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After three seasons, Philadelphia Flyers fire former Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
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- After three seasons, Philadelphia Flyers fire former Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
Former Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella has been fired by the Philadelphia Flyers .
Tortorella had nine games remaining in his third season with the club. A Stanley Cup champion with Tampa Bay in 2004, Tortorella has had five full-time NHL head coaching jobs including a six-year run with the Blue Jackets from 2015 through a late-season parting of ways in 2021 .
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"Today I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach," Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said in a statement. "John played a vital role in our rebuild. He set a standard of play and re-established what it means to be a Philadelphia Flyer. John's passion on the bench was only equaled by his charitable work in our community. As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our team to move forward. I'd like to thank John for his tireless work and commitment to the Flyers."
Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella watches during the second period of the NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024.
Philadelphia has lost six straight and 11 of its last 12 games to fall to 28-36-9, the worst record in the Metropolitan Division.
In 2019, Tortorella led the Blue Jackets to their first Stanley Cup playoff series win when they swept his former club, the Lightning , in a stunning first-round upset. The Jackets went on to lose to Boston 4-2 in the next round. Under Tortorella, Columbus reached the playoffs in four consecutive seasons: without him, the Blue Jackets have made the postseason only twice.
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Tortorella went 97-107-33 with the Flyers since the start of the 2022-23 season. He's amassed a career record of 770-648-37 that also includes stops with the New York Rangers , Lightning, and Vancouver Canucks . He went 277-166 with the Blue Jackets and is the winningest coach in club history.
He is being replaced on an interim basis by associate head coach Brad Shaw, who was also with him in Columbus.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Philadelphia Flyers fire former Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
