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John Tortorella and Carter Hart Making the Stanley Cup Finals After Leaving the Flyers is the Most Flyers Thing Ever
By Matt Schultz
Published:
The Vegas Golden Knights are on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals after sweeping the Avalanche in the Western Conference finals. Their goalie, Carter Hart, has been playing out of his mind, posting a .924 save percentage and 2.22 GAA in these playoffs. Their head coach, John Tortorella, has led the Knights to a 19-4-1 record since taking over on March 29th. I know what you’re thinking. We’re all thinking it. It’s completely reasonable to think it: This is the most Flyers shit possible:
Why is it that everyone always seems to thrive after leaving the Flyers? Sergei Bobrovsky. Jeff Carter. Mike Richards. Those are the big ones, of course. But then there’s Patrick Sharp. Justin Williams. Simon Gagné. Rod Brind’Amour. Brayden Schenn. These guys all raised the Cup pretty much immediately after leaving Philly. Then there are the coaches. Peter Laviolette took Nashville to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2017. Craig Berube won it all in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues. It’s a real bummer of a pattern – unless you’re Torts and Hart. Bet they’re enjoying the pattern:
Hart being very good definitely stings more than Torts finding success. The Flyers finally drafted and developed an excellent homegrown goalie for the first time in 100 years, and then the Hockey Canada scandal unfolds and he’s out. There’s still lingering controversy over that and probably always will be. Go figure, it was only seven months ago when some Vegas fans were circulating a petition for the team not to sign Hart.
I still don’t think Torts is a good coach. I will proudly die on this hill. I’m glad he’s not coaching the Flyers. It definitely didn’t help that the Flyers were rebuilding while he was here – his weird, hard-ass, pretending-to-be-the-team’s-disappointed-father coaching style may be a worst-case scenario for a young, developing team – but even with a veteran squad, I still don’t think he brings much value. I guess the thing he’s best for is a shot in the arm for an older, stale roster that’s underperforming, which is exactly what he’s doing now. Guess you gotta tip your cap to him for getting to the Cup Finals, even though Vegas fans will universally despise the guy within months and he will be fired, even if they win it all this year.
Anyway, good luck to Hart and Torts. I truly do hope Vegas wins it all, so we can add these two to the Flyers Are Cursed Hall of Fame and continue to pity ourselves forever. Feels right.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…)