Despite doubts, plenty of young players have started flourishing under Tortorella.

Old-school. Stubborn. Blunt.

All words that have been used to describe John Tortorella’s coaching style throughout his career. He’s established himself as a coach who won’t beat around the bush—if you’re not playing up to his standards, you’re going to know, and he’s not going to hold your hand.

That’s why there was some concern amongst Flyers fans when he was officially named head coach in 2022. Tortorella was an ideal guy to whip the more experienced players into shape as they Flyers embarked on their rebuild. The young players, on the other hand? There were plenty of fears that he would impede their development—which would end up being detrimental to the team, considering they have a significant young core.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing between the young guys and their head coach. How could these players be developing properly and having their talents cultivated when they’re being scratched for long stretches of time (like Morgan Frost was) or being sent up and down between the Flyers and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (like Bobby Brink)? Did Tortorella really have these guys’ best interests in mind?

It turns out, yes.

Players like Frost, Joel Farabee, Tyson Foerster, and now even new addition Jamie Drysdale have started flourishing this season. They’re putting up some career-best numbers, playing with more confidence, and understanding their roles as the next leaders of the Flyers. It feels like a completely 180 for the group, which begs the question, What had Tortorella done differently?

The answer: Quite a lot.

“I have to coach differently now, especially with the younger guys, than back in the day,” Tortorella said. “I think it is a different athlete. I think coaches need to respect that, and not fight it. There are some things that I struggle with with the athletes, I really do. I’m dead against, sometimes, how they act, how they think. So I’ve gotta find a middle road to coach them, how I treat them, how the conversations go. It’s incumbent upon us as coaches to do that.”

He continued: “It’s a conversation. It’s more about empowering them than talking at them. It’s more wanting some feedback from them instead of talking at them—back in the day, you would just talk at them. Coaches just used to talk at players and not allow them to have some pushback or be part of the conversation. I want them to be part of the conversation. Having said that, there’s a fine line in how much you give them. How much empowerment do you give them? How much leeway do you give them?”

It’s especially different when it comes to correct mistakes players may make as they develop their game at the top level.

“It’s much different with coaching mistakes. Years ago, you would coach every mistake,” he said. “Now, you just can’t because there are so many of them, and you need to allow them to make mistakes. You pick and choose the more important ones as you try to mold them. So it’s more of a two-way street. But it’s also about watching yourself and not letting them get too far away from you, because they will. It’s human nature.”

He won’t take all the credit, though.

“I think the major reason why the young guys have come along here…I credit the room for that,” he said. “I think we have a really receptive room. I think we have a really transparent room. And I think there’s a level of accountability that comes with it. I’m gonna hold players accountable, but the best accountability is based to them by their teammates, and I think we’ve got a strong room that way. I think that’s helped tremendously in the building of our youth.”