Flyers “move on” from John Tortorella as head coach; interim head coach named

The Philadelphia Flyers have announced their decision to “move on” from John Tortorella as head coach of the team.

According to a statement posted on social media by the team, Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere said:

” Today I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach. Josh played a vital role in our rebuild. He set a standard of play and re-established what it means to be a Philadelphia Flyer. John’s passion on the bench was only equaled by his charitable work in our community. As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our team to move forward. I’d like to thank John for his tireless work and commitment to the Flyers”. said Briere.

“On behalf of the entire Flyers organization, we would like to thank John for his dedication over the past three seasons,” said Flyers Governor Dan Hilferty and President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones. “We fully support Danny’s decision in making this change as he continues to do what is needed for the future of our organization. John Tortorella has made a positive impact throughout the Flyers organization, and we are grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to work with him. We wish John, Christine, and their family all the best moving forward.”

John Tortorella has been the head coach of the team since June 2022.

In a statement to the NHL, Tortorella said. “It’s my job to prepare this team in this type of situation,” “Haven’t done a good enough job the past couple games.”

“When you’re in this type of situation and you’re losing all the time and there’s nothing at the end of the tunnel for you, there’s certainly going to be some frustration,” Tortorella said. “This falls on me. I’m not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season, where we’re at right now. But I have to do a better job, so this falls on me, getting the team prepared to play the proper way until we get to the end.”

According to Comcast Spectacor, Tortorella spent 20 years as the head coach with the New York Rangers (1999-00, 2008-13), the Tampa Bay Lightning (2000-08), the Vancouver Canucks (2013-14) and the Columbus Blue Jackets (2015-21).

Philadelphia Flyers Associate Head Coach, Brad Shaw, has been named head coach in the interim.

According to the Philadelphia Flyers, Shaw joined the Flyers coaching staff in July 2022, after spending the 2021-2022 season as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks. He also worked as an assistant for five years with the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2016-17 to 2020-21 and earned a spot at the Stanley Cup Playoffs in four out of his five years.

Shaw also served as assistant coach for the St. Louis Blues for a total of 10 seasons from 2006-07 to 2011-12 and associate coach from 2012-13 to 2015-16. Shaw also worked as head coach of the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks in the American Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2004-05 and was the head coach in the International Hockey League with the Detroit Vipers in 2000-01 and an assistant in the AHL with the Springfield Falcons (2001-02).

Before becoming a coach Shaw played in the National Hockey League as a defenseman with the HartfordWhalers (1985-92), Ottawa Senators (1992-1995), Washington Capitals & St. Louis Blues (1998-99).