Torts and Briere Pressers: 5 Takeaways

Flyers head coach John Tortorella and interim general manager Danny Briere met with the media on Monday at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees for their respective end-of-season press conferences. Speaking for roughly 35 minutes apiece, Tortorella and Briere covered a wide variety of topics. Following are five key takeaways representing common themes from the two sessions.

1. Roster subtractions are the first order of offseason business.
Both Tortorella and Briere discussed that they foresee significant changes coming to the Flyers' roster over the summer. Tortorella said on Monday that he met both with Briere and Comcast Spectacor CEO and chairman Daniel Hilferty to discuss which players the head coach and Briere see as part of the rebuilding process moving forward and which players will not.
Tortorella said that, in his mind, the subtractions have to come before any additions are made.
"I'm not going to give you the number [of anticipated deletions], but I think there are people [who need to move on] for he organization to move forward. I wouldn't say a lot. I said, I'm just going to say there are people. Danny and I had some really good [talking] time when I was upstairs. It kind of moved that process forward," Tortorella said.
"I don't think there's many disagreements between Danny and I as far as the people [to prioritize subtracting from the roster]. This happens to all teams that are trying to get better. And I think sometimes teams get the order backwards, they try to add people before there's subtraction. That's when you spin the wheels. That's when you spin in the mud. There are people that I think need to move on because of where we're at in our [rebuild] process."
Both the head coach and the interim GM cautioned that the organization will not pursue big-name players on the free agent and/or trade market this summer. Tortorella once again used the term "backfilling" to describe the type of players who may be signed or acquired before next season: role-playing types on short-term contracts.
"I think the biggest point, guys, out of this is when you commit to a pro0cess of what we have to do to try to get this right, you can't go looking when there's that guy out there that has a fairly big name and you change course. 'Let's go get him,' We can't change course," Tortorella said.
"We've got to stay the course and let our kids develop. I hope we're younger next year and keep developing our kids. There's going to be a time when that bigger name is out there. I think we're all in agreement with that. I think that's the most important point here is that everybody believes in how we have to do this. That's not saying you don't go out and get some players, some free agents, because there are some out there that can fill some spots for us: kind of in backfilling as I've said, not looking for the top ones. I think backfilling is the most important part of [the next step after subtraction]. I know that we're all on board with that."
2. Seeking greater accountability
Throughout the 2022-23 season and especially during Monday after-season press conference, Tortorella repeatedly stressed that he is seeking greater accountability, as he defines it, from the collective roster. The coach said that, almost to a man, the team worked hard and competed. However, he still felt personal accountability was lacking.
"I do think [we need more] understanding what it is to be a pro, standard of practice, standard of... what accountability means. As I said to you guys when I first came here, it's a great word, but holding people accountable, you find out about people. I have found out about people, as far as people that simply don't know what the word
means. And I'm talking about players. Some players just don't want to be held accountable or just can't handle it. That's building a standard." Tortorella said.
" I guess the way I'll put it is, and I've said it to you throughout the year, I don't think there are many nights this season - and I don't care what you call us, what you say what our year was - one of the biggest points was how hard we play. I think that's the starting ground of building a standard. There weren't many nights we didn't play hard. I'm really encouraged with that. But the accountability factor as far as what's expected, as far as play, as far as being a pro, conduct, practice habits, a teammate being a teammate, playing under a team concept, we've got some work to do. Not with all of them, but with a number of our players, and I expected that. We're gonna keep banging away on it.."
Tortorella said that some current players, in his estimation, either do not grasp the veteran coach's vision of accountability or do accept it. In other cases, the coach may have been reasonably satisfied with the player but the player himself might have a differing view of the coach ("The non-believers who don't want to be here? That goes through Danny. I don't want non-believers," Tortorella said.)
Briere pledged his support in working together with Tortorella and a yet-to-be-hired president of hockey operations to advance the vision the head coach described. Briere said that his own perspective was similar to the coach's.
"There's things that are important to him - how players carry themselves, how they play, how they act - and that's going to be a big part of it. It was a big part of it this year. If you look at how things were done,and were run, accountability was a big thing throughout the organization/ I think that's part of the progress that you saw this year. There's definitely a big change when it comes to a certain standard, and
you can use the word accountability for it," Briere said.
3. Opportunities for young players
One of the bright spots for the 2022-23 Flyers, according to Tortorella and Briere, was the emergence of multiple young players who started the season unproven as NHL regulars and evolved into upper-lineup contributors.
