Flyers’ John Tortorella Is a Double-Edged Sword

Rasmus Ristolainen used to be seen as one of the more promising young defenders in the league, but the analytics movement in the recent past shut that down. For a long time, he was as far from an analytical darling as possible. That was the case when he was with the Buffalo Sabres up until 2020-21, and that didn’t change with the Flyers early on. And then this season happened.

Ristolainen hasn’t taken on a crazy role this season with just 16:41 of average ice time and frequent absences due to injury, but he has been terrific when on the ice. His defense has been arguably the best of his career, and he has been less prone to making mistakes. That sort of transformation doesn’t happen overnight — it starts with coaching. While associate coach Brad Shaw works more closely with defensemen, it is ultimately Tortorella’s job to get results on the ice, and he has done so with Ristolainen. His improvements haven’t been otherworldly, but enough to make him a quality defender on a playoff team.

Nick Seeler, a 30-year-old defensive defenseman, went from contemplating retirement to earning a contract extension with the Flyers worth over $10 million in just a few seasons. The shot-blocking connoisseur went from a seventh defender to a vital piece of the Flyers’ defense when it didn’t seem like his play could reach another level considering his age.

After taking a season away from hockey in 2020-21, Seeler signed a league-minimum deal with the Flyers in 2021-22. He served as a spark for the team with his fighting ability and was a pretty solid player in the lineup. He earned a short-term extension as a result. He only got better when Tortorella was hired by the Flyers for 2022-23.

Seeler stepped into an even bigger role on the team and was one of the best depth defensemen in the league. He has taken that to new heights this season, playing on the second pair pretty frequently in 2023-24. That kind of progression at that age really doesn’t happen in the NHL, so it shows some of the best qualities of the Flyers’ coach.

Sean Walker, though traded at the deadline, was still arguably the biggest reclamation project of them all this season. Making $2.65 million against the salary cap, the Los Angeles Kings traded him to Philadelphia last offseason solely to shed his salary. He went on to return the Flyers a first-round pick at the deadline, so something clearly flipped.

Walker was maybe the Flyers’ best defenseman they had when he was on the team. Instead of being a depth option, he served as a crucial second-pairing player who could step up in the neutral zone, pinch offensively, and play solid defensively, too. He was the full package, and that was something Tortorella and the rest of his coaching staff unlocked. At 29 years of age, the defender reached his prime seemingly out of nowhere.

Stubborn for Breakouts

Tortorella might be the most stubborn coach in the entire NHL. However, it is in a good way more often than not. He wants only the best for his players, so when he knows he can get that, he will stop at nothing to do so.

A great example of this stubbornness has been with 22-year-old rookie Tyson Foerster. Despite not having the greatest rookie camp or preseason, he was played in top-six minutes almost instantly for the Orange and Black in a highly competitive lineup for wingers.

For anyone who knows Foerster’s game, it was clear what Tortorella saw and wanted out of him — he is a talented player and shooter. Even though Tortorella is often seen as a coach who only gives players opportunities when they are truly earned, he put his youngster on the hot seat to see what he could do.

Right away, Foerster became a great defensive player for him but didn’t quite get the goals. Through 48 contests, he had just seven of them even with his high-end minutes. Tortorella never gave up on him. Because of that, he now has 13 goals in his last 23 games, which would be a 46-goal pace over a full season. Stubbornness paid off in the end.

Another example of this has been winger Owen Tippett. He has had his ups and downs this season, but Tortorella hasn’t stopped using him heavily. There have been massive scoring droughts for him this season, and he doesn’t have the “elite defensively” excuse that Foerster did. Still, Tortorella has kept believing in him.

In the end, this insistence on playing time has led to Tippett putting up some good numbers. Since Jan. 1, he has had 15 goals and 12 assists for 27 points in 36 contests, on pace for 62 points over an 82-game season. In that time, his defensive numbers have improved massively and he has been one of the best players on the team. He has Tortorella to thank for that.

Comebacks Are Always Possible

More than possibly any coach in the NHL, Tortorella loves to get his players back in games that they have no business being in. It has led to some crazy contests throughout this season. Under him, a comeback is never out of the question no matter how impossible it might seem.

