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Don’t listen to John Tortorella: Tanking makes sense

On the morning of March 17, 2023, the Philadelphia Flyers woke up with a decision to make. They were on a four-game losing streak (four games they had no chance of winning) and they next faced the Buffalo Sabres–a better team, but a team nowhere near the top of the league. The Flyers had two options: win or lose. Indeed, if they chose to lose, the tank would be initiated in full force, having to play the Hurricanes, the Panthers, and the Wild in the three games following.

The Flyers chose to beat the Sabres. They also chose to beat the Panthers and Wild after getting a loser point against the Hurricanes. Between March 17 and March 23, the Flyers picked up 7 points in the standings, largely destroying any chance of finishing near the bottom of the league.


Now, pause for a moment. For astute readers and/or hockey fans, the above two paragraphs might have raised a red flag. Hockey players don’t “choose” to win or lose. That’s an absurd idea. If winning and losing came down to a simple act of the will, a “choice”, teams would always choose to win. Why would they choose otherwise?

In the same way, no one “chooses” to tank. No hockey player sees a loose puck and says, “No, I don’t think I’m going to pick that up,” or sees an open net and says, “I think I’ll shoot it wide.” It would be silly to expect multimillion-dollar professional athletes to put away their competitive spirit and deliberately lose a series of hockey games, hoping to one day play on the same team as Connor Bedard. In fact, it’s not just silly; it’s fully insane.

John Tortorella agrees. In his widely publicized March 24 press conference, Tortorella was asked about the Flyers’ draft lottery odds and responded with the following rant:

“You wouldn’t believe the mail I get. Just stop sending me mail about tanking. There’s no such thing as professional athletes tanking. They would not be able to live with themselves if they went home and did something to try to disturb an outcome of a game. It is asinine. Just don’t bring up that subject. It’s wrong.”

In one sense, Tortorella was correct. It would be truly galaxy-brained if fans expected the team to deliberately and willfully lose games. However, in another sense, Tortorella was wrong, and not only wrong, he was dishonest. Dishonest with himself, with the press, and with the fans.

No one knows the contents of Tortorella’s “mail.” Yet, even assuming that he indeed received letters from disgruntled fans, it is safe to assume that his comments in the presser were, both, utterly unfair and unrepresentative of popular opinion. Tortorella egregiously straw manned the entire fan base. When people say they want the Flyers to tank, they aren’t asking Rasmus Ristolainen to purposefully fall down while defending a 2-on-1. No one expects Carter Hart to intentionally let in a soft goal. “Tanking” is an organic process whereby bad teams continue to be bad. Sure, a team might bench a player or two for “rest” or an “injury,” thereby impairing the on-ice performance. But this is rare. In reality, when fans ask for a tank, they’re asking the team to do nothing more than what it did all season–i.e. play bad hockey and lose. Tortorella might have enjoyed his clever jab, but contrary to his accusations, there’s nothing asinine about wanting the Flyers to lose games that, statistically, they are supposed to lose.

Of course, organic tanking is not always successful. Underperforming players can go on hot streaks, which are largely unpredictable and unavoidable. Exhibit A: Joel Farabee who was on a 25-game goalless streak prior to tallying seven points (including four goals) in six games. In the same vein, overperforming teams can have cold streaks, particularly as the season winds down and players get tired or banged up. Anything can happen. However, if the first 80% of the Flyers’ season was atrocious, it is reasonable to believe (or hope) that the next 20% would be as well.

Yet, the Flyers somehow shattered this mathematical probability. Following Tortorella’s comments, the Flyers continued their point streak with wins against the Red Wings and the Canadiens. They then earned yet another loser point against the Ottawa Senators, and as a result, the possibility of finishing near the bottom of the league is now all but gone. With an artificially inflated points percentage there is very little chance that the Flyers will be overtaken by Arizona or Montreal.

No doubt, many will argue, “We shouldn’t have expected a tank. The Flyers aren’t nearly as bad as the teams below them.” And others will add, “The Flyers ruined any chance of a tank when they hired John Tortorella.” There’s truth in these arguments; however, such claims merely reinforce why the failure to tank is so disappointing. Despite hiring a legendary head coach, despite several players having career-best seasons, and despite having one of the more talented goaltenders in the league, the Flyers nonetheless put themselves in a position to tank. They showed that a tank was possible, and heartbreak is always more painful when it follows a trace of hope.

No, the Flyers are not nearly as bad as the Columbus Blue Jackets. Yes, it was wishful thinking to believe that the Flyers would finish last in the league. But these truths even further reveal the absurdity of Tortorella’s rant. If the worst teams in the league have the best chance of finishing last, then it logically follows that tanking is an organic process, naturally flowing from lack of talent and the inability to win games. Tanking is not a choice. No one expects the Flyers to throw games, and to the contrary, everyone understands that players will continue to give each game their all. But when the remainder of the season is meaningless and the organization is hopeless and dejected, what do the players have left to give? This emptiness, frustration, and exhaustion, all combined with a general lack of talent relative to other teams, is what effectuates a tank.

Nonetheless, John Tortorella–the same John Tortorella who has, himself, admitted that this season is a lost cause–scoffed at the idea and turned up his nose to the fans who desperately want this team to build a brighter future.

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