We don’t know if the Philadelphia Flyers will be represented on the ice for Team USA at the NHL’s upcoming 4 Nations Face Off tournament, but we do know that they will be represented off of it.
Announced by USA Hockey on Wednesday, Flyers bench boss John Tortorella will be one of the assistant coaches for Team USA during the tournament.
Tortorella will be joined on the bench by Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes and Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach David Quinn in the same roles as the Flyers coach. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan is Team USA’s head coach.
Interestingly enough, Sullivan is a very good friend of Tortorella and has been his assistant coach during his time as the head coach for the New York Rangers, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Vancouver Canucks; all before he was named Penguins head coach during the 2015-16 season and ended up winning back-to-back Stanley Cups.
The 2025 NHL 4 Nations Face Off — what a tongue-twister of a name — is going to take place from Feb 12-20, in the middle of the 2024-25 NHL season as teams will have a two-week break to go and represent their respective countries. Montreal and Boston will serve as the host cities, with the Bell Centre having the first four games — including the vicious USA vs. Canada game on Feb. 15 — while the TD Garden will have the final two games of the round robin and the championship game on Feb. 20.
All games will be played with NHL rules, but the point system will be IIHF style: Three points for a regulation win; two points for an overtime or shootout win; one point for an overtime or shootout loss.
As for Flyers possibly making the team, the likelihood of that happening has still dramatically improved, but it will be hard to see one making the cut. Americans like Joel Farabee and Cam York would need one hell of a start to their seasons and some other players bowing out due to injuries, to end up on that final roster and playing for their head coach.
Hell, maybe Ryan Poehling gets added to the roster after Tortorella demands he is there on the fourth line instead of some guy named “Jack Eichel”.
