For the better part of three full seasons, former Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella had a standard he demanded on everyone who wore a Flyers jersey: play hard, compete on every shift, and block shots when the opportunity required you to do so.
A joke could be made here about how the goaltenders were exempt from that but let’s carry on. If you were defending in your own zone, you needed to get a skate, knee, thigh, shoulder, shin or some part of your body between the puck and the net. Tortorella essentially made it a pre-requisite regardless of what position you played, your cap hit or how offensively gifted you were. You blocked shots. Then blocked some more.
Now with Tortorella gone, that mindset might have eased up somewhat with Rick Tocchet behind the bench. Not completely eliminated. But there could be a slight reprieve from the bruises and resulting swearing that went on as the likes of Nick Seeler, Travis Sanheim and others limped or skated gingerly to the bench. It’s a mindset that was mentioned early last year by Ivan Fedotov, who cited that he actually preferred seeing the puck coming to him versus one of the skaters in front of him trying to block it.
Meanwhile following the Bruins exhibition game last Saturday, starting goaltender Sam Ersson echoed similar sentiments. “Overall, I think some good things, guys letting me see some pucks, and kind of letting me do my job finding those pucks was great, I liked that,” Ersson said following the Flyers loss. When asked if he could see the pucks more cleanly, he was eager to respond. “The stuff we’re talking about, I think that’s helping us a little bit. We’re talking more to help us get the opportunity to see more pucks so I think it’s good and it’s obviously going to get better. We need more time to work on it and it’s going to get better and better. I definitely noticed guys working at it. I definitely see the positive effect that it can have for us goalies, it’ll make our life a little easier.”
The lines of communication between the goaltenders and the head coach seem to be a vast improvement a few weeks into training camp than it was in the entire Tortorella tenure. Tortorella never seemed to trust Ersson, Fedotov, or Aleksei Kolosov or have much confidence in them. A new coach, so far, looks like he’s working with the goaltenders to make their lives a little easier.
Different coaches, different approaches
While Tortorella’s idea was to keep the puck away from the net as much as possible, the downside to that effort was rather basic. A goaltender set for a shot only to see it blocked often doesn’t have the time to reset for the shot coming off a deflection or rebound. Perhaps Tortorella didn’t think of that, particularly when he had Sergei Bobrovsky in Columbus and Henrik Lundqvist with the Rangers who often dragged their respective teams into the playoffs. As well, it’s not always guaranteed that the blocked shot will immediately change possession. The puck could simply bounce back to the shooter or another opponent for another shot. But with Tocchet, it appears Ersson, Dan Vladar and whoever else might be called on by Philadelphia may see pucks more clearly and the lanes a bit tidier than previous years.
By changing the mindset, and attempting to clear the lanes versus getting in front of them, it should give the goaltenders more responsibility. That responsibility might be easier for the goaltending tandem to accept if they can see the puck far more clearly than Ersson, Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov did last year. There will be some leaky goals at times this season. Goaltenders do that at times. But knowing you will be able to see the puck more often than not (and more often than last season) should bode well for the Flyers goaltenders heading into the regular season. If they begin to stop the puck more, the rest of the team’s confidence usually begins to rise, leading to a bit more offensive production knowing they can rely on their keeper to bail them out occasionally.
That mindset might also be why Tocchet and the Flyers are leaning towards larger, bigger blueliners versus someone like Emil Andrae. Bigger defenders generally have a better chance of keeping the front of the net cleaner and clearing traffic. So if that is the idea behind going bigger and more physical, then that might be why you see Noah Juulsen, Dennis Gilbert, and Adam Ginning still in the fold. Gilbert and Juulsen — who both played under Tocchet — might be much more familiar with that blueprint than any other Flyers defenseman, which could give them an advantage regarding the final cuts at camp. If those lanes are clear, then it’s up to the Flyers keeper to stop the puck and ideally control the rebound. If no opponent is near the rebound then chances are a Flyers defender can retain possession or clear the zone.
Ideally, the Flyers reduce some of the chances or time in their own end with the horses they have in Travis Sanheim, Cam York, and (to a lesser extent) Jamie Drysdale. The trio should be using their wits and speed to get the puck out of the zone quickly and transition through the neutral zone. None of those mentioned will be mistaken for Quinn Hughes, yet they each have the speed to work their way out of the defensive zone rather routinely. When that doesn’t happen, then Tocchet’s system might be a far quicker, easier, smarter, and less painful way to achieve the end goal.
