NHL Rumor Mill – March 27, 2025
Could this season be John Tortorella’s last behind the Flyers bench? What’s the latest on the Bruins? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
COULD THIS BE TORTORELLA’S LAST SEASON COACHING THE FLYERS?
**UPDATE** The Philadelphia Flyers have relieved John Tortorella of his coaching duties.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This occurred mere minutes after I published the original post. You can read it below and laugh at how mistaken I was that they might keep him for another season. Cheers!
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: William James recently cited Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella taking responsibility for his club’s 7-2 loss on Tuesday to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Tortorella also expressed frustration over the Flyers’ current losing skid.
Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella (NHL.com).
James believes Tortorella’s comments signal the beginning of the end of Tortorella’s tenure behind the Flyers bench. While the long-time NHL coach has a year left on his contract, his frustration over the rebuilding team’s struggles could suggest he’s not up to another season.
If this season is Tortorella’s last coaching the Flyers, James believes his replacement should be David Carle of the University of Denver if he’s willing to make the jump to the NHL coaching ranks.
THE PROVINCE: Ben Kuzma believes Tortorella sounds a lot like he did when he “walked the plank” in Vancouver after his dismal one-year reign of error coaching the Canucks in 2013-14.
Kuzma wonders if the Flyers might try to woo Canucks current head coach Rick Tocchet, who is in the final year of his current contract, though there’s a club option for next season. It could give Tocchet leverage in his contract talks with the Canucks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Speculation over the fates of coaches on losing teams always arises at this point in the season. Tortorella’s future in Philadelphia likely rests with him. For the most part, he’s done a good job in keeping the rebuilding Flyers competitive since last season. The front office could keep him in place for next season to see how things shake out.
Tortorella cannot be faulted for the Flyers’ weak goaltending or management’s decision to trade away a leader like Scott Laughton or long-time Flyers like Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost. Those are among the key factors contributing to their current slide.
LATEST ON THE BRUINS
THE ATHLETIC: Fluto Shinzawa believes the Boston Bruins will need more speed in their lineup if they hope to improve next season. He cited several recent examples of how their inability to get to pucks and places quickly enough remains a problem.
The return of healthy puck-moving defenseman Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm will help next season. The blueline could undergo additional makeovers if management decides to add more speed. The Bruins also have only five forwards under contract for next year, giving management more flexibility in that area to address the issue.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Bruins will have nearly $28 million in cap space for next season with 12 active roster players under contract. The most notable player to re-sign is restricted free-agent winger Morgan Geekie. They could have sufficient room this offseason to add faster players.
RG.ORG: James Murphy reports the Bruins are among a handful of teams interested in signing Cornell University forward Dalton Bancroft.
Bancroft, 24, is a 6’3”, 207-pound right wing in his third season with Cornell. He leads them with 15 goals and is second in points with 26 in 34 games. The Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning are also believed to be interested in the big power forward.
Buyer beware on US college players. An old quote by Bob McKenzie always creeps into the back of my mind “there’s a reason these players didn’t get drafted or even enter the draft”
This isn’t the OHL. They play way less games against a weaker group of teams. (mostly). Now. Are there a few diamonds in this coal mine? Sure. But as a Sens fan…..there are a good dozen that didn’t work out…that were these “highly touted” college guys that everyone was chasing.
I think referencing “old” in your quote is key.
A lot of excellent, young players are now coming up through the college ranks now.
Some vey recent college players were Celebrini and Fantilli.
And currently still in the NCAA are:
Eiserman (Islanders)
Perreault (Rangers)
Buium (Minny)
Howard (TB)
Leonard (Wash)
Snuggerud (StL)
Haggens (will be drafted in top 2 or 3 this year)
McKenzie’s quote may have been relevant 20 years ago, but not so much anymore.
I think – if you read him again – he’s referring mainly to those who were never drafted but suddenly become hot commodities later when available as free agents.
A current such crop includes
Sam Stange and Zach Urdahl (Nebraska at Omaha)
Luke Haymes (Dartmouth)
John Prokop (Union College)
Carter King (Denver)
Caleb MacDonald (North Dakota)
Oleb Veremyev (Colorado College)
So basically, mystery boxes. Mystery box in the form of a draft pick of a player who’s 18 or 19 or mystery box with a player in his early 20s.
With only a fraction of 1st rounders actually become players in the NHL, there is no harm in turning over any rock to find a serviceable player. Are the odds against you in finding a successful player? Of course it is but it doesn’t hurt to try. If your team is successful in signing these “finds” good on you, you have one more source for good cheap players who may become a part of your team. Just don’t buy the hype of any young players.
So, in the category “nothing ventured … nothing gained.”