Right winger Owen Tippett steadily emerged as a significant goal-scoring threat and finished with 27 tallies. Center Morgan Frost led the team in assists, total points and even-strength points over the final 56 games.Noah Cates was among the top two-way rookie centers leaguewide. Cam York emerged as an every game starter on the Philadelphia blueline after being recalled in December. Others, such as winger Wade Allison, made intermediate progress over the past year.
"I thought we had some really good progress with our kids. A lot of them were put into some heavy minutes, some key situations," Tortorella said.
Tortorella said his aim is for more competition for spots to emerge on the defense corps next year, while continuing to see the forward corps evolve.
Heading into the offseason and, eventually, training camp, Briere wants to keep opportunity doors open for prospects -- such as forwards Tyson Foerster and Elliot Desnoyers, goalie Samuel Ersson and defensemen Ronnie Attard, Egor Zamula and Adam Ginning -- to compete for NHL roster spots. Some may be in the mix for opening-night spots and others could challenge by the end of next season.
:"I still feel that we need to figure out what we have. We need to figure out which players will be part of the future, and you don't want to block them by bringing [bigger-name] outside players at the moment," Briere said.
"I don't have a number [in mind for available spots for rookies]. Again, like we got excited at the end of the season because we're playing better, we're winning games, our young guys are playing better and better, but what happens next year if we come back and there's a regression there. We've seen it many, many times over. So, I want to be careful. I don't know exactly where we're at in the process. So, that's why I can't - I wish I could give you a timeline, but I'd be lying to you. I don't know if it's two years or five years or eight years - I really don't know at this point."
4. Torts wants players taking initiative.
Tortorella is a coach who has never been the least bit shy about calling individual players out in front of their teammates. On Monday, he said that he's not one to call a player into his office for one-on-one discussions. All teaching and player critique will continue to be done in a group setting.
Tortorella said that players are welcomed to "come right back at" him in meetings. He also said that if a player has a question, concern or area of disagreement that he prefers to raise on a one-on-one basis, the coach's door is always open. Tortorella said, on the flip side, he expects players to take the initiative to have a one-to-one dialogue. He praised several players for doing so. Tortorella said that he doesn't -- and will not in the future -- "chase after" players to have such discussions. This is one piece of how the coach views accountability, albeit just as a starting point.
"[The goal is for] you to get to the other side. As long as they know it's not a personal attack. As long as they know that you find your way through it. I think that's the best way to get to a player. Players don't feel comfortable in that situation, so I am always available for them to come in one-on-one. TK [Travis Konecny] came in when he was benched. Frosty came in. Tony [DeAngelo] came in. A number of players came in, so you go to the next step," Tortorella said.
"I am not going to run around the locker room and look to hug players and have one-on-one meetings. I'm not. I think they understand where they sit when I'm in the group setting. If they don't like it or they need more, door's always open for them to come in, but I'm not going to chase them around the building for them. I think the onus is on them. If they're mad, come to me. if they need some more information, come to me. I got Rocky [Thompson] ready with tape. I've got Shawsy [Brad Shaw]. We're all set to go, but it always will start in a group setting. I think it is one of the most dynamic and I think one of the most rewarding situations because I think you'd become closer. Does it cause conflict with my personality? Sure, it does. Conflict is not a bad thing."
Tortorella said that he's fully aware that not every player can handle his style. He doesn't take offense nor does he want players to take it personally when gets on them in front of the group. What it does mean in such situations, according to Tortorella, is that the two sides may not be the right fit for each other moving forward. This factor is a prime consideration in recommending subtractions.
5. Making changes without losing progress.
A natural question arises, given the way the past season went, where the Flyers finished in the standings, and a stated plan to subtract multiple players while relying on more youth and backfilling: Can the 2023-24 Flyers make tangible progress from a won-loss standpoint even as the rebuild process is a multi-year undertaking?
Briere said the overriding goal is "to do it the right way". While several players said in their Exit Day media sessions they are hopeful for a shorter-than-advertised rebuild back into being a playoff team, Briere refused to put a year-to-year timetable estimate on the duration of the rebuilding process.
"We might need a little bit of patience from the fans, in that regard. Might be some growing pains to go through, but when you look at how some of our young players got better this year, I think that was really impressive and exciting for the future," Briere said.
Overall, the interim GM stressed that baby steps were taken this past season to start off the rebuild properly, and now the next steps down the road are necessary.