Philadelphia Flyers: Chuck Fletcher and Brent Flahr Provide Summer Updates Prior To NHL Draft

Philadelphia Flyers President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Chuck Fletcher, along with Assistant General Manager Brent Flahr, provided updates about the team prior to the National Hockey League Draft that is set to take place in Montreal, Canada, on July 7 and 8, 2022, along with outlooks regarding the roster, which will be impacted by trades and free agency.

The following is courtesy of the Flyers' Media Relations Department:

Is this the least predictable going into it where you can say this is absolutely going to happen and figure it out from there?

BF: Yeah, I think it is fair to say. We usually have a couple players we want to draft for sure. We’ll have a pretty good idea by next week, but there are still some unknowns. Again, we have a grouping of players we’re talking about.

 

Because you are getting such a high pick at number five, do you expect this player to be NHL ready in this year?

BF: Depends on the player, to be honest with you. Some players are physically more ready than others. There are a couple more kids that need more time to get stronger. Some have played at a little higher level. That will be up to them. Some of these kids should be ready to practice and play potentially within the year

 

Do you still invasion making this pick and not trading it for a player?

CF: Well, if we’re going to trade the pick outright, it needs to be for a player in a certain age group. A player that could help us win now, but also win for several years. I do not think we are looking for someone in their late 20’s or early 30’s. Certainly speaking to every team in the league, we say this every year, but it’s definitely true this year, trying to ascertain that value of that pick is. If somebody has designs on it and makes the fair offer, we have to consider everything.

With so much talent bunched up together, does it make it potentially easier to make that decision knowing that the guy you like at five could still be there if you move down “X” numbers of spots?

CF: That certainly could be the case. The top end of this draft you mentioned previously is pretty scrambled. Different readings on the group and different lists, there are probably several names in most teams’ top ten. Whether that creates more movement or less movement, I’m not sure. I think there’s already been some interesting conversations and everyone’s trying to get a sense on where everyone’s at and what the value of that pick is.

 

What is Ryan Ellis’s status currently?

CF: Well, he’s continuing to progress, certainly improved since the end of this season. Certainly, further along now compared to a month or two months ago. Saying that, the bulk of his rehab is still ahead of him. He’s starting to intensify his off-ice workouts. Its’s going well, but there is still several steps to go before he gets on the ice. It’s still difficult, if not impossible, to predict where he’s going to be at in three months. The last month has been encouraging, but there is still more work to do.

 

Considering the uncertainty of how draft prospects still develop as well as the coaching situation. How does that effect what you’re looking for going into the draft?

CF: Not at all. He’s no different than any other coach. We prefer to have the best player available. We’re looking for a player. Realistically it’s not going to be a goaltender this year at five; a forward or a defenseman that has a skill set that could help us for many years. We’re up the either position. There’s some excellent defenseman. Some excellent forwards. Certainly, we’re looking for talent at the top of the draft.

 

Do you expect Ryan Ellis to be ready for training camp or is that still an unknown?

CF: I don’t know how anyone could predict that right now. That’s certainly the hope and the goal. We’ll have to see. Again, he’s starting ramp up the rehab, which is great that he’s at the point where he could ramp it up, but we’ll just have to see how everything responds.

 

When did it evolve that Joel Farabee had to get surgery?

CF: It happened about two weeks ago. It was crazy. It was one of his first formal workouts of the summer and he was warming up with light weights on the bench press. He felt, what he called some kind of pinching sensation in his neck area. He was able to see a doctor in the Syracuse area. Got some imaging done. We got him down here last Monday to see Dr. Yoon and he got him in for surgery four days later. I don’t even know what to say. It was extremely unfortunate and unlucky for him. I think we moved as quickly as we could once we knew he had issues.

 

How much training is Farabee going to be able to do in spite of the surgery, are you optimistic he’ll be ready at the start of camp or the start of the season?

CF: I am not even sure that that is important to me. Just looking at some schedule drafts coming out, we have eight games in the month of October. To me, it’s about getting him right. I’m not 100% sure how quickly he can get into getting stronger and really working on, not just his upper body, but his lower as well and building some strength to help him become a little more durable. He plays hard and he’s a fearless kid. This was going to be a big summer for him, from strength and development scenario. That is certainly an important part of the rehab, just getting him healthy and stronger. For me whether it’s three months or four months at the end of the day, if he’s ready for Game One, great. If he misses five, six, seven games and we can push him a little further, that might make sense too. We’ll make every decision with him based on his long-term health, welfare and development.

 

Did the doctor speculate if any of Farabee’s past injuries were connected to his current?

CF: No, no one has said that. You can speculate all you want. There’s no correlation. Certainly, nothing at the end of the year. There was no issue with this at any point, since I’ve been here.

 

BF: Talked to Joel this morning. He was saying it was the first time he started working out. His shoulder and everything was 100%. Everything felt great and then this happens. He walked out of the surgery. Later that day, said feels really good, which was amazing.

 

CF: That’s an incredible surgery

 

Was there any kind of consultation of what kind of players coach likes or would want to go with?

CF: He’s not coming here. I’ve never had a head coach ever in 30 years I’ve been in the business; I’ve never seen the head coach be involved in the drafting of players that may not play two, three years down the road. I’m certainly well aware of what John likes in a hockey player. What I think all of us in the group respect, we want is smart, competitive, hardworking people. Preferably six foot five with high end skill and speed. John clearly, like all of us, we appreciate the same attributes in player. John will be consulted a lot more on pro players and maybe free agents and trades. You always want to get the coaches input on the type of player you’re bringing in from the outside if you’re going to do that. Maybe they have knowledge of the player or certain things they know about the player that you don’t. You would be crazy to not involve your coaching staff on player personnel decisions. In terms of the draft, we’ve just never done that.

 

BF: Nor do they want to.

 

CF: Yeah, I don’t think they want to. Exactly. I don’t think they want the kind of responsibility for that.

 

If everything were equal, what kind of player would you go for?

BF: We’re not showing our hand. You’re just trying to get dirt out of me. I’m not going to tell you.

 

What position would you go for if they were equal?

BF: Why would I tell you that?

 

CF: We could use everything. We could use a center, wing, a defenseman.