Against the Detroit Red Wings late in December, the Flyers had one of the worst efforts they had in a very long time. Trailing 5-1 after the first period alone, it could have been a blowout of epic proportions. Instead, Tortorella rallied his troops to take a 6-5 lead but ultimately lost 7-6 in a shootout.

For a team that scored six goals combined in their last three games (two of which they won), suggesting the Flyers would get up to six after trailing by four goals after one would have been absurd. Tortorella and his club still pulled off the highly improbable anyway.

This isn’t an isolated incident, either. The Flyers love making flawed efforts close in the end. On March 26 with a huge two points on the line, Tortorella’s team went back and forth with the New York Rangers on the road, turning a 3-2 deficit, a 4-3 deficit, and a 5-4 deficit all into ties in the third period to force overtime and salvage a point.

No matter how little the Flyers might deserve or earn a comeback, they tend to find a way to make things close with Tortorella. When it happens as often as it does, it’s not a coincidence — it is very likely because of him, at least partially. He has instilled a never-say-die culture, and it has kept his team in the playoff hunt.

The Worst of Tortorella

At his worst, though, Tortorella sometimes doesn’t make the best decisions. Specifically, his lineup choices tend to be poor for the most part. They go much deeper than the numbers, sure, but those numbers say the Flyers probably should have a better record. Considering they could either make or miss the playoffs based on a single point, those errors matter.

Sam Ersson Debacle

Looking at the most recent example of some of his errors, we find starting goaltender Sam Ersson. In the Flyers’ last 30 games, he has started 25 of them. For reference as to how big of a number that really is, Brian Elliott led the Orange and Black in starts in their 56-game season in 2020-21 with 26. Ersson is starting at nearly double the rate of the team’s most frequent starter just a few seasons ago. That kind of workload can really catch up to a goalie.

Recently, Ersson’s regression has been significant and noticeable. And it’s not like that being the case wasn’t obvious, either. It was apparent a month ago that if he continued to start games at the rate at which he was, regression was inevitable. It has now hit, with him sitting at a .864 save percentage (SV%) and a 3.58 goals-against average (GAA) in 13 contests since March 1.

The Flyers never exactly had a good backup to play instead of Ersson, but by not playing the backups and giving Ersson some days off, they went from having him and only him performing well in goal to absolutely nobody. Goaltending is a big reason why they are on a five-game losing streak.

Russian netminder Ivan Fedotov has served as a saving grace for the Flyers, coming to the NHL to play for the Orange and Black after spending nearly a decade in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), but the damage has already been done. Ersson has gone from stealing games to struggling to make non-routine saves. The biggest reason for that is simply because he is worn out.

The same exact thing happened in the American Hockey League (AHL) with him in 2022-23, putting up a .875 SV% in the postseason after a solid start to the regular season. The Flyers’ coaching staff didn’t learn from history, and that largely falls on Tortorella.

Underperforming Forwards & Defensemen Playing Too Much

That is just scratching the surface, though. One of the biggest lineup issues with Tortorella is that, for as much as he plays some athletes for their own good, he also does it to their detriment.

Cam Atkinson has been a great example of this. Without getting too in-depth about his struggles, his on-ice results have been poor, he has a lowly 7.6 percent shooting percentage, and he just isn’t providing a spark like he used to when he was in his prime. Regardless of all of this, he is averaging second-line ice time this season.

When a team needs every goal and point they can get to make the postseason, playing a veteran who has been a liability at both ends of the ice is simply inexcusable. Likely suffering the repercussions from his season-long injury in 2022-23, his issues are maximized when he plays too many minutes, and that has been his situation for most of the season.

Atkinson isn’t the only player in this boat, either. Depth players are not excused. Nicolas Deslauriers, while a commendable enforcer who will drop the gloves with anyone, does not give the Flyers the best chance to win on any given night.

Deslauriers is good to have in the lineup once in a while to provide a new sense of energy, but he has played for 60 games. He hasn’t gotten much ice time, but it has been enough to have negative effects. Fellow tough guy Garnet Hathaway started this season by his side for pretty much every minute he played. With an expected goals percentage (xGF%) of 47.9 together, they struggled as a duo. When Hathaway was separated, everything changed all of a sudden — he became a valuable third-line player with a 59.5 xGF%.

