against the Penguins a few weeks prior, said Reirden was eager to hear from the players to see where their heads were at making certain plays.
“I mean it’s huge,” he says. “I think sometimes you get in these video sessions and guys are like scared to speak up or something like that. You’re not getting uncomfortable and sometimes you got to get uncomfortable and talk about whether you made a mistake on this play, or you made the right play in your mind but in the other guy’s mind it wasn’t the right play. Just the communication was great. Reirds all year long was just reassuring to all of us. If we had anything that we needed to ask him about he was always there for us. He was great and I’m really excited to continue to work with him and try to grow my game.”
Jamie Drysdale was another one of Reirden’s biggest backers on Tuesday. Drysdale was entering a turning point in his career, playing his final year of his contract and still not quite establishing himself as a top four defenseman. However, his season was a revelation. Drysdale tied a career high for points (32) and had a career high in goals (eight). So offensively he was strong. However, in the defensive zone, he was also great, seeing his plus/minus go from a horrid -32 last season to just -3 in 78 games in 2025-26. Drysdale also had a career high in average ice time for a full season, with 21:33 a game, almost a full three minutes more than in the 24 games he played after being traded to Philadelphia from Anaheim back in January 2024.
Drysdale also said Reirden took one of the blueliner’s best assets — his speed — to help greatly enhance his defensive work five-on-five. By using his speed to cut down the time and space opponents had, it resulted in a number of plays each game simply being nipped in the bud, and at worst negating defensive zone time. Or possibly generating offense in transition. Regardless, Drysdale said Reirden’s style was a huge asset in helping the defense changing for the better.
“That’s a good word, it’s very collaborative in terms of how he kind of approaches (things) since day one, since the summer,” Drysdale said of Reirden’s outlook. “Last summer we chatted over the phone. It’s very interactive, it’s not a lot of him just telling you what to do all the time. It’s more, ‘Here’s what I think, what do you see? What are you looking at? What did you think of the last game?’ Just little things like that, breakdowns segment-wise as well, one-on-one meetings. I think it really shows that he cares and he takes a lot of pride in it, in developing the guys that he works with. He was great all year. There’s a lot of give and take and it’s an environment that you can succeed in.”
Flyers’ bottom pairing felt everything clicked
Reirden appeared to have a strong, solid relationship with most of the regular Flyers defensemen this season. Emil Andrae, who was in the lineup for roughly three-quarters of the season (61 games), was another player who had a lot of time for the assistant coach. The defender said Reirden was like the rest of the coaching staff, namely very straightforward with him through the ups and downs. The staff also didn’t mince words or play any mind games with him throughout the 2025-26 campaign.
“I talked a lot with Reirds, he’s been good to me the whole year,” Andrae said during his exit interview Tuesday. “He’s been telling me when I play well and when I don’t. Sometimes I’ve had bad games and we look at video to see what I can do better, what they expect of me. I think it’s been pretty good conversations with the coaches.”
Nick Seeler was also lauding Reirden for the job he did. Seeler also noticed how the approach he brought to the table from training camp on seemed different than what Seeler might have experienced under recent coaching staffs who went unnamed. The defensemen said it was more of a give-and-take, with the lines always open to discuss whatever was on the blueliner’s mind.
“Reirds, our D coach, was fantastic this year,” Seeler said. “He’s got a great mind for the game, he really cares about his players. It was easy to learn the new system. Obviously there was an adjustment period at the start of the year but I thought everyone bought in and did a really good job.
“I think his communication style, I think the energy he brings is contagious. Like I said earlier he does a great job with the defense. And feedback wise, it’s more of a conversation; it’s less him telling you what to do. It’s trying to find solutions together and make you better. He’s like that every single day and makes you want to continue to get better. So it was awesome.”
In short, it looks like Todd Reirden’s hiring was a huge plus for this young and still developing defensive corps. Hopefully the same approach pays off with similar or greater dividends next season.
