Flyers coach John Tortorella was on The Best Show Ever? Thursday afternoon. 

It was honest Torts, as usual, and he noted that he’s on the same page with Chuck Fletcher ahead of the Friday trade deadline, despite speculation otherwise.

“Myself, Chuck, and Dave Scott have a productive meeting last Sunday for a couple of hours, as far as outlining the process and plan moving ahead here,” Torts said. “We’re all on board.”

“As I’ve said since I’ve been here, it’s not happening overnight. People want to complain, they want to criticize, go ahead. It’s not happening overnight and we’re going to try to do it the right way.”

Torts noted that one of the biggest steps ahead is removing players before adding players. He mentioned twice the necessity to perhaps pass on pursuing certain guys because the team is not at that point in the rebuild. For instance, they could have gone after Johnny Gaudreau in the offseason, but the consensus among fans and media is that they weren’t far enough along in the process to add that kind of player on that kind of contract. The timeline didn’t make sense.


The coach also talked about cleaning up the off-ice “minutiae,” like addressing the medical staff and fixing other non-hockey processes. Tyrone Johnson asked him to clarify.

“In my mind, it’s just having the organization run in a professional manner,” Tortorella explained. “I think there was a ton of entitlement hanging around in our locker room, where really quite honestly, you didn’t deserve that entitlement. You didn’t deserve that stature. We certainly have come a long way, which was very well chronicled, with some lawsuits out there, the medical situation has come a long way in trying to fix that, so that our players are taken care of throughout the year. Just the overall sense of keeping our head down and doing it the right way. I just think that sometimes when people are there a long time, players, staff, everything, there’s a sense of entitlement. Listen, we’re pretty much nonexistent in the National Hockey League as far as respect. We need to earn the league’s respect, and that’s about staying together, getting the right people involved in this, and doing it the right way. And understanding that no one’s above anybody else, no matter how long you’ve been there. Player, personnel, staff, whatever it may be. That’s some of the stuff we’re trying to weed through here. It’s been a grind that way, but I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

He later confirmed that Kevin Hayes’ name needs to be out there in trade conversations, and that he wants Sam Ersson as his #2 goaltender, with Felix Sandstrom needing some time before becoming a legitimate and consistent NHL player.

Tyrone later asked Tortorella to clarify the reporting structure and hierarchy within the organization.

“Chuck Fletcher reports to Dave Scott, I report to Chuck Fletcher,” Tortorella said. “Any questions Chuck has of me regarding the team, like at this point in time with the (trade) deadline, ask about players, ask where we’re looking, I’ll give him the information. I don’t know who is above Dave. I don’t get involved in Comcast or anything like that, but I know it’s Dave Scott, it is Chuck Fletcher, and then it’s me and my coaching staff. That’s how it goes. And we’re all on the same page here. And you know what happens guys? It’s crazy, I can’t believe the talk, the words that are being used, a ‘quick rebuild,’ ‘quick fix,’ this that and the other thing. We’re trying to build this the right way. Those are the words I’ll use. And I believe Dave believes that and Chuck believes that. We’ve gotten caught up so much in grammar that we forget about exactly what we’re trying to do here.”

It’s a good interview. Here’s the link again if you want to check it out.