Figuring Out Who the Flyers are Has Been John Tortorella’s Primary Goal this Season – and he’s Starting to Get Some Answers

The last 10 days or so have been pretty chockfull of great sports stories in Philadelphia.

Whether it’s the Eagles reaching 12-1 with Jalen Hurts making a hard push for NFL MVP (or having shade thrown his way by Micah Parsons, setting up a great Christmas Eve storyline when they go to Dallas), or the Phillies signing Trea Turner… and Taijuan Walker… and Matt Strahm, or Joel Embiid re-asserting himself as an MVP frontrunner in the NBA, scoring more than 30 points in 10 of his last 11 games, there sure has been a lot to talk about a the water cooler, if you go to an actual office, or while wasting the first 15 minutes of your virtual team meetings.

And then there’s the Flyers.

The hockey team returns home for two more games before Christmas after what has to be considered a successful road trip that saw them go 1-1-2 against Vegas, Arizona, Colorado and New Jersey.

They didn’t play great on the road, except for the game in Vegas, where they should have won, but didn’t – again because of a lack of an ability to score, but there were moments for individual players to like along the way.

The moments are less important than the overall evaluation – and that’s what coach John Tortorella continues to focus on – which players are going to be part of a possible hockey renaissance in the future, near, distant or otherwise.

He’s finding out more and more each day, and he had some high praise for some of his under-25 players.

But there were also veterans who continued to draw the ire of Tortorella while those youths garnered praise.

Starting positively, there was a career game for Morgan Frost (four points against Coyotes) and two stellar games in goal by Carter Hart (Vegas and a 48-save, virtuoso performance against the Devils in a 2-1 win for the Flyers Thursday, just their fourth win since the Phillies lost the World Series:

Flyers win! 48 saves from Carter Hart 👏 pic.twitter.com/fwoITNZmlW

— Nasty Knuckles (@NastyKnuckles) December 16, 2022

Just one of 48. In regulation. Just awesome.

James van Riemsdyk had a four-point game. Travis Konecny continues to be the best offensive player on the team, and Cam York has impressed in his four games since being called back up.

But it wasn’t all good tidings for the approaching holiday season.

The one big name player the Flyers signed in the offseason, Tony DeAngelo, was a healthy scratch in Vegas, and then left the team in Arizona to deal with a family matter and as of Thursday, there was no time-table for his return.

Kevin Hayes, who has continued to produce offensively, was benched for the entirety of the third period in New Jersey, and Tortorella wouldn’t discuss why, only saying it was his call to do it.

Hart had a clunker against Arizona, a game which the Flyers didn’t play great, but played well enough to win against an equally struggling opponent, and let it get away from them in overtime in a game Hart would tell you wasn’t a great outing in net.

Tortorella publicly stated that Joel Farabee has been “too inconsistent” and that he won’t let him “hide behind his injury” because he’s had enough time to get past that.

The team seemed to play fewer and fewer quality minutes as the trip went on, starting with a fantastic game in Vegas, then slipping a little in Arizona, with Hart not having a great game, to struggling to finish in Colorado after a decent start, to thanking their lucky stars for their goaltender in New Jersey when they looked like a team that individually missed being in their own beds after a week away.

So here we are, eight games into the stretch of the season after Chuck Fletcher talked about being more competitive and only being five points out of a playoff spot.

They’ve lost six of those eight games (2-4-2) and are now eight points out of a playoff spot, but they’ve also played just well enough to stay a decent distance away from the bottom of the league (five points ahead of Columbus for last in the East, and 10 points ahead of Chicago for the worst record in the NHL).

Torts said he’s still of the mindset of trying to compete and win first and foremost and develop young players secondarily, but he’s also not at a point where he won’t play young players if they benefit his team.

He then went on to talk about how Cam York has impressed him since his call up. It’s been only four games, but York played approximately 20 minutes a game, scored his first goal of the season against Colorado, and did a lot of little things well – like help the team get out of their end quicker and easier and start the transitional game.

“The way he’s playing, he’s here,” Tortorella said prior to the New Jersey game, also adding the caveat that could change in a week, basically if York’s game falls off. But, if York continues to play well, a veteran could be out of the lineup for a bit.

“I really do believe that him going down to the minor league and playing a ton of minutes, and (coach Ian Laperriere) and his staff have done a great job with him, it worked. That’s what the minor league’s about. I think everybody got into a little dander because we were sending Yorkie down there. ‘We don’t like him,’ or whatever it may be. It was the right thing for him at that time. I just respect that league so much for what it can do for a player to get to be a pro. I think it’s working for Yorkie. Is he done there? I don’t know. But, for right now, I like what he’s done here in the NHL.”

Konecny scored his team-leading 12th goal against New Jersey, and continues to be the most consistent offensive player, with Hayes a close second, when he’s allowed on the ice:

TK is #FueledByPhilly. 🎯🏒🚨 pic.twitter.com/vLFQ93tyl8

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 16, 2022

But even he still needs to reign it in, according to the coach.

“TK can’t be running around all through a game and be reactive,” Torts said. “He’s been in the league a long time, but he still has a lot to learn, and that’s part of it. That’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking for someone to calm us down sometimes. Sometimes he goes the other way with the way he plays.”

Maybe that someone is Noah Cates, who replaced Hayes as a center and has been getting minutes in all situations and being asked to basically be the top center for the team, just weeks into his tenure at his new position.

Its a lot to throw on his plate, but Cates has responded and Torts is looking at him as a leader, too.

“For me, right now, he is that guy,” he said after the win in New Jersey. “He was our best player in the first period when we had a lot of players that were nowhere to be found. Catesy was the one who settled us down and tried to lead the way. He’s just an impressive guy. I’ve stuck him in the middle of the ice, where he’s never played before, and I think he’s just handled himself so well.”

Hart. York. Cates. All getting thumbs up.

Hayes. Farabee, Konecny. All getting thumbs down, or at least partially down in TK’s case, by the coach.

You never know which way it’s going to go, and that’s the Flyers of 2022-23.

The one thing for certain is that Torts has them competing. They play hard. They are schematically better. Despite getting throttled on the shot board, they are still limiting high danger chances.

There are a lot of positives and there are a lot of negatives. It’s par for the course for a rebuild, not that you’ll hear anyone employed by the team utter that word publicly.

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