 

BF: In reality there’s obviously a group of players, that a lot of you guys are aware of, we have some guys higher than others. We are at the mercy of the teams in front of us a little bit, but we have a couple of players targeted that we’re hopeful that are there at five. If that’s the case then we’ll make that decision.

 

Is there any ease that Joel will comeback okay sense you’ve seen players with similar injuries comeback in the past?

CF: Yeah, it did. I know that Joel, Joel’s family and his representation were encouraged by the results that they’ve seen. We’ve obviously consulted with more than one doctor and we got multiple opinions. Everybody thought that this was the best approach. For Dr. Yoon to see him on a Monday, recommend the surgery and he had it on the Friday. There was a high degree of cooperation. A lot of communication with everybody. We all felt that this was the best way to go, not just short-term of getting him back as a player, but for his long-term health would be as well. It’s incredible. There’s still only three players that had it. My expectation is that this will become a little bit more commonplace as we move forward.

 

Is there a spot where teams this year are varying when looking at a certain player in the draft?

BF: One. This year is a little different. You guys read about the names. I know I talked a little bit on my counterparts. There’s a lot of different opinions on the top end of the draft. Not as much of a consensus as some media think. I think you see the general names. We have a couple of layers of players, certain amount of guys that we’re comfortable with where we’re at. Then another layer maybe if we move back a couple spots. At the draft table, if it goes a certain way  we can move back and gain assets and still get player that we have rated, then we’ll potentially do that. You’re going to see more action as we get closer to the draft and get more information on what teams are doing or looking to do.

 

Why do you think trading a top draft pick is so rare? Why do you think this draft might be different in that sense?

CF: Were you in our meeting this morning? I swear to God, we were talking about that. I was asking, “When was the last time a team traded back from number five? Was it Luke Schenn” That was the only name we came up with? Ian and Cole were digging it up for me. It’s hard. I assume obviously you had to have a pretty bad season to earn the number five pick or to earn a top ten pick. It’s still the best way to acquire top end talent, so I think it’s difficult to trade because that’s a great opportunity to fix at least one hole that you have long term in your organization. There is also the human and emotional, psychological side of it as well. You have guys that have worked all year preparing their list and they get the chance to get a top guy. As a manager, you’re trying to give your guys more opportunities and not take opportunities away from them. That factors in as well. There hasn’t been a lot of them and you’re looking at that, trying to ascertain what is that value if you do. How much do you need to get back to move from five to whatever? There are probabilities of how much each slot over time has become a NHL player, a good NHL player. You have to factor in this draft, as Brett said the layers, maybe you have a layer of five players and then another layer of five. If there’s a big discrepancy to trade down one layer or another, if you do, what are you getting? You have to get something. We honestly met on that for an hour today. As you get closer you start to ask those questions because teams are calling you. Would you trade number five? Sure. You say sure, I don’t know if you always mean it. That’s the fun part of it, for us at least. Exploring what may be there, but as you just mentioned history tells you that usually you make the pick.

 

Are you willing to talk about specific players? What do you normally like in a player?

CF: I don’t know. I’ve never really done that, just because you end up going through all of them. The kids at the top end like every year there’s some really good young players. I think the one thing that separates this draft from many is that the top five is still in the flux. Seems like in a lot of years, there’s been more certainty about the top three or four players will be. This year there seems to be more uncertainty than most years. That could provide a great opportunity for us. But, no, to answer your question, I don’t think that that’s proper.

 

Would you go up to get a player you had wanted to draft? 

CF: I just think it would be hard. Realistically.

 

Would if be less difficult because of how evenly everyone is launched in the draft?

CF: Potentially. You’re not sure how it will play out. It could play out either way and I’ve tried to think it through from both angles. I could see arguments would be harder or easier to move up or back. Realistically the likelihood of us moving up I think would be much slimmer. It could happen, but I think we’re going to be pretty happy picking at five and I think we have to weigh what kind of price would you want to move back to five. Is there even a price? If so what price? I think that might be more relevant, then what it would take to get to one.

 

What you actively look to acquire a second-round pick?

CF: Yeah, definitely. I think the priority is making sure we do well with the first pick. If we can still get a great round pick and find a way to get a second-round pick, get another player or another prospect, sure. But I think that’s secondary to actually looking at the top end in the draft.

 

Are you looking for someone who fits the mold of helping the team be harder to place against?

CF: I still think you got to make sure you get high-end talent. High-end talent as we just saw in the playoffs, you look at Tampa and Colorado. They have a lot of high-end talent that is packaged in often times in big or competitive or speedy frame. I think we’re certainly like everybody wanting to get the most competitive players we can get but you can’t forsake talent. You have to make sure you get talent and where we’re picking you should be able to find competitive people that have talent.

 

Are you looking to add a veteran goalie?

CF: That’s still up in the air. That’s in all honestly. Obviously, we’re going to look and explore what veteran goalies may be available and talking to teams about potential trades. Trying to see what the price would be to do that. Saying that, Sandström and Fedotov are 25 years old. They both have proven they are good goalies in leagues outside of the NHL, so do you take a leap of faith and save some cap space? Or do you get a veteran guy and maybe have more certainty? But there is a cost to that as well. That’s really been a part of what we’ve been discussing the past few weeks.

 

What gave you the confidence in signing Sandström?

CF: Just continue to get better. He had some injury issues for a while but the last couple of years he’s steadily improved. I think he has over, between the ECHL and American League, maybe over 80 games of experience over here plus time in the Swedish league. He has some games at the NHL level. He is a highly competitive kid that continues to progress. Certainly, he looks like he has the ability to play in the NHL again whether it’s right way, three months down the road, or a year down the road only time will tell. For us, he was a key guy who’s going to be unrestricted free agent. Barry Hanrahan did a good job working with his agent and finding, I thought, a fair solution by giving him a little bit of protection in terms of a one-way deal in year two, but also allowing us to maybe having a competition this year as well.

 

What is Ryan [Ellis] dealing with, when referring to his “multi-layer” injury?

