John Tortorella Has A Communication Problem With His Players

We can debate the merits of John Tortorella benching players when they make mistakes. Some people think you learn better by working it out on the ice. Some think taking a step back to watch others is a way to learn. But in order for that to be true, the player being benched needs to understand what they did wrong, and how they can improve.

That part is not an opinion. You can not improve any facet of your life if you do not know what needs to be improved. But under John Tortorella, players being benched, and then saying they do not know why they were benched, has become a reoccurring problem.

When Tortorella benched his captain Sean Couturier last season, many defended it, pointing it to his below-average play on the ice before the move. That may have been due to him battling through injuries, but the reasons he struggled, are not important here. What matters is if Couterier understood why he was benched, what he needed to work on, and how he could improve.

Tortorella did not let the media know what that was. To be honest, even though I am part of that media, it doesn't matter if he lets us know. What is important is if he lets the player know. So did he? Not according to what Couturier said at the time.

"I've gotten the same answers as you guys, just need to see more. I'm still looking to find out what that is. I'm trying every game, it's not like I'm just sitting around or doing nothing I think. I felt the last couple of games, with the limited ice time or opportunities I've been getting, I've been doing all right. But I guess we're going with the best lineup available tonight to get a win, so it is what it is."

He did not understand why he was benched. He understood he was struggling, but Tortorella did not make it clear to him what he needed him to improve on while riding the bench. It was not about teaching him. If it was, there would have been communication.

This past week, we saw a repeat of this over the weekend. One of the Flyers young building blocks, Cam York was scratched from Saturday's game. When Charlie O'Connor of ALLPHLY caught up with York after Tuesday's practice, York sang a tune we have heard before. He said that he did not agree with the benching, and has not had communication with Tortorella about it.

Which begs the question, how do you bench a player, and not communicate clearly with them why they were benched? Imagine if your boss decided to suspend you from work. They told you to go home and expected you to do better work when you came back. Only your boss doesn't tell you what being better means. So you just have to sit at home trying to figure out how you can be "better."

This is not an effective way to be a teacher. No one can learn from their mistakes if they don't know what the mistake is. With York's recent play, you could argue he needed to be benched. But as the coach, it is on Tortorella to clearly communicate to York how he needs to be better. That clearly did not happen. York was benched on a Saturday and still did not know why by Tuesday.

Then there is the future of the Flyers entire franchise, Matvei Michkov. He was not benched like York, but he did lose ice time. John Tortorella scolded the media when they asked him why that was.

But he is not coaching the media. What matters is if he communicated with Michkov, and if he has been communicating with his young star the many times this year he pulled him off the ice this season.

Michkov is still not a fluent speaker of English, and Tortorella does not speak Russian. Communication is understandably difficult between the two men. But given Tortorellas already poor track record of communication with players who do speak English, it is very fair to wonder if it has been clearly communicated to Michkov why he is being punished.

This is not a team meant to win anything right now. It might not be one next season either. They are in a rebuild, hence them being sellers at the past two deadlines. They still have a lot of work to do to get to the point where they can win anything. Michkov, as good as his rookie season has been, has work to do before he is the franchise-changing superstar we all think he will be.

What is most important is that the young players here who can be part of the team's future, are getting taught the right way.

But if a teacher does not communicate with his class, they can't learn. You can be a tough teacher, a fair teacher, a student-friendly teacher. There are many methods that work. We saw with the Eagles and Vic Fangio that tough coaching can still work, granted that also came with the nurturing nature of Nick Sirianni. But all of those methods require clear communication.

It is something that is clearly lacking in the Flyers organization right now. We have multiple players saying that they have been benched, and do not know the reason why. That is unacceptable. Tortorella can keep dishing out tough love. But if he does not remember the love part of that coaching style, it is not going to help the young players he is meant to be teaching.

The Philadelphia Flyers made three deals ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7. Danny Briere flipped Scott Laughton, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Erik Johnson in seller’s moves that shrink the dwindling playoff odds for the 2024-25 season.

