Flyers coach John Tortorella has seen a thing or two during his NHL career.
But incidents like last Saturday’s incident in Ottawa, where Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly cross-checked Senators center Ridley Grieg in the face after he took a slap shot into an empty net. He may not have been involved. Rielly was suspended for five games on Tuesday for the hit.
When asked about the incident Thursday before the Flyers played the Maple Leafs, Tortorella launched into a blistering attack on the league.
“Oh my god. It’s a different league. You have to be really careful how you say it,” Tortorella said. “Well, it’s a stupid league. That’s right. It’s changed for the coaches, too. There were so many mistakes that we had to adjust.”
Toth believes that young players are missing out on the process of becoming a professional.
“I think they have a cronies around them that are leading them in the wrong direction,” he said. “And I think the hierarchy of the room, the hierarchy of what it means to be a professional, the process that you have to go through as a professional is a little bit lost in today’s athletes. And having been in the league for so long, I think , looking at what the league is like now, I miss it so much.”
Tortorella played four years of minor professional hockey in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League before becoming an assistant coach in the AHL in 1988.
He has been coaching in the major leagues since 1999 and won the Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He knows when the league changes.
The Flyers ultimately lost in overtime to the Maple Leafs without Rielly on Thursday night.
Philadelphia fought back in the third period to force overtime, but William Nylander scored and Toronto won.