CF: It’s multi-layered. It’s almost everything that’s in the middle of the body. Multiple areas where he is working on strengthen and rehab. Trying to put all the pieces back together. He’s made progress. He’s determined to get back and not just play but to be a good hockey player. Be the player that we wanted him to be when we acquired him. He was probably the most excited player last training camp coming in. After he got over the initial shock of coming in from Nashville, he was so excited to play and it was incredible watching him spend hour after hour with Ivan Provorov. They had breakfast together. They talked together before practice. They were partners on the ice. They had lunch together. He wanted to get to know Ivan so well that they would build this chemistry as quickly as they could on and off the ice. I was like this guy is a true professional. It was incredible, watching his interact with Ivan and Ivan interact with him. How they were trying to make each other better and then his world came crashing down. It’s been very difficult for him on many levels. Physically but also emotionally trying to become a part of the team when you played four games and your rehabbing all year. You are not with the guys. You’re not on the road. He’s very excited and determined to get back. He’s made progress. I’m not trying to be vague, but I don’t think anyone could look you in the eye and say he’ll be back by this time frame. He’s where we thought he would be. He’s where the medical people thought he would be. He’s got another step he’s got to take and hopefully that responds. Then another step and got another step. Get on the ice and then how does that respond. It may go quicker. It may go slower. For me, the ultimate goal is to get him back as quickly as possible. The goal has been for camp and for the start of the season. Hopefully, that’s the case, but the bigger picture is to get him back. That’s what we are focusing on.

 

Are you worried that you might have to get another defenseman because you’re finding out if Ryan is coming back so late?

CF: We’ll know before camp. We just may not know on July 13^th, but I would think over the next month, we would start to get a pretty good picture as he continues to advance in his rehab protocols, both off and on the ice. Is he still going forward or has any setbacks? Does he stall at a certain step? This is all the uncertainty. Again, I’m not trying to be vague. I’m trying to be as completely transparent as I can be, but there is certainly a path where this could go really well. We will just have to see. Sure, there is some uncertainty. A little bit now with Joel. The good news is Sean Couturier is doing great. He’s doing all summer training. Feels very good. Same with Kevin Hayes. Hopefully, there are no more surprises this summer in a negative sense. Like a week and a half ago when I got the call that Joel Farabee had numbness and pain in his neck and it could be pretty bad. I was like are you kidding me. Hopefully, there are no more of those. If we do, we will just react, that is what we do. We’ll have to work around it and have to ability to hopefully improve our roster. Clearly getting guys back to full health, and hopefully have young guys improving. We can’t continue to go to market and build a team. We need to get some guys back and get some kids to step up.

 

Has there been any more decisions made on the coaching staff?

CF: Well, I meant to speak to John before I did this so I can say this. Darryl Williams will be back. Kim Dillabaugh will be back. A goaltender coach to me is always an organizational decision, not just a coach. Adam Patterson and Vinny Yula will be back. After that, we are working through. From what I know right now, Torts is speaking or will speak with everyone that was on staff last year and try to see if there is a fit, if it could work for the people last year, if it could work for John. It’s got to be a two-way street. There’s got to be a comfort level and we’ll continue to talk to people outside the organization as well. We are in the middle of that process. Whether it’s done this week or next week, I am not sure. That’s what we’re working on right now.

 

Do you agree with your head coaches statement that the team has to “get harder”?

CF: I one hundred percent agree, that is why we hired him. You have to remember ‘19-20 season, we were a hard team to play against. We played hard. Playing hard doesn’t just mean we were big and strong;  it means playing the game the right way and having the puck. It’s forcing the team to defend; it’s forcing the other team to play the way you want them to play and on your terms. So, it’s not just about personnel. It’s about, A. not defending all the time. It’s defensive structure. It’s how you retrieve pucks and get out of your own zone. Again, it’s hopefully having the puck, not being trapped in D-zone like we were all last season. When you’re defending all the time, it’s hard to dictate. It’s hard to be aggressive. All you’re doing is reacting to what the other team does. You want to have the puck, but to have the puck, you have to defend quickly. You have to defend well and get the hell out of the D-zone. Once you do that now you can manage the game and make puck decisions. You can chip and chase. You can enter under control. You can do whatever you can do because you have the puck. You can dictate the flow of the game. That’s what we want to get back to. That’s what we want to be. That’s what Torts’ teams always been. That’s the mindset and identity of what we want to accomplish here. It’s coaching. It’s buy-in. It’s accountability. It’s structure. It’s fitness levels. It’s personnel. It’s everything. We’re going to try to check every box we can this summer to be that type of team.

 

Why do you think there has been splintering amongst the team?

CF: Splintering, I don’t know that I agree with that. Obviously, he is entitled to his opinion. I think it is a bunch of good guys that have gotten along. I think where we have to get to is you can be a good guy and get along, but we have to hold each other accountable. I think that’s maybe where he’s getting at and where clearly, we need to get to. The players recognize that as well. It’s about having standards, both off the ice and on the ice. It’s everything. It’s how you play. It’s puck management. It’s shift length. It’s team orientation. It’s not turning a puck over for the third time in a row. It’s blocking a shot. It’s making sure you’re in the gym and that you’re on time. It’s everything to do with it. It’s respecting your teammate and the organization by doing the right things. I think that’s something we need to get better at and get back to. It’s a good group of guys that like each other and they want to get better. This group does not lack character. We clearly need direction, accountability, and not just from the coaching staff, part of that has to be  internal too. I think that’s probably what he meant is creating that internal push. That doesn’t always have to be the coaching staff.

 

What gives you the confidence in the coaching staff to bring them back?

CF: They are good at what they good. They are good at what they do. They are good people and good coaches. I think as we fill out our staff now. John is looking for sort-of for the two top assistants. However, they are labeled. Typically, one runs the defense and the PK and one will run the offense and the power play. Call it the defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator, whatever type of labels you want. Those are probably the roles we’re filling right now. The people that will come in and have some of those hands-on specific roles that John will entrust in them. We’ll work on that. Certainly, Darryl and Kim will bring a lot. Kim’s not just an everyday with an NHL team type of role. He also works with Brady Robinson. He manages our overall goaltender development program. He’s involved watching goaltenders for the draft. He is a coach that’s heavily involved in the draft. We won’t draft a goaltender that Kim and Brady don’t  sign off on. They know more about goaltending than any of our staff may never know. Sorry, Rick Pracey might not like me saying that. Rick knows a little bit about goaltending. You have to rely on your goaltending coaches on the drafting, the development of goaltenders, their progression through the system as well as the day-to-day maintenance of your NHL goaltenders. Kim’s role to me is a role that management, me certainly, but management, me, Brent, Barry, Danny, Tommy, all of us, have a strong comfort level in because we rely on that role more than just getting Carter Hart or whoever ready for practice or who’s going to play the next game. He’s been involved with Felix and now Samuel. When Kolosov come over. It’s a massive role. That’s what gives me confidence with Kim. I’ve watched what he has done. I think I mentioned it at the end of the year, we are getting to a depth where our goaltender depth is getting to in a really good place. We have some young guys pushing. Kolosov is as talented as anybody we have ever drafted. It’s exciting. Kim and Brady are a huge part of that.

