Flyers’ John Tortorella Dismisses Questions About Future with Team

Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella will turn 66 years old before the 2024-25 regular season starts. Given his advanced age, it is fair to wonder how long the veteran coach will stick around for the Flyers’ rebuild.

Make no mistake about it, though: the rumors about Tortorella leaving the bench for a role in the Flyers’ front office aren’t lost on him. Tortorella has heard the noise, and frankly, he isn’t interested in any of it.

“Can I ask you a question? Is this a question based on what was thrown out there, as far as a front office job and stuff like that?” Tortorella replied after being quizzed about his future as a coach on Friday. “I am as energized as I’ve ever been. This team here… the organization, I love working here. I’m already thinking about next year. I just spent an hour with (Danny Briere). We just spent a half hour with Patrick Sharp and some of our analytics guys on certain players that we think we can help.

“I am totally in until Danny says, ‘Get the hell out of here’,” Tortorella finished with an affirming nod of his head.

Tortorella just completed his second season as head coach of the Flyers and already has his sights set on a third. Initial reports of Tortorella moving to a front office role were already shot down once by TSN’s Darren Dreger, and now Tortorella himself has come forward to finish the job on that front.

Flyers president Keith Jones has played his part in extinguishing this fire, saying that a change in pace for Tortorella “is not something that has entered any conversation” and that Tortorella is “outstanding at developing young players and developing accountability,”.

All parties involved have, at different points, publicly committed to the future with Tortorella at the helm.

Tortorella quelling the speculation himself was just the final nail in the coffin.