Players like Scott Laughton and Ryan Poehling, who also got somewhat frequent fourth-line ice time with Deslauriers, have seen a boost in their xGF% when apart from him. It might have a little bit to do with what the fourth line is asked to do by the coaching staff that has hurt their on-ice stats (hunt for hits, finish checks, etc.), but the fact of the matter is that Deslauriers is a net negative for the Orange and Black when he is out on the ice for extended periods. That’s not good for a fringe playoff team needing to milk every last point out of their schedule that they can.

Finally, a player like Erik Johnson is a recent example of someone who has played too much. The blueliner, acquired at the trade deadline, just hasn’t lived up to expectations. Although plus/minus can tend to be misleading at times, his minus-11 rating in just 12 games is atrocious.

In Tortorella’s defense, Johnson was only played early on because of injuries to the Flyers’ defense. With two of those defenders returning for a pivotal game against the New York Islanders on April 1, Adam Ginning and Ronnie Attard, two defensemen who had outperformed him in terms of xGF% and overall numbers, were sat while he stayed in. He arguably had his worst game as a Flyer in the team’s 4-3 overtime loss.

Johnson being out of the lineup might not have won the Flyers the game, but he was also a minus-2 and had anything but a good outing. When points mean everything, these decisions cannot keep happening. Tortorella might be a little bit biased and want to play a veteran versus two younger defenders without much NHL experience, but it was one of the reasons his team lost. A majority of these questionable lineup decisions have, at least somewhat, contributed to losses at one point or another.

Solid Shooters Not Being Used Properly

For a Flyers team that doesn’t score too many goals, it probably isn’t a good idea to play some of the team’s best shooters in limited minutes or in a non-shooting role. That might not have a noticeable impact over the course of just a few games, but it can over a full season. It’s too late to turn back on it now, so let’s take a look at how his choices have fared.

It might seem minor, but Bobby Brink’s lack of ice time this season has been somewhat unwarranted. With just 711 minutes of total ice time this season (12th among forwards), it is pretty impressive that the 22-year-old rookie is still tied for ninth on the team in goals (10) and tied for 12th in total points (22).

He has always had a good shoot, and he has put that into action with a 13.9 shooting percentage, which is first among active roster players on the Flyers. That total being so high for him is somewhat luck-based, but he is also just a good shooter. He hasn’t gotten playing time despite that.

When Brink has gotten ice time, it has more often been on the third or fourth line than the first or even just the second. Being on the ice with players like Tippett, Morgan Frost, Travis Konecny, and more could be beneficial to the team with those types of players being able to create space for him to shoot. They have the talent to make defenders respect them. Instead, he has been stuck in a more defensive role with a player like Deslauriers on the fourth line as of late. That’s wasting Brink’s potential.

The reason why the Flyers are in a rebuild in the first place is because they don’t have a lot of elite talent. That sort of talent also refers to shooters. When the best shooters on the team are few and far between, stapling them to the fourth line and the bench to “teach them a lesson” gets stale when it is done for a month straight.

Foerster is not quite an example like Brink, but the two also relate in terms of their situation. Foerster might be the best pure shooter that the Flyers have on their team — when he is open, he scores with more efficiency than anyone else on the team. The major problem early in the season? He never got open.

Foerster was too focused on winning puck battles on offense and putting a major focus on defense to score goals. As mentioned before, his scoring instantly flipped from underwhelming to overwhelming. For someone as young as he is, his 46-goal pace in his last 23 contests is elite stuff, but it also signals a change in what has been asked of him.

There isn’t anything wrong with Tortorella trying to see if Foerster can handle playing an all-around game, but that came with a cost. Again, the Flyers struggle to score goals — defense has been their forte. Even though he is shooting 13.1 percent on the season with an average ice time of 17:13, he is just seventh on the team in shots. For a team that hasn’t been able to score goals consistently, he could have helped with that if he was given the green light. That was not a personal decision of his, but of the coaching staff.

Overall, Tortorella is still a great coach regardless of his flaws. He has the Flyers in a playoff spot now, but some of his poor decisions of late could end up being the dagger in their season. Having done so much good but also some bad this season, he is the embodiment of a double-edged sword.