Which, as you point out, is fine. You get the guy under an ELC arrangement and assign him to somewhere in your development system, and if he develops into a serviceable player at the NHL level, basically a good investment.
As long as the talking heads in the media don’t paint such a signing as a major coup, thereby infusing the gullible among any fan base – represented by a more significant portion than you may believe – with the idea that their team just got a major leg up on the opposition.
And THAT takes place virtually every time one of these players signs on the dotted line. The original “fake news.”
Oilers did 2 of these signings in the past decade that I recall:
Ryan Fanta, the goalie that was suppose to be it and was chased by several other NHL teams, that never went anywhere and we ended up releasing him.
Justin Schultz, who ended up winning a Stanley Cup with Penguins after we traded him. At the time when he was with the Oilers, MacTavish famously said that he had Norris potential. Which made the fans expected too much of him and eventually booed him out of town. So I agree George that the media should never put a huge spot light on these types of signing.
Exactly “a leg up” George. It’s all hype and people shouldn’t expect anything but like hitting a number on roulette, when it happens it could be big but most of the time, it’s a fading rush…which is ok.
As a Sens fan you should know better as your best player played ie Brady Tkachuk played NCAA college hockey! Let’s not forget Jack Eichel, Jack Hughes, Dylan Larkin, Paul Kariya, Billy Guerin, Rod Brind’Amour, Clayton Keller just to name and more college players keep on getting drafted into NHL.
Again, D, read the posts again. No one is talking about legitimate U.S. College draft picks like Tkachuk, Celebrini and others of that ilk. In fact, as Dark G posts elsewhere, top picks from U.S. Colleges are as prominent as those from Major Junior.
We’re talking about U.S. College players who go undrafted and when, at the end of their college careers, become unrestricted free agents and can sign with the highest bidder or, more likely, a team that presents better chances of moving up within the system more rapidly, based upon position depth.
More in this category flop than make it, not helped at all by the local media sometimes presenting it as a major coup, thereby getting elements of the gullible fan base all excited out of proportion with reality. That doesn’t make it easier for the player, as Brian points out above.
Bit of an update on the undrafted U.S. College players I list above:
Sam Stange was drafted in Round 4 # 97 overall in 2020 by Detroit – but never signed. Now that he’s finished College hockey he’s a free agent
Luke Haymes and John Prokop have been signed by the Marlies of rhe AHL, while Gleb (correct spelling) Veremyev has signed a similar deal with the Bridgeport Islanders.
None of the others have yet been signed anywhere
Considering the lack of skilled forwards, an AHL defence and Friday night beer league goaltending Torts did a pretty decent job in Philly.
I agree. 2 seasons in a row, a team that was essentially in a soft rebuild without telling anyone or even acting like it (at a management level) loses their starting goalie to wildly FORESEEN circumstances, is old, slow, an in other spots too young too green. He made an inukshuk out of frozen dog crap.
Thanks, Dark G – I had to look that up. I actually learned something this week. This doesn’t bode well for tomorrow….
I like Tortorella , but to say Phillie can’t be faulted trading away Scott Laughton
Torts outburst after the Leaf game did him in …Freekin , Toronto press
Perhaps the Flyers would like to reverse that deal , it was a brilliant win for Brière
It will be interesting to see where Torts winds up .
Ken what did the freakin Toronto press do other than talk to him where HE said this (team) wasn’t for him. If you hear what people say, you’ll see he basically let it out of the bag he was out.
Moves of this magnitude takes weeks or months to develop and finally be resolved. Sounds like he did what he can, didn’t sign up to rebuild a team and was done. Pretty simple.
Ya Ron, I don’t get why folks blame the media for hearing something they don’t like. Shooting the messenger is in vogue these days.
Wouldn’t want members of the press that cover hockey asking the coach questions about the game that was just played. Shame on them!
The last line is interesting to Boston fans. Big power forward. Isn t that what Sweeney did this year going after size over speed and skill? How did that work out for him and Neeley. Where does it say that Sweeney should have the opportunity to lean up the mess he created?Clean house !
i totally agree its time to blow this team up.i would rather see someone other than Sweeney and Neely doing the rebuild.i really think they have lost all credibility with this team.perhaps bruins ownership can convine Bergeron and chara to lead the new team.only 2 untouchables are Pastrnak and mcavoy .
How is the team not already blown up? And how has management lost credibility? Bruins have the most points in the NHL since sweeney took over as GM. That’s a lot of wins. Playoff success isn’t on the GM its on the players. How would Bergeron and Chara be any more successful than Sweeney? On the ice they lost more cups than they won, much to my dismay. I understand trying to find someone to blame for this years dumpster fire, but it ain’t sweeney.
Boston is in the same boat as Pittsburgh. If they don’t do it now, they aren’t going to make the playoffs again for 5or 6 years.