 

Where are the negotiations with Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett? Is Martin Jones an option to come back?

CF: Yeah, absolutely. Everything is on the table. In terms of some of those young players and contracts, we are literally just starting. We’ve been involved in a lot of different interview processes, I guess you should say. Now dealing with the assistant coaches, the draft and getting our free agent list together. Not that those issues aren’t crucial, as restricted free agents, we just have time. Yesterday, we actually had a meeting on that, getting together, getting our comps together and our plan together. Probably over the next week or so we will make contact with them. Hopefully, some of them go quickly. I’m sure over the next few weeks we’ll get those done.

 

Do you see yourself making a huge splash at free agency?

CF: We’ll see. Unlike several teams, we don’t have a cap issue. We don’t the cap issues that several teams do where we literally have to move bodies out to be cap compliant. We can be cap compliant easily. We are cap compliant. If we want to be aggressive in free agency then we have to get creative. It’s just how aggressive we want to be and how aggressive we can be that may dictate how many transactions we make. This is the best we have been at least in the last few years. We can be cap compliant if we go away from the summer, we got a hockey team. It’s just how aggressive we want to be.

Philadelphia Flyers - John Tortorella Era Begins

The Philadelphia Flyers finalized a deal with John Tortorella, making him the organization's next head coach. Other candidates were interviewed, with Barry Trotz apparently choosing not to represent the orange and black. But Torts was a top pick and wanted the job, setting the next era in Flyers' history. 

Tortorella won the Stanley Cup in 2004, which was a memorable season for Flyers' fans. That veteran team was expected to challenge for Lord Stanley's trophy but dropped a passionate seven-game Eastern Conference Finals series to the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The 63-year-old veteran coach (who turns 64 on June 24) was in his first extended tenure with the Lightning, later going on to New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, and Columbus Blue Jackets. He is known for a structured system, where accountability is expected. Many players have credited Tortorella for helping to develop their careers. 

The direct media style Tortorella employs with the media should be well received by a fan base that appreciates no-nonsense. General Manager Chuck Fletcher and his staff, along with advisors, including Bob Clarke and Paul Holmgren, surely appreciate this hire as well. 

Torts has long exhibited Flyers' traits before ever joining the organization. As of mid-June 2022, he became a Flyer. 

Update - The following is courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers Media Relations Department on June 17, 2022.

Philadelphia Flyers President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Chuck Fletcher & Head Coach John Tortorella

CF: Thank you everybody for being with us on pretty short notice on a Friday of the long weekend. We are very proud and honored to introduce John Tortorella as the 23^rd head coach in Flyers history. John is a man that I knew well of, but never really had the opportunity to get to know until this process. Through a very lengthy process, it started right at the conclusion of the regular season, we ended up interviewing eight candidates. A few of those candidates had second interviews as well. At the end of a very good, long, exhaustive process, we're very proud today to introduce John. He is the right coach at this time for the Philadelphia Flyers. I know you guys have a lot of questions and with that, we can get at.

In the release we received you mentioned that from your first conversation with Chuck that you knew that this was the right for you, what gave you the confidence that this was the right opportunity for you?

JT: I think you go into the process, and as Chuck said it was deep. A lot of questions in different areas, about the person, about the game, about how to approach the game. I just felt comfortable right from the get-go with my conversation with Chuck. I thought it was easy flowing, he was to the point. I just thought, I hope Chuck feels the same way, I felt so comfortable talking with him. It was like two guys talking hockey. I think coaches when they go into this, they do their homework a little bit as general managers do on coaches. I do with the general managers. I asked some questions of people that know Chuck. I received so much information, so much great information about how good of a guy and how a good man he is and you can see that. I appreciated his honesty. I appreciated his willingness to just let me know how this was all going to work, it was going to be lengthy. I just thought he was upfront with me right from the get-go.

With your track record you’re not going to necessarily interested in signing on to be the coach of a team that is facing a long rebuild. Obviously, the Flyers finished with the fourth worst record in hockey last year. What convinced you in your research about the team and your conversations with Chuck, that this team can turn things around quickly?

JT: Let’s first talk about the emblem. As I told Chuck, I look at that emblem. Back in ’04 we were fortunate enough, I was coaching Tampa, we went through Philly to win a Stanley Cup, beating Philly in the Conference Finals. I remember telling my wife and I told Chuck this story, ‘Man, that is a place I would love an opportunity to be in and coach.’ The passion of the people, the building, everything about the city. It was really neat for me. I remember one of my first meetings with Chuck when we started this, he wore a shirt with the emblem and I said, ‘That’s where I want to be.’ That’s an opportunity that I have right now as I speak with you. I know Chuck wants to get going here and turn it around. I am not going critique anything that’s happened before. I know it’s been a little bit of a struggle. I think Chuck and I spoke the same language on how we get this fixed quickly and it was really intriguing to me. It did nothing but enhance my interest as I went through the process with Chuck and the other guys asking questions about what they want this standard to be. Guys I couldn’t be more excited being a part of the Philadelphia Flyers. It may sound a little silly, but even when I was coaching other teams, I’ve always thought about that city, I’ve always thought about that team. I would hope to have an opportunity along the way.

Chuck, you mentioned in your opening statement that you felt that John was the right coach at this time for the Flyers. Would be you be elaborate on what made you believe that he is the right coach at this time?

