Daniel Briere Talks Firing John Tortorella

The Philadelphia Flyers and general manager Daniel Briere shockingly decided to fire head coach John Tortorella on Thursday, with just nine games remaining in the season.

The move comes just less than two days after Tortorella got raw with the media after the Flyers’ embarrassing 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Briere spoke to the media Thursday evening ahead of the Flyers’ matchup with the Montreal Canadiens.

“I felt it was time to go in a different direction, and that starts tonight.“

Read More: FIRED: John Tortorella Out in Philly

Briere Talks Firing Tortorella

One of the first questions asked of Briere was whether or not Tuesday’s honest quote from Tortorella had a major role in the coach’s firing. Briere responded:

“It’s not one thing. It’s a series of things that have happened, and probably a little bit more in the last three weeks that have escalated since probably around the trade deadline, right after that.” He would later add that things became more serious in terms of firing Tortorella in the last few days.

As far as what led to the ultimate downfall of the Flyers’ bench boss, Briere would get into any detail.“I’m not going to get into the specifics of what we dealt with. You know, that’s not fair to Torts.”

The Flyers have had the wheels fall off in March for two straight seasons. Briere was asked if Tortorella was a reason that the structure of the Flyers started to fall apart late this season, and last year, too. Here is what Briere had to say:

“I’m not ready to blame Torts for that. You know, the reality is, we’ve made some tough trades that we feel are going to set us up for the future. But in the present time, (it) puts us at a disadvantage. So it’s probably not fair to blame Torts or our coaching staff for that. It was just the reality that we felt there were trades that we needed to make at this time to set us up better for the future.“

Briere also mentions, “Torts was on board with that (trading players). He understood that was part of the plan, and that was part of the phase of the rebuild that we were in. So that was not an issue.“

Did the Losing Get to Torts?

Losing can weigh heavily on coaches’ minds and cause a lot of stress for everybody in the organization.

Towards the end of his tenure in Philadelphia, it seemed as if the losing was finally catching up to John Tortorella. Maybe it caused the frustration that led to his shocking remarks on Tuesday. The losing could have been a cause for a lot of different things.

Briere was asked if the losing was finally starting to wear down Tortorella. Here is what he said:

“I think not just him, but all of us. It’s not easy. You know, the toughest part of the rebuild is going through this now. I really hope this is the bottom. This is rock bottom for us today.“

He also goes on to mention that there was not much for Tortorella to do with what he had.

“The trades were tough. It was tough to send some good players elsewhere and not really replace them in the trades. There were a lot of call-ups, younger guys, and guys that we want to see, so that makes it tough for the team, makes it tough for the coaches now… That (losing) was taking a toll on all of us, and Torts included. He hates losing more than probably anybody we know.”

At the end of his tenure, Tortorella had what is basically an AHL group on the ice as his bottom-six, especially after the trade deadline.

Where to Go from Here?

If it were not obvious, Brad Shaw, the Flyers’ interim head coach, will be the Flyers’ head coach for the remainder of the season.

Briere said that there have been no discussions, plans, or lists about who the next coach will be. Briere did not speak much on the topic, but he did say they would not close the door on any coach because of their age.

“We’re not going to, you know, close off any coaches because of their ages. If they’re the appropriate coach, we’re going to keep everything open. We don’t want to limit ourselves,” Briere said.

The Flyers will certainly have a big decision to make, as the next coach could join the next phase of the rebuild.

Read More: OPINION: Tortorella is Gone, David Carle Should Be the Next Flyers Coach

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