The Philadelphia Flyers have fired coach John Tortorella as the team sits in second-to-last place in the Eastern Conference. The team also announced associate coach Brad Shaw will take the reins as Philadelphia’s interim head coach.
“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. … As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our team to move forward.”
Tortorella spent the last three seasons as the Flyers’ coach and led the team to a 97-107-33 record during that span. The Flyers are currently in a rebuilding phase and are on a six-game losing streak, including losing 11 of their last 12 contests.
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Most recently, the Flyers suffered a 7-2 loss at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, bringing Philadelphia’s record to 28-36-9 (65 points) on the year.
Shaw has been a member of Philadelphia’s coaching staff since July 2022 and previously served as an interim coach with the New York Islanders during the 2005-06, accumulating a 18-18-4 record.
Tortorella was originally hired by the Flyers during the 2022 offseason and was tasked with coaching a young Flyers team. The Flyers failed to make the playoffs in any of Tortorella’s three seasons at the helm.
The Flyers have the fifth-fewest points across the NHL and likely will land a top-five pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Philadelphia owns 13 picks in the 2025 NHL Draft, including three first-round selections Briere has amassed in trades over recent seasons.
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