CF: First of all, when we started this process, we put together an ideal candidate profile they called it. We worked with an outside search firm to set the process up and to make it a formal search process. It’s something I don’t know that has happened a lot in our industry. It’s pretty typical I think in corporate America. We wanted to really take a long look into what we wanted and who we wanted as a head coach. We sort of created a profile. I wrote down a few notes here. We were looking for an experienced, respected coach. Preferably somebody with extensive NHL head coach experience. We were looking for somebody with a lengthy track record of success. We were looking for somebody that had demonstrated ability to introduce structure and reduce goals against, improve penalty killing, make life easier for our goaltenders. We were looking for someone with a proven ability to hold players accountable to a high standard. A standard of conduct on and off the ice, a standard of play, a standard of team orientation, a standard of what you put into your game. We were looking for somebody with a proven ability to develop young players. We were looking for someone with strong communication skills. I think deep down, there are a lot of demanding coaches in the NHL, ultimately players will respond if they know you’re demanding, but you’re demanding in a sense that you care about them. You want what’s best for them. You’re not being demanding for yourself, but you’re being demanding to make the player better, to make the team better. Nobody personifies that better than John Tortorella. There was a few other attributes in the profile we put together and I know through the interview process, Brent Flahr and Danny Briere joined me in the initial round of interviews. Dean Lombardi joined that group for the second round. We were the people in the room. It was handled internally the interview process and to a man, we all felt John was the guy for the job.

You’re obviously known as a demanding coach and an old school coach. Can you maybe tell people a little bit about how you balance that with allowing your players to play to their skill levels and some of their strengths?

JT: Yeah. I think especially in today’s league, it’s very important with such a young league. I remember, I used to be back early in my career, I’d dot every i and cross every t. I almost wanted the game, I wanted to predict the game. I wanted them to move the way I wanted to them to move in certain situations and kind of prepared the team that way. I think I’ve kind of come full circle here, players need to express themselves. You need structure. I think one of the most important attributes of a head coach is to find and teach the structure away from the puck. I work at that. I kind of get coined as that defensive guy. You can coin me anyway you want; you can say what you want about me. That is a huge part of winning. As you see in the payoffs right now, as you listen to some of the players talking about it in the playoffs right now. It’s a huge part of being who you want to be and I think it really develops a standard of being a hard team to play against. On the other side of that, I think you have to get out of the way. I do think we overcoach at times. It’s something I try to check myself daily as I’m dealing with the players, especially in the offensive part of the game. I don’t have the ability or the sight that offensive people have or the creativity that they have. I need to allow them to play, but it’s going to be a two-way street. It needs to be a two-way street, just show me that you’re willing to give us something away from the puck. Not going to turn you into a checker, but you got to show me and more importantly show your teammates that you’re willing to do some of the other stuff as an offensive guy away from the puck. Then you have something and I think that’s what develops the right camaraderie of a hockey club. It develops the right attitude of a hockey club and how hard you have to be. I think it starts with your top guys. It’s kind of a give and take there. It’s a teaching process as we go through and I am looking forward, already made some calls today, to having some meetings next week with some of the guys, to start this teaching of a standard and the mentality of what we’re going to be. It’ll be a conversation. It going to be a back-and-forth conversation because I want to learn about them as they will learn about me.

One of the things that you were just talking about, you touched on this briefly with Jordan. You talked about wanting to listen to the players more and see what it’s like. The difference between today’s players and maybe the players you were coaching in ’04 ,when you won the cup, that they want to be heard and need an explanation. Is that something you’ve had to adapt, the way you treat them and work with them?

JT: Yes, absolutely. It’s a great question. I think it’s the evolution of coach. We’ve talked, Mike Sullivan and I have talked a lot about this question, this subject you’re talking about. It needs to be a two-way street. It needs to be. I think coaches get tunnel vision sometimes. Listen, I’m one of them. That’s where we have to check ourselves a little bit. Even though, you want to maybe jump in on a conversation, maybe just stop for a couple minutes and continue to listen. I do think the young athlete, it’s a different athlete right now. That’s a huge part of a coaches’ responsibility is to work with the different athletes as you go through. As long as I’ve been in the league, I’ve seen you go up and down different avenues of what the different athletes are. We have to make that adjustment. Having said that, there is a fine line there. You can’t allow it to run amuck. That when you get into problems and you lose that standard, you lose that team concept of the merit of playing in the National Hockey League, of becoming a pro. That’s basically what we’re talking about here, is going through these conversations, going through these teaching situations, and developing a pro. As I told Chuck in conversations I had with him, I don’t know what I enjoy most, trying to develop the hockey player or trying to develop the person because it’s pretty cool. I’m developing a person in a locker room. My daughter is a schoolteacher, she developing young kids in the classroom. My son is in the army, he’s a leader of men. He’s developing people there. It’s all the same thing, trying to develop the people. We have to make changes as coaches as athletes are different. I’m looking forward to listening. It was something I was little bit stubborn back in the day, but I think I’ve learned. I’ve learned watching other coaches and I’ve just through seeing the progression of what the athlete is.

From listening to you, it sounds like you’ve mellowed over the years. Would you agree with that? And the second part this Flyer’s team hasn’t had a true identity in the last few years, what would you like that identity to be?

JT: There is a lot of things that come into identity. The number one responsibility for me going in here is to listen, to meet the players. We’re going to start that next week, to listen, understand them a little bit. I’ll be honest with you; I think it takes a little time for the players to understand me. I want to go through that process with them. You start getting into the teaching of the game. I do believe the first thing, as far as on ice that I need to attack, is the play away from the puck. I think we need give Carter a little bit more support as far as how we play around him. Allow him to really get himself into the National Hockey League. He’s 23. 23 as goalie and I’m not making any criticisms of prior play, but this is how you go about it. That’s when you’re teaching that part, that’s when so many different avenues come into play in teaching what your identity is. Bottom line, I want the team to be harder. I think we need to present ourselves, look harder, coming off the bus, coming into buildings. I want other teams to say you know what we’ve got our hands full tonight. You know all the things that come with that starts with teaching play away from the puck. We’ll go through some experiences, as you go through it, that’s when you start becoming who you are. The trick for the coaching staff is to get individuals to do that and then you get them to join in as a team. That’s when you have a group of men that you know when you go into that locker room, there’s belief and there’s some hardness. We’ve got to get some sin. We’ve got to grow some skin and it goes through a lot of these different experiences; we’ll go through as we start our camp. It takes a little time for the players to understand me. I think we need to give Carter a little more support.

Do you see this as a rebuilding year or a year you being a playoff contender?

