Flyers’ Wade Allison Excited About Torts’ Pledge to ‘Play the Kids’

Right winger Wade Allison didn’t hide his excitement  when relayed John Tortorella’s comments.

Earlier in the day, Tortorella said he wanted to build a foundation with young players.

“I’m going to play the kids; I’ll tell you that right now,” the new Philadelphia Flyers coach said on Thursday, the first day of training camp.

Allison, 24, smiled when a reporter told him about Torts’ plan.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that, but that sounds awesome to me,” said Allison, who is healthy after an injury-plagued season. “I like it.”

GM Chuck Fletcher said the Philadelphia Flyers could break camp with 10 players 25 or under.

Torts has players pushing hard at camp. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/D1Ok3J96U0

— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) September 23, 2022

Tortorella said he doesn’t care about the players’ stature, where they were drafted, or what they’ve done in previous seasons.

“It’s kind of a clean slate with me,” he said. “I really don’t know the players. I need to watch them. But I do feel as an organization right now, we need to get a foundation underneath us here.”

Youthful look

A foundation built with youth.

That’s good news for guys like Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, Allison, Cam York, Owen Tippett, Tanner Laczynski, and Isaac Ratcliffe. Same goes for the next tier of up-and-coming players like Tyson Foerster, Olle Lycksell, Egor Zamula, Elliot Desnoyers, Zayde Wisdom, Ronnie Attard, and Linus Hogberg.

“We need to get it back on the rails,” Tortorella said.  “And we need to get a good foundation … so they’re going to get every opportunity.”

As for the young players, Tortorella said he’s “not going to be afraid to put them into situations that may bump other guys out who thought he was going to be there. There needs to be a little bit of merit here, as far as where everybody stands.”