GoodWood77 – Bingo! Nailed my thoughts exactly on both issues. Where they are today and on Sweeney.
Cripes all the guy did was exactly what he was tasked with, other than the ultimate prize.
Not having a healthy Bergy and Krecji in 2023 will always have me wondering “what if” but injuries happen too, and they have a huge impact on the playoffs.
Agree Ed, get on it now. Average rebuild is 7 years, meaning back in the playoffs, so if it is 5 or 6, I can deal with it.
But I think that will be an ownership decision, they don’t like missing. But the decisions they made at the TDL suggest they may be willing to accept some pain for a while.
Hold on, Goodwood77. My quarrel is with your statement that playoff success just on the players, not the GM.
Surely it is shared. Players have to come through, but roster construction and cap management are important elements too.
LJ, you’re not a Bruins fan, so as an unbiased observer of the B’s over Sweeney’s last decade, would you dump Sweeney or keep him if it was your call?
I would argue he gave his players some darn good lineups heading into the playoffs, multiple times. Thin margin between winning and losing in the post season.
Ed that is the problem.Pittsburgh and Boston fell in love with their players and held on to them to long! This left both organizations in a rebuild situation. At least you won 3 cups with your group,Boston won one,and blew won in 2019!
LJ, I would say that Sweeney did his best at the deadlines to add to the group for extended playoff runs when it was warranted. That always takes a toll on draft capital and was one of the reasons we are where we are now. Would I undo those if it could? Well we know the results now and it’s easy to say since we came up with a goose egg Sweeney shouldn’t have done that. But I don’t think that way. We mortgage some of the future at attempts to bring back the hardware. And built a competitive team each season for over a decade. In my estimation Sweeney did a great job, B’s just didn’t come away with the ultimate prize. This offseason and next season will test him for sure. I don’t see any reason to think he needs to be gone, though.
Yes. George nailed it. Perhaps I wasn’t clear. I can google all the failed college experiments over the years. And then Bob’s quote rings true. The US program for producing quality draftable talent is as good if not better than the Canadian’s system at the moment. It’s these late season people I was referring to.
1992: Darrin Madeley — He was signed out of Lake Superior State University and played 32 of his 39 NHL games in the Senators second season in 1993-94 backing up Craig Billington.
2007: Jesse Winchester — The best of this bunch as far as the skaters go. He played 285 games before having his career ended by concussion.
2007: Derek Smith — The defenceman was also signed out of Lake Superior State. He played 11 games for the Senators in 2009-11 and had a single-season high of 47 games with the Calgary Flames in 2011-12.
2009: Bobby Butler — He played 94 games for the Senators over three seasons and a total of 130 NHL games after moving on to the New Jersey Devils, Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers.
2010: Stephane Da Costa — The native of Paris played 47 games over four seasons with the Senators before heading for the KHL.
2013: Andrew Hammond — A legend. “The Hamburglar” went 20-1-2 in 2015 to fuel the most famous run in Senators history, taking the club from 14 points out of a playoff spot on Feb. 10 to the postseason.
2013: Buddy Robinson — The big (6-foot-6, 232 pounds) winger ended up playing just seven games over two seasons with the Senators.
2015: Matt O’Connor — The goaltender left Boston University after three years to sign with the Senators. He had one fateful start in his time with the Senators.
Funny how so many can’t miss players there are. Especially drafted players. These undrafted college players are the not ready for prime (draft) time when it was their time. There could be a lot of reasons why they were overlooked though I’d bet many were accurately assessed by maybe, just maybe, one slipped the cracks or maybe this guy is that career AHL player all minor league teams can use help develop their top prospects. Like George quoted above, nothing ventured nothing gained.
The jets have had hits on a couple US college players who were undrafted in Branden Tanev and Dylan Samberg.
2.0, Samberg WAS drafted – by the Jets in Rd 2 # 43 overall in 2017.
LW Tanev, however, has certainly turned out to be a serviceable, journeyman type with stops in Winnipeg, Pittsburgh, Seattle and back to Winnipeg with 542 NHL games played 84g 94a 178 pts.
Another journeyman-type is Jimmy Vesey, originally drafted by Nashville in Round 3 # 66 overall in 2012, but who chose not to sign and remained in College for several more years, winning the Hobey Baker in 2016 before signing with the NY Rangers. He’s played619 games in NY City, Buffalo, Toronto, Vancouver, back to the Rangers and now Colorado, with100g 92a 192 pts.
Not a bad serviceable career – but nothing close to the hype when the Rangers signed him when you’d think he was he second coming of Patrick Kane.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2659726-there-was-nothing-wrong-with-overhyped-jimmy-veseys-decision-making-process