JT: I don’t make predictions. I’m not going there. I did that early in my career and it just backfired. I’m not going there. You know what I see this as? I see this as I am one fortunate guy that went through the process with Chuck. The Philadelphia Flyers chose me to run that team. I’m going to go in there and run that team that way I think I should. I’m looking to try win games, I’m trying to get our team ready to be the right people, the right pros and play as a team, then we’ll take it one day at a time. I’m not looking ahead; I’m going to focus on an unbelievable opportunity I have to coach with that emblem. 

Is there anybody on this group that you’re looking forward to working with that you haven’t worked with in the past?

JT: I don’t have any one particular guy. Because I know Cam, I coached him for four or five years. I don’t know a lot of other guys. I want them to talk with me as we go through the summer meetings with them. I want to try to get an idea. You guys can tell me who they are. Chuck can tell me who they are. I need to see it. I need to experience them sitting down off-season. I need to see it in practice. I need to see it in maybe some conflict along the way, as we may have a disagreement or two along the way, see who they are and then coach them accordingly that way. I’m not going to pick one guy because I don’t know a lot of the players. I’m looking for the opportunity for me to get to know them and them to get to know me and then let’s get at it. I kind of get put in a box. I coach hard, but I’m always going to be fair with these guys. They will have total honesty with me. They’re going to know where they stand each and every day. I think that enhances communication and it enhances honesty coming from the player also. That’s how we’re going to approach.  

Do you have a timetable for assistant coaching staff and what attributes do you look for?

JT: Chuck and I are going to do this together. We talked about this on Thursday. We both have a list. I asked Chuck for his help. I’m not going to get into a lot of the conversation, but we’re certainly looking for a guy that going to help us with our power play. I think a lot of teams look for that guy. I know Chuck and I were throwing names around when I was with him the other day. That’s ongoing right now. We’re just starting. I mean, I’m kind of swimming upstream here. After meeting with Chuck and getting things done, meeting with you guys. We’re going to get to that. I’m going to be in the office for a few days next week and we’ll have more conversations about that. Certainly, I’ll give you that, I’d like to couple of power play guy into a coach that can also be with an offensive guy and help him along the way. Maybe individually would take. I mean who the hell am I to sit down with an offensive guy that sees the ice the way these guys do and try and communicate that with him. I want some help there and I want some guy to help us with our power play in that way too. We’ll get together and through the process.

How do you see Cam grow as a hockey player and a person?

JT: When I first got there, Cam was being sat out. I’m not sure what happened. Cam was stubborn and I like his stubbornness. I think players of that quality, of what he has to do and that size he is, and what he has to do as a player in the National Hockey League, you got to have that stubbornness. We went back and forth and it took us a while because I asked for more. I think Cam was comfortable coming to practice and practicing. If you’re coming to practice to practice, you didn’t do your work. You come to practice and you be ready to practice, you have a readiness about you. I think that it comes off of how leadership presents itself in the locker room on a practice day. It took us a while for a number of guys in Columbus to understand you’re not just going to practice to get through it. We’re going to practice for a purpose and we’re going to go hard. Cam and I went through a number of different roads and sat Cam out a few times along the way. I look at that guy now and what he’s become, how hard he plays, how he has grown as a leader, and grown has a person. I kind of rely on him sometimes, I relied on him in Columbus as your relationship changes. As a coach you have to remember you put him through the paces, and they grow, show them a little respect. You need to back off and allow them to help you a little bit. I think that’s where Cam and I are now in our relationship. A family man, I couldn’t be prouder of him.

How are you going to fix this team quickly? What is your definition of quick?

JT: I’m going to coach the team. With the time frame, you guys aren’t going to get me into that corner of saying we’re going to do this and we’re going to do that. I am going to coach that team hard right away. It’s going to be a very difficult camp. High volume skating. They will be told about this during the summer. We’re attacking it. We’re attacking it. It’s not going to be I guess it’s a rebuild, retool, whatever language is used. I am approaching each and every day to try to make each individual player play better, as a player, as a person then as a team trying to get better each and every day. That will take care of the time frame wherever it goes, it goes. I’m not going to calmly go about it. Let’s just back them off a little bit, we still have some struggles in this area here and because we had a tough year last year, let’s just try to grow slowly. We’re going at it and the speed of it whatever happens with it. What I’m telling you is I am just going at it as quickly as I can to try to make us the best we can be, especially away from the puck when we first start the season.

Do you feel like your tenures have ended because you’ve gone to hard?

JT: No. No. That’s what you guys talk about. I don’t think that at all. I know my players. I do. Listen it’s really none of my business what people think of me. I’ve been coined a lot of different things along the way here, that I’m a short-term coach. I’ve coached one team five years, one six years and another five years. To me it’s a myth. It’s something people like talking about because I think you see things on the screen sometimes as far as my interactions with some players. I feel very confident. If you talk to some of the players people think I ran out, I’m very confident you’d have a very interesting answer to your question.

There’s a strong connection with Boston. Speaking the language of Boston, will that help?

JT: With Cam is down the street from me here in New York. With Hayes, Kevin was one of my first calls today. When I got back from Philly, he was one of my first calls today. I’m trying to meet with him whether we meet in Boston or meet in Philly. I don’t know him that well. I hear great things about the type of person he is. He’s very likeable. Obviously, he had some family situations along the way here. I’m not sure who asked the question where you try to pick out one player, maybe I fibbed a little. I’m really interested in talking to Kevin. Kevin is one I’m anxious to work because I think there’s more there. I think he’s a huge piece of the puzzle up the middle of the ice for this organization. He’s one I’m going to try to talk with right away. You’re talking about joking; I’m not going to be joking. I’m going to be interested in what he has to say. I hear he’s a tremendous guy. I want to try to help him, because if I can help him and make him understand we’re going to try to get him to another level; what does he do for the Flyers organization up the middle of the ice. I’ve watched from afar and there’s more there. It’s my responsibility to try and get that out of him. I hope that answers your question. 

What is it about this team and this organization that got really got you excited about taking this job?

