What ate Tortorella alive this summer as Flyers enter ‘such an important' Year 3

VOORHEES, N.J. — John Tortorella's long, yellow rope is always a symbol — a nettlesome one for his players — of a new season.

The head coach's notorious and unnerving skate test always comes on Day 1 of training camp, a taxing start to a clean slate that's meant to build mental strength and camaraderie within his team.

"It sucked but it's supposed to suck," Erik Johnson said.

As Tortorella sounded his whistle Thursday morning, barking words of encouragement to his tired players as they skated lap after lap around his rope, he had not totally moved on from last season.

His rebuilding Flyers dropped nine of their last 11 games, a stretch that included eight losses in a row, to miss the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. Three days after the finale, Tortorella admitted the Flyers didn't push enough sandpaper type of offense as the games tightened in checking.

It stayed with him this offseason.

"The one that has bothered me all summer is I think I let the team down and I didn't put enough effort or focus into rebounds, deflections, playing under the hash [marks] and creating offense through some grind when we needed it," Tortorella said. "We can talk about our goaltending — it struggled, it did at the end of the year. We didn't score any goals, either. ... That falls on me and that's something I've thought about and it's going to be a point of emphasis this year as we start."

In Year 3 of Tortorella's tenure, the Flyers still want to play fast, take risks and score off the rush, aspects they incorporated last season. But it sure sounds like they won't forget what they missed down the stretch, something they could address earlier in this season.

The Flyers outshot their opponent in every loss of that ill-timed eight-game skid (plus-87 differential) but were outscored an unsightly 42-18. Tortorella "played the hell out of" rookie goaltender Samuel Ersson, who had worn down, and the club's offense didn't support him.

"That has eaten me alive this summer, that we couldn't score goals, we couldn't help Ers, we knew Ers was struggling. We knew the situation we were in with our goaltending, but we couldn't help them," Tortorella said. "I felt the head coach let the team down in not highlighting how we need to score other ways."

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John Tortorella looks on as early morning group pushes through skate test. pic.twitter.com/qDc1rPp5A1

— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) September 19, 2024

Despite the collapse, the Flyers can still hang their hat on the fact that they didn't disregard their rebuild for one postseason run. They lost their No. 1 goalie in January and one of their better defensemen at the March trade deadline. They still made a 12-point jump from Tortorella's first season and have continued to get younger.

When the 2024-25 season opener arrives Oct. 11, the Flyers could have 12 players 25 years old or younger in their lineup. In 2021-22, they had seven.

A key for the Flyers this season is seeing more growth and potentially gaining more answers. How quickly can top prospect Matvei Michkov get acclimated? Is there another level for some of the team's other young pieces? And what can the established players do to supplement the youth?

Tortorella and general manager Danny Briere spoke to the entire training camp roster Wednesday. The theme of the address was that taking another step can be harder.

"I think for them, the message is while the team took a step last year and individuals took a step, you can't go into a new season relying on taking a step just because you took a step last year," Johnson, a 36-year-old veteran with a Stanley Cup ring, said. "As a young player, you really have to reinvent yourself and maybe guys last year that had a good year, guys know about them across the league now, so it almost becomes tougher sometimes.

"As a younger group, you have to reinvent yourself and keep proving yourself every year because it gets tougher and tougher. I think last year, no one expected the Flyers to be as good as we were. So I think a lot of times, even before I was here, we probably caught teams off guard. I think teams will be more ready for us this year."

The Flyers had 13 wins over top-10 teams last season. They also had 13 losses to bottom-10 teams.

"I don't we know if we were surprising teams, but we just played hard, we played together," Scott Laughton said. "If we squeak out a couple of more wins, you don't know what happens. I think the closeness of our group and everyone coming together, I think that outweighs a lot of the skill and things like that.

"It's no secret how tight our group is and I think we keep building on that. Those young guys take the next step, but not only the young guys, I think the older guys can take a step. I can be a lot better throughout the year."

Tortorella knows how critical this season is to the Flyers' big picture.

"Year 3 is such an important year in a program because of human nature," he said. "We know one another now and you don't want to cheat but you kind of give sometimes. ... Those are the things I've got to coach myself and coach with the team.

"I have to coach them differently. I've had them three years, I have to respect that they've improved."

And his faith has been steadfast in the locker room.

"I'd put the room up against any team in this league as far as how that room conducted itself last year," Tortorella said. "It's one of the better rooms I've been in."

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