By Charlie O’Conner (The Athletic)
From the start of the Philadelphia Flyers’ season, 2022-23 has been about giving unproven young players an opportunity to develop their skills in new, elevated roles, and see if they have what it takes to thrive there.
John Tortorella apparently wants to extend that courtesy to his coaching staff, as well. They’re younger than him, at least.
Starting in Ottawa against the Senators on Thursday and then also on Saturday back home against the Buffalo Sabres, Tortorella was not in his usual spot behind the Philadelphia bench during the game. He wasn’t sick, suspended, or on a surprise vacation. It was a voluntary decision on his part, meant to give his assistants a chance to run the bench as the “head” coach.
Long a preseason tactic for Tortorella, he made the call to extend it to regular season action with the Flyers out of playoff contention.
“I think I have (a) responsibility to my coaching staff, (to) help them develop,” he explained on Saturday morning. “I think we’re all trying to develop, just like the players are, I think, in these type of situations.”
Normally, Brad Shaw’s gameday duties are limited to managing the defensemen and the team’s penalty kill. But he served as Philadelphia’s de facto head coach on Thursday and Saturday, with Rocky Thompson (forwards, power play) expected to also lead the bench for “a couple” games and Darryl Williams (pre-scouting and assorted other duties) will get one game as well.
“Yeah, I was surprised in Ottawa,” Scott Laughton admitted, noting that he found out Thursday morning that Tortorella would be temporarily relinquishing his headman duties that night. “I think it’s good for our group, and probably good for Torts to go up there and see the game from a different angle and see what’s going on. But yeah, definitely weird, I’ve never experienced that either, but something that we’re going with.”
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