JT: Chuck was fantastic in allowing me to ask questions. I’m pretty inexperienced in the interview process. I really haven’t interviewed a bunch in my whole career. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had questions. Even when we met on Thursday, I had a number of questions. I thought we had a great conversation about a lot of things moving ahead here. I think that’s really important. You talk about coaches and players. I think it’s the same thing with general managers and coaches. I think it’s a huge part of success is being able to communicate with one another and he allowed that. It was fun for me. I loved the conversation because I’ve been out here with horses and dogs. I’ve been shoveling a lot of shit out here for the past eight or nine months. Excuse my language. I wanted to talk hockey and it was a blast to talk hockey with those guys. Now I feel so very fortunate that I’m going to be part of the Philadelphia Flyer organization. To answer your question, it’s the Philadelphia Flyers. That’s all I need to say. It’s something that I have a tremendous respect for the organization and I couldn’t be happier to be part of it. Excuse my language, I’m sorry.

Was there anything that gave you pause whether it’s the roster or the organization? Anything that you took a look that you want to change right away?

JT: No. I’m not going to sit here and say that we’re going to be Stanley Cup contenders. I get that. I know there is some work to do. Having said that, I know there is some work to do and that’s what I want to do. That’s what coaches do. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I started with my research on Chuck and as we’ve grown a little bit here, getting to know one another, I am really interested to do with him. I’m not afraid of what people are saying about the team. I get it’s out there. It fuels me. It does. It fuels me as far as some of the predictions, some of the thoughts of what’s going on with the team, what’s the process with us. That just fuels me. I’m looking forward to getting into the bunker of that locker room of the Flyers and get about our business.

I work alongside Scott Hartnell and he talks about the culture that you instilled in Columbus. Do you view this situation with the Flyers as they need a bit of shake up with the culture?

JT: Yes. That’s not a criticism. If we want to get to growing and who we want to be, that organization that people look at as a standard, then yeah, the culture has to change. Culture. Accountability. All those words, they are really cool summertime words. People like saying those things during the summer. I think us as coaches, when we get the job, it’s about the culture changing, the accountability. It’s real easy to say. Really difficult to do. That’s an everyday process. That’s a process I can’t let things go in certain situations on a Tuesday, say ‘You know what, I’ll get that Wednesday.’ No because something else is going to happen Wednesday probably. That’s the type of discipline a coach needs to get the culture. I hate using the word culture. I just call it standard. I want our guys to be proud of themselves. I want you guys. I want our fans to be proud of us, how we look, how we present ourselves, how we attack the game, how we handle situations in the blue paint, and if you’re talking on the ice, how we stick up for each other in certain situations. I want people to be proud of that. That’s when you get the comradery. When Kevin Hayes goes out there and blocks the shot at a huge time in a game, what does that do for your bench? Those are all situations that come into play that get your team to be what you want them to be and then when you get there, when you go in the room, you feel it. You can feel it. There’s not a cooler feeling in the world from a coaches’ point of view of going into the locker room and knowing there’s belief there and they care about one another. They are going to do the things that they need to do to be that hard Philadelphia Flyer team.

We’ve talked about a lot of your former players. What do you think it has been about your relationship with the players that have allowed them to grow under you?

JT: It’s a great question. I think someone else asked a question about running people out of teams and stuff like that. I’m not in the business to embarrass people. I’m not in the business to run people out of organizations. I will tell you all right now, my job is to push athletes to levels they are not used to getting to and I’m going to do that. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve pushed too hard at certain times and I’ve made mistakes along the way. That is my job. I’m going to do it fairly and I’m always going to do it honestly. They will always know why. As you go through it and there’s some on conflict on the way, and there’s going to be conflict. There’s honesty between a player and a coach when you are in that crescendo of trying to get them to that spot. When you get there and have those conversations, they will know that I care about them and why I am doing this is because if I didn’t, I would not be doing my job for them. I don’t get the confusion about trying to push athletes. I just don’t understand the confusion. A players coach or a hard coach, I don’t agree with that. A coaches’ job is to make them the absolute best people that they can be and the absolute best player they can be. If the guy’s not the guy pushing them there, I’m going to push them there. You go through all that. Scotty Hartnell, I had to wrestle the room away from him in Columbus. I didn’t like the room when I went to Columbus. Him and I had wrestling matches about this and I benches Scotty. We had so many different conversations, but as we got through it, I loved the man. He was so good for us as we moved on with that team with his leadership. That’s where relationships are. The nonsense about the hardness and quitting on you, I don’t buy it and I never will. I’ve made mistakes, but we always have those conversations. They are going to know I care about them and they will eventually find out why I do the things that I do.

You mentioned short stays as a coach, just 5 or 6 years. That’s actually really long for a coach. Do you have a comment on that? How long ago did you accept that as part of your career?

JT: I will be honest with you guys. Coaches hate hearing that there is a shelf life for a coach. We hate hearing it. I’ll be honest with you. As the game has gone on here and where the athletes is at now, the type of athlete we’re coaching now, more and more communication, which is terrific. Again, there's a fine line, though, because you can create a monster, too, and allowing it to get too far away from you. I do think there is a shelf life for a coach. I do think there is. You ask any coach. I listen to Butchy. Butchy gets fired out of Boston and a number of other coaches. We all know that. We all know that's going to happen. That's the world we live in and it's not our decisions. Listen, out at Columbus, I was there for six years. Jarmo and I had some honest conversations after my fifth year. I felt it was time for me to go. I think I did the stuff I needed to do. I could see the team was going to change. I couldn't do the same things and building the team with the people that just went through building the club if that makes sense. I think we kind of came to ‘it's time to go,” I stayed another year and didn't have a good year. Maybe stayed too long. I admit to that. I think that's what was really cool for me and Jarmo, we both kind of knew it was time. He showed me the respect of asking me how much longer I wanted to coach. I kind of told him, ‘You know, I think it's probably time for me to go.’ Those are the conversations you have with your general manager. I think coaches accept it more now than back in the day. We were a little bit more stubborn about it, but I do think there is a shelf life for a coach.

You spent this past year away from the NHL coaching. What kind of perspective did you gain on your own career, on the sport just by not being a part of this season?

