By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The Philadelphia Flyers fired head coach John Tortorella on Thursday. He has been replaced by associate head coach Brad Shaw on an interim basis.
Shaw’s first game leading the team will be on Thursday night. The Flyers host the Montreal Canadiens at the Wells Fargo Center.
“Today, I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach,” Flyers GM Daniel Briere said. “”John 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.”
Tortorella guided the Flyers to a 28-36-9 record this season. He was in his third season with the Flyers at the time of his departure.
The veteran head coach originally signed a four-year deal with the Flyers in 2022. He was fired with nine games left in the regular season.
The Flyers lost six straight games under Tortorella. This included a 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.
In their last two games, the team has been outscored 14-6 by the Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks won 7-4 over the Flyers on Sunday.
The team has lost 11 of their last 12 games. Their lone win during this period was a 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 13th.
Shaw was in his third season as the Flyers associate head coach. However, this will be his second stint as an interim head coach in the NHL.
During the 2005-06 season, the New York Islanders fired then-head coach Steve Stirling on January 12th, 2006. Shaw then went 18-18-4 to end the season.
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