OverDrive - Kurz on Tortorella's dismissal from the Flyers, his head coaching tenure and the next steps for the franchise

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

The Athletic Flyers Writer Kevin Kurz joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Flyers, John Tortorella's dismissal with the team, the team searching for success on the roster, the next steps for the group, Scott Laughton's transition to the Maple Leafs and more.

Let go from your job without a severance package? You need EmploymentLawyer.ca. Your employer is legally required to give you as much as 24 months pay when you lose your job. Call your Sam Firou and get what you're owed. EmploymentLawyer.ca. Here's Kevin Kurz of The Athletic covering the Flyers down in Philly. I'm curious, Kevin, your thoughts on the timeline here and when you heard Tortorella say what he said after the game in Toronto the other night, was your radar going off that that could be the end of the road for him in Philly? Honestly, no, because I was standing there when he said it.

It didn't even register right away. And I think when you type the quote out and then you look at it in print or on Twitter or wherever you see it, it comes off a lot harsher than if you actually watch it. So I'm not drawing a line directly from those comments to him getting fired today, but you could tell he was really downcast and the fact that he's coaching a team that's not going to make the playoffs was wearing on him. So I think he would, if he could do it again, he'd probably pick his words differently. But I doubt that Danny Breyer, and we haven't spoken with Danny yet,

it's about a half hour away. I would doubt that that's, you know, Danny just read that on Twitter or whatever and said to himself, oh, well, we can't have him around anymore. I mean, you know, maybe that was the case, but I have a hard time thinking it was just that. Kevin, it was a factor, and I said it yesterday. You can tell me if it was a part of the equation

or you believe it to be. Like watching Philadelphia play, no one is playing well. I know it's a depleted roster, but they've got some, like just no one is playing well. And that's gotta be what somebody's seeing up above saying, I got to make a move here. To have no one playing well is alarming. Yeah, yeah, it absolutely is. Now, you know, the last two games are going to be, I think, what everyone is looking at.

And those were maybe the worst two games they played all season. Giving up seven goals to a lousy Blackhawks team and then seven to obviously a pretty good Maple Leafs team. You know that's the end of a five game trip. It was almost you know how do I put this? I mean it's not a good team right now I think everyone realizes that and I think John Tortorello realizes that you know And it's they weren't playing well on top of having a depleted roster from the trade deadline You know Brear deals away three top nine forwards in the span of six weeks on a team that wasn't very talented to begin with And then you know there was the emotional aspect of it Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee were two pretty well-liked guys.

And then Scott Lawton was, frankly, the emotional heartbeat of this team. I mean, I think that's become... We knew that before he was dealt, and we definitely know it now, considering some of the results. So it was just a confluence of a lot of events. And... But you're right. You know, I think you look at a few of the younger guys that have maybe

not progressed like they would have liked. Owen Tippett would be on that list, Cam York would probably be on that list. But on the other hand, you've got guys like Jamie Drysdale, who's really settled in, looks like a different player from October, Noah Cates. So it's been a little bit of mixed results with the younger players. But yeah, it's going to be interesting to hear what Danny says just because I didn't expect this. I was surprised it happened now.

Obviously, I figured there was a chance it was going to happen at the end of the year because he has just one year left. But why they do it with nine games left is, at least in the moment, it's still a little bit of a mystery. Kevin, what is the legacy, although it's not 10 years with the franchise, but what did he leave? Did he leave it better than he found it? Tortorella, that is?

Yeah, you know, it sounds like a cop-out, but it's just a little too early to say, right? I mean, they brought in John Tortorella, and for the two years that he reported to Daniel Breyer, the Stanley Cup was never the goal. Frankly, the playoffs weren't even the goal, right? They surprised last year. You know, it's only a year ago, people were talking about John Tortorella for the Jack Adams, right?

Because he had this team in the mix for a playoff spot, but he made some mistakes over the course of that final month, you know? A team doesn't choke away a playoff spot like that without some coach having some of the responsibility. And I actually wonder if Breyer maybe saw some red flags that we don't know about that maybe worried him that Tortorello is going to make some further mistakes here from here on out considering that he you know was pretty dejected having to coach

a team that was just going to play out the string. So you know if this group of young players learns some of the things that, or take some lessons away from the standard he was trying to set, the culture he was trying to set, and they go on a further success, I mean, he will have played a role in that. But, you know, on the other hand, if they go the other way, if you're Danny Breyer, you're probably going to be wondering, well, maybe this wasn't a good match in the first place. So I think it still has to play out a little bit. But, you know, at the same time, Brie air shoulders some of the responsibility here too.

I, the teams had the worst safe percentage in the league for each of the last two years. Um, you know, there's not much a head coach can do about the goalie, right? And what's the old saying, you know, show me a bad coach. I'll show you a bad goalie. Well, these guys haven't had reliable goaltending since Carter Hart left in January. Um, that's something that I think is on the general manager. And you know, obviously this year, it's just been all about removing pieces, right? It was, it was, as I said, three top nine forwards they took out of the lineup over the course of the last six weeks. I mean, I'm not sure any coach was going to be able to, you know, remain in the hunt with this team. But, you know, clearly they have to be better than they were

the last two games. But it wasn't even that long ago that they were hanging in, you know, they were still working hard. It was, I think, March 1st, they beat the Winnipeg Jets in a shootout. And it wasn't even out of the realm of possibility that they were going to kind of hang in for a little while but some further trades before March 7th sort of you know I think led them on the path that they're on now. Chatting with Kevin Kurz of the Athletic covers the Flyers John Torello fired this morning you mentioned Scott Lotton and the role he played in that room in Philly I'm sure you're aware of his struggles up here in Toronto he still has not recorded a point even the

game the other night I think all but two forwards didn't you know or all but four two forwards did record points the other night and he was one of the two that didn't I'm not sure if you caught up with him at all when you're in Toronto but what do you what do you make of this kind of difficult transition and do you have faith that Lawton will figure this out come playoff time I do think he will figure it out. I was on with another Toronto Network, I forget which one and there might have even been you guys too. And the question was, you know, what's going to tell you that Scott Lawton is on his game? And to me, you guys, I don't know,

you've probably seen him, right? He's not an overly big guy, right? He's, you know, he's got some decent size, but he's certainly not huge. When he plays bigger, when he looks like a bigger guy on the ice, when he's running around, winning board battles, throwing hits, getting in the front of the net, getting in the dirty areas, no, he's effective when he plays bigger than his size. So I wonder if that just hasn't happened yet. Maybe he's just not comfortable doing that yet. I don't know it's surprising to me that it's been that much of a struggle for him. Obviously you guys know he's from

up there so maybe he's being a little bit extra pressure. He spent 12 years in Philadelphia right when you switch organizations it can take some time but I would be surprised if he doesn't have some sort of impact for that team come playoff time. I would just say be a little more patient let them settle in a little bit because i think he's the kind of guy that when when the playoffs come around he's he's gonna be he's gonna be a player that you want your lineup yep that's what people looking forward to i know it's uh... busy time down there we appreciate you

finding some for us thank you kevin yeah no problem to get that, guys. Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. North all the way. Loud and proud. An all new digital radio station from coast to coast. Made in Canada. Played in Canada. On the free iHeartRadio app and at iHeartRadio.ca. It's gonna get loud.