The Flyers also subtracted Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost five weeks ago. They held onto Rasmus Ristolainen despite circulating rumors leading up to the deadline and throughout the past two seasons.

Related Content: Why The Flyers Could Benefit Most From Salary Cap Increase

Flyers Get: Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, 2nd-Round Pick in 2025, 7th-Round Pick in 2026
Calgary Flames Get: Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost

Moving Farabee and Frost created significant offseason flexibility for the Flyers.

Briere shed Farabee’s $5 million annual cap hit through 2028 and eliminated the need to extend Frost as a pending restricted free agent. The trade also added to Philadelphia’s stockpile of draft picks and improved the likelihood of acquiring top-end talent while losing only two middling players.

Briere already dealt Kuzmenko after only seven games with the Flyers. The ensuing deal added to the draft compensation and underscored the focus on the bigger picture rather than Kuzmenko and Pelletier’s fit in Philadelphia.

The Flyers are missing the center who will play on the top line with Matvei Michkov during the time period when they intend to grow into a Stanley Cup contender.

The trade appears to have brought them one step closer to finding that center, but until it happens, Danny Briere won’t relish in the credit for the overall outlook of a deal that immediately weakened his roster significantly.

Flyers Get:  3rd-Round Pick in 2027
Los Angeles Kings Get: Andrei Kuzmenko (with 50% salary retention), 7th-Round Pick in 2025

Kuzmenko spent five weeks with the Flyers. The 4 Nations Face-Off break limited him to seven games.

His inclusion in the January trade with the Flames had more to do with salary cap maneuvering than his fit with the Flyers.

The Flyers didn’t intend to re-sign the impending unrestricted free agent. They took the available compensation.

Briere’s decision to deal Kuzmenko to the Kings indicates a lack of interest in the outcome of the 2024-25 season. He dealt a player with legitimate NHL pedigree who might’ve improved a disastrous power play for a future draft choice that will likely be spent (by whichever NHL team uses it) on a player who is currently 15 or 16 years old.

The Flyers retained 50% of Kuzmenko’s $5.5 million salary, prorated until the end of the season. Despite the fan base’s consistent criticism of Comcast, their deep pockets opened up an opportunity that small market ownership probably wouldn’t have approved.

The financial flexibility increased Kuzmenko's trade value and landed the Flyers higher compensation than most experts projected before the NHL Trade Deadline.

The Russian winger played briefly with Matvei Michkov in the KHL, but John Tortorella spoke optimistically about Michkov’s progress with the English language. The organization’s willingness to deal a native Russian speaker reflects well on Michkov’s assimilation to life in North America.

Flyers Get: Conditional 1st-Round Pick in 2027 (top-10 protected), Nikita Grebenkin
Toronto Maple Leafs Get: Scott Laughton, 4th-Round Pick in 2025, 6th-Round Pick in 2027

The Flyers finally pulled the trigger.

Not many people inside or outside the organization have a bad word to say about Scott Laughton. He commands respect for withstanding the ups and downs of his professional career since the Flyers selected him in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft.

The 30-year-old has survived the trade rumor mill annually, but Briere dealt the Ontario native and former OHL star to the Maple Leafs ahead of the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline. He is fathering a newborn, and he recently lost his father-in-law. He’ll now play about an hour away from his hometown in Oakville.

The Flyers own six first-round picks in the next three NHL Drafts. They’re more likely to package the picks in a larger deal than make each selection.

Although first-round compensation for a third-line player is a solid return on the surface, don’t ignore the qualifiers.

The Flyers will pay 50% of Laughton’s salary through the 2025-26 season. They also sent two future picks to the Leafs.

Flyers fans offered Briere oversimplified praise for trading Sean Walker for a first-round pick one year ago, and they should look more carefully beyond the lure that the phrase "first-round pick" carries on social media this year. The pick won't land in the top 10, and the player taken is a long way off from contributing at the NHL level.