JT: First of all, it was great for me, my wife, and my kids. It's a very busy time as a hockey coach and I enjoyed that tremendously. We do a lot of work with animal welfare and got to sink our teeth into that a little bit more. What I did, I was very fortunate to work at ESPN for a little bit. It gave me a chance to step back. I got to listen to other coaches after games with they're talking about. I got to look at different styles of play. As the games are being played, I got to listen to players, how they interview and what they're saying. I learned a lot. I did, especially watching how other coaches handle themselves. I think you can't be someone else, you need to have your own personality. I learned a lot from listening other coaches talk about their team and what they're looking for. This couples kind of with analytics. I think we get blinders on as coaches. I think analytics, it helped me kind of verify some things are going really well with the team. I thought they were but that really verifies it. It also helps you see ‘Crap, we kind of miss this’ and the numbers show that to me. Coaches talk about all that stuff. Not being in the pressure of it, not being just worried about your team, I get to watch other teams, other coaches, other players and learn that way. Now I get to coach this damn team, the Flyers. I'm so lucky to spend a year away and come to this organization, an organization that I have truly respect.

Chuck, just want to ask you, how did the outside search committee help with the whole process? And as follow up to that, what do you say to a report that saying you were against the committee's recommendation to hire John?

CF: That's exactly why we hired him because I was against it. No, there's so much nonsense out there. We hired a company called The Coach's Agency. They've been involved in GM and coaches searches with a couple of different teams in the National Hockey League. As I mentioned earlier, it's not a common practice yet, but I think sports will probably start to mirror corporate America a little bit more by using these types of search firms in the search. They allowed us to set up a process. I've hired coaches before, but I can't say ever had a great process. I interviewed some great candidates. We really wanted to go through it methodically. Again, create an ideal candidate profile for what we're looking for. They came to us with a list of well over 50 names of candidates that we placed into different buckets. We use that candidate profile to filter through the initial list of names. Got down to about 15 or so names. We did some research. We had some meetings. We filter that down to about eight names. They were very involved in that initial vetting process. They had some great ideas in terms of the interview template, how to run a proper interview, the types of questions to ask. We came up with a plan where we basically asked the coaches to pitch us. All eight coaches we interviewed are great coaches. All of them could have coached the Philadelphia Flyers. We knew they were good. It was less about tell us about your life or your history. It's more about why you, why you for the Flyers, and how would you run our team. From there, you could get into questions. They were very involved in that process, but once we got down to eight candidates, as I mentioned before, we took over the process in terms of the interviewing. We met as a group, Danny Briere, Brent Flahr, Dean Lombardi and me. After interviews, we debriefed. We talked about strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. Who did we want to go forward with? That process was great. We had four second interviews. The last of the second interviews was this past Sunday. By Monday, I made the decision that John was the guy. Again, we had a lot of time to debate things as a group. I was sitting in our pro meetings on Monday and I said, Torts is the guy. He's the guy we need. I reached out to him on Tuesday and had a good conversation. I indicated to him that he was the number one candidate on our list, but before we went forward and got talking about contract, I wanted him to come back on Thursday, it turned out to be. Let's sit down and have a conversation about everything. Let's continue to build our relationship and let's talk about roster, coaching staff, and day of a game, how does he want to be treated. Does he want me to come down and have a coffee with him? Or does he want me to stay the hell away? What makes him tick? Travel logistics, morning skates, what is he like to do? Fitness testing, training, everything. We just went through all the minute that's involved in a coach-GM relationship. I thought it was just important and I believe John did too, to have these candid conversations, so there's no surprises down the road. The goal isn't to be in agreement on everything, but the goal is to have good candid conversation and kind of understand where each of us are coming from. We talked for two or three hours yesterday afternoon, offered him a contract and I think we haggled for about 10 minutes, John, something like that. John was pretty prepared. He did a good job. It honestly took 10 minutes, shook hands, and here we are, 22 hours later. That's the whole process in a nutshell. John was absolutely my first choice. It was my decision. I think if you spoke with Danny or Brent or Dean Lombardi, they would concur that he was the right candidate at this time for the Philadelphia Flyers. In terms of all the reports out there, I don't know if you know, but you shouldn't trust everything you read.

Chuck, you listed a bunch of things that went into when you guys put the initial search together, what you were looking for in a coach. One of the things that you did not mention, and I wanted to see what your thoughts are here with John, is just how adding a coach like John to the organization, plays when you go into this offseason work that you have to do whether it be you know, negotiating contracts or trying to get a free agent that come into play here. How much of that really comes in to say, hey, here's the coach that we have and here's his experience, and here's why we think this would be a good fit for you. How much do you think that's important when you're when you're talking with those players?

CF: Look, all of the eight coaches we ended up interviewing, all of them are tremendous people and very good coaches. Again, as I mentioned to you, all of them I think could have come in and helped the Philadelphia Flyers. In terms of selling our franchise or having a coach impact those types of things, John is respected immensely throughout the industry. We did our homework. We spoke to former players, spoke with agents, spoke with the people he'd coached with, spoke with managers that worked with him, and spoke with league officials. John is universally respected and admired for his body of work. I think it'll be a huge plus as we go forward and sell the Flyers. What we were looking forward were the things that I laid out before. John fits the bill the best. We're very fortunate that he agreed to come to Philadelphia. I think  you saw the passion, his honesty, even in the way he answered your questions today. That's what we have to look forward to.

Chuck, does that just getting a coach with a track record of John Tortorella? Does that make it more likely for you guys to be more aggressive this summer in terms of trades and free agency? And as a follow up to that, how much will John play a role in impacting the decisions that are made from a roster standpoint?

CF: Well, look as for the offseason as I mentioned before, we're going to try to be aggressive in improving our team. We're going to look at every avenue to get better. We live in a cap world, so that certainly creates some challenges for every team. Fortunately, we're not quite as hamstrung as several teams that have real challenges. That's the reality of the world we look in. We're going to look at trades. We're going to look at free agency. Clearly, we're going to have some young players that are going to have an opportunity to earn a spot on our team. As I mentioned before, John's track record of developing young players is really impressive and a really important part of why he's here now. John, like every coach I've worked with, it's a collaborative process. I think it's really important to get their vision on the type of roster they want to coach. Ultimately, it's my decision, but every manager takes into account how a coach wants to have a roster, the ideal composition of your bottom six or whatever it may be. Clearly, there's going to be a lot of communication as we build this together, but we're going to still aggressively look at every way to get better. As John has spoken to a lot today, we have to look inside here, too. There's a lot of things we can do to improve what we have and to improve the standards that we hold ourselves, to get in better shape, to defend better, everything. There's so many ways that we're excited to look into and find ways to get better.