The numbers don’t lie
One of the easiest ways to see some differences between Tocchet and Tortorella can be seen from last season. While Vancouver and Philadelphia have different personnel, the numbers speak for themselves. Looking at the top 400 shot blockers in the National Hockey League last season, the Flyers were on average blocking more shots than the Canucks roster. Here’s a look at just how the Flyers and the Canucks fared in that statistic. (NOTE: There are ties but the rankings do not include ties.)
| Philadelphia Flyers | Blocked Shots (League Ranking) | Vancouver Canucks | Blocked Shots (League Ranking) |
| Nick Seeler | 200 (3rd) | Marcus Pettersson | 144 (33rd) |
| Travis Sanheim | 170 (11th) | Tyler Myers | 125 (56th) |
| Cam York | 126 (53rd) | Derek Forbort | 77 (163rd) |
| Jamie Drysdale | 102 (104th) | Elias Pettersson (C) | 77 (164th) |
| Rasmus Ristolainen | 94 (120th) | Filip Hronek | 75 (168th) |
| Egor Zamula | 91 (127th) | Quinn Hughes | 67 (194th) |
| Ryan Poehling | 79 (155th) | Noah Juulsen | 60 (231st) |
| Owen Tippett | 63 (211th) | Conor Garland | 58 (247th) |
| Garnet Hathaway | 61 (222nd) | Drew O’Connor | 57 (252nd) |
| Noah Cates | 54 (267th) | Jake DeBrusk | 48 (319th) |
| Tyson Foerster | 54 (275th) | Teddy Blueger | 43 (359th) |
| Emil Andrae | 50 (306th) | Pius Suter | 43 (361st) |
| Sean Couturier | 45 (339th) | Victor Mancini | 41 (375th) |
| Travis Konecny | 42 (366th) | Erik Brannstrom | 39 (399th) |
As you can see from above, the Flyers had two of the top 11 shot blockers in the league, with Seeler hitting the 200 mark (or 200 hitting him is more apt). They also had seven players in the top 155 in the league (Seeler, Sanheim, Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, Rasmus Ristolainen, Egor Zamula, and Ryan Poehling). Meanwhile Vancouver was led by Marcus Pettersson who had 144 (split between Vancouver and Pittsburgh). Pettersson had 53 blocked shots in his last 25 games with Vancouver. Simply put, he was a shot-blocking dynamo for the Canucks. But after Pettersson, the next best Canuck was Tyler Myers with 125 blocked shots. After Pettersson and Myers, Vancouver had Elias Pettersson and Derek Forbort with 77 each, good for 163rd and 164th position in the league. So, in layman’s terms, the Flyers had seven in the top 155 whereas Vancouver settled for a pair. The Flyers also had 12 players with 50 or more blocked shots (including Emil Andrae who played only 42 games with Philadelphia) while Vancouver had nine. And finally, the Flyers topped the league in 2024-25 with 1455 blocked shots whereas Vancouver was 20th (1208).
Despite the vast difference in shot blocking numbers for those two teams, what might be surprising is that the Canucks allowed a fraction fewer shots per game (26.8 shots which ranked sixth-best in the league) than Philadelphia (26.95, ranked seventh). Having a defensive talent like Quinn Hughes is one major reason as opponents can’t take shots when they don’t have the puck. More importantly, it indicates that the Canucks’ system didn’t rely on blocked shots yet was equally effective.
Will the Flyers buy in?
Playing with pain comes with playing an NHL season. Knowing they were stepping in front of wrist shots, one-timers or viciously hard and heavy slap shots routinely couldn’t be fun for the Flyers the last three seasons. And the end result was all those blocks still left them out of the playoffs throughout the Tortorella era. If Tocchet is able to show Philadelphia a defensive system that keeps them a bit healthier through moving the puck quickly and making smarter, high-percentage decisions, then it shouldn’t take too long for the Flyers to buy in. That transition might take a few weeks and be a work in progress, but should it pay off with more wins, less time in their own zone and the goaltenders looking hopefully better than they did last season.
