Danny Briere Hopes Flyers Have Reached “Rock Bottom” After Firing John Tortorella for “Accumulation” of Issues

Matvei Michkov and Sean Couturier scored multiple goals in a Flyers win on Thursday night, about 12 hours after John Tortorella’s firing.

Go figure. Of course they scored. The script writes itself.

Danny Briere addressed reporters before the game and said this about Torts’ canning, broken down for you in bulletpoints:

• It was not one particular thing that led to Torts’ firing, it was a build up – “It’s a series of things that have happened. Probably a little bit more in the last three weeks, escalated since right after the trade deadline. It’s an accumulation”
• To no one’s surprise, Torts is not your typical individual: “Torts is a complicated man. He’s a complicated coach. He’s a blast to work with because he challenges you. I truly believe he made me a better GM. I loved working with him and I think he loved working with me. He’s not a yes man, he had opinions and he’s earned the right to share his opinion. We listened to him. But we (Briere, Keith Jones, Dan Hilferty) felt it was time to move in a different direction.”
• The quote from the other night about not wanting to learn how to coach a losing/tanking/rebuilding team? Briere said that was just one of the things that happened along the way, though he thought it was more of an expression of frustration in the moment.
• “I’m not going to get into the specifics of what we dealt with,” Briere said, because it’s “not fair to Torts.” – “We had just some different opinions on different things.”
• Briere hopes this is “rock bottom” for the Flyers, and the inflection point in the turnaround.
• Torts “hates losing,” as we all know, which is probably what made him a poor match for what the job currently entails.
• Briere said he had no input from the players before deciding to fire Torts, though he and Jonesy are very connected to the locker room and “aware of how things are going.”
• He thinks Torts did a “great job” with the young guys, turning them into professionals and setting a standard for them to play to.
• There was no discussion about Torts joining the front office in some capacity.
• Briere said he “knew in his guts” that this was still a rebuild in 2024 and 2025. We all knew that, everybody who was not high on bath salts. It was good to hear him more or less admit that last season was an “ahead of schedule” type of aberration.
• They haven’t started any kind of coaching search or put together any kind of shortlist, but I think we all know Rick Tocchet is probably #1 if the the Canucks don’t exercise their club option for 2025-2026.
• Briere thinks Matvei Michkov had a good experience playing for Torts. Michkov – “one of the most competitive hockey players I’ve been around.. not everybody is able to take the hard coaching,” but Danny B was thrilled with how Matty Ice responded.

Here’s the full thing if you missed it:

Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere meets with the media from @WellsFargoCtr. https://t.co/pYFoAq9OOD

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) March 27, 2025

The post Danny Briere Hopes Flyers Have Reached “Rock Bottom” After Firing John Tortorella for “Accumulation” of Issues appeared first on Crossing Broad.