The development of Nikita Grebenkin will play a major role in evaluating the trade. The 6-foot-2 winger has spent most of his first season in North America in the AHL.

The Leafs drafted Grebenkin in the fifth round of the 2022 NHL Draft. He spent the early seasons of his professional career in the KHL. 

Briere’s decision to move Laughton indicates the most impactful shift in the timeline of the organization’s rebuild.

The newly-constructed front office has heavily emphasized and repeatedly reinforced culture as a key foundation since they announced their plans for the New Era of Orange.

The front office has determined the future of Nick Seeler, Garnet Hathaway, Travis Konecny, and Rasmus Ristolainen with consideration to their impact on the culture (to highly-varying extents). 

They’ve finally shown a significant willingness to trade players who contribute to the culture. Briere began the shift by moving Farabee and Frost in January, but Laughton was the most integral symbol of the culture they’ve looked to build.

The added draft capital and shift away from middling players who add to the culture suggests the search for top-line players is about to take shape.

Briere set a high asking price for Ristolainen. According to Darren Dreger of TSN in Canada, interested teams fell short of the desired first-round pick, prospect, and roster player package.

Ristolainen’s contract runs through 2027. The Flyers held the leverage that teams trading impending UFAs don’t have.

Briere used sound logic by attempting to maximize the return package for a player who still brings value to the Flyers on the current roster.

However, he passed on the perfect confluence of health, effective play on the ice, and the desire that contenders have for a player of Ristolainen’s style entering the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

If no other teams met the asking price at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, it’s unlikely they’ll meet it at any point in the future.

Flyers Get: Givani Smith
Colorado Avalanche Get: Erik Johnson

Laughton contributed on the ice in 60 games in 2024-25. Johnson was on the Flyers almost entirely to maintain the culture.

The 36-year-old defenseman skated in his 1000th career NHL regular-season game in November. He took on a mentorship role for younger players on the team since Briere acquired him at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline.

Johnson played 13 seasons in Colorado through the prime of his career. The idea of sending him for a chance to win a Stanley Cup in what might be his final NHL season isn’t separate from the respect he’s earned within the organization.

Johnson attended the NHL broadcasting camp in New York last summer. Don’t be surprised if he finds his way back to Philadelphia to utilize that experience in a city where the media latched onto him during a short stop for a cup of coffee.

Givani Smith will hit unrestricted free agency after the season. The journeyman will likely join the NHL roster, but doing right by a respected veteran is a bigger takeaway from the trade.

The Flyers began their rebuild searching for top-end talent that will lead the franchise’s next Stanley Cup contending team.

They’ve spent recent seasons accumulating resources to acquire those players and evaluating middling talent internally. The heavy emphasis on culture has played a close part in their plan to enable player development and prevented the Flyers from finishing at the bottom of the NHL standings.

Briere’s moves ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline align smoothly with Philadelphia’s plan in the big picture more than their characteristics of the front office’s first two years.

He continued to stockpile draft capital in the organization’s fifth consecutive deadline as a seller. The picks look increasingly likely to play a part in a major offseason trade to fill the void of a top-line center.

Briere also brought the Flyers closer to escaping their sentence in salary cap jail. 

While trading Farabee and Frost indicated a new direction, losing Scott Laughton symbolizes the shift more emphatically. The Flyers are no longer primarily focusing on internal evaluations enabled by culture.

They’re ready to enter the next phase of the rebuild during the 2025 offseason.

Briere’s maneuvering has increased his flexibility to make the necessary splash. However, the evaluation of rebuilds becomes particularly complicated under these circumstances.

Any credit the Flyers get comes with an asterisk. Draft picks and salary cap flexibility create the prospect of future success.

The theoretical moves haven’t materialized yet. NHL GMs who deliberately weaken their NHL roster immediately don’t deserve grades at the A level before they execute with the acquired resources.