Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella has been notoriously cold when it comes to his approach to the media over the years. And after Sunday’s loss to the New Jersey Devils, two reporters quickly found out why they should tread lightly when it comes to asking Tortorella questions pertaining to his team.
After the game, Tortorella was understandably not in the best mood after the loss stretched the Flyers’ losing streak to four games. The Flyers generally haven’t had a great year to this point, sitting near the bottom of the Metropolitan Division.
During Tortorella’s postgame press conference, two reporters in particular were interested in hearing about how Tortorella has managed the playing time of standout rookie Matvei Michkov. But they didn’t exactly get the kind of answers that they were looking for.
“You’ve talked a lot about Matvei having learning experiences,” said the first reporter. “In the first there, it looked like after the goal that you sat him down for the rest of the period.
“Yeah, situations happen. It’s a part of the process,” replied Tortorella.
As a second reporter attempted to ask a follow-up question pertaining to Matvei’s playing time, Tortorella cut him off and made it incredibly clear that he wasn’t interested in giving them any information that they were looking for.
“You had mentioned a few weeks ago when you sat him for the rest of the game, you had said in retrospect…” said the second reporter before being cut off.
“Just let me tell you guys something,” replied Tortorella as he interjected. “There are a number of things that come into play. Not one specific play, okay? You are at a disadvantage because I’m not going to give you information. It’s not always the play on the ice that I’m trying to teach. Use that as a context before you start all your bulls***.
“There are so many things that go on with me trying to develop that player. And I am going to continue to do it the way I think it should be done. But don’t just look at the play. No, he didn’t do the job as far as backchecking. No, he didn’t do the job in the offensive zone. But there are a number of other things that come into play. Again, I need to show you the respect. I’m not going to give you that information. And you don’t realize that. So don’t make as big of a deal of that as you think you need to.”
John Tortorella was frustrated with questions about Matvei Michkov’s ice time
“You are at a disadvantage because I’m not going to give you information. It’s not always the play on the ice that I’m trying to teach. Use that as a context before you start all your bulls***.”— 97.5 The Fanatic (@975TheFanatic) March 9, 2025
Tortorella is far from the only NHL coach, or any coach in any sport for that matter, to decide to keep the rationale for his coaching decisions close to the vest. But the way that he speaks to the media, which again has been quite disrespectful in the past, has certainly been a defining characteristic of his coaching career.
Regardless of how you feel about Tortorella as a person, he is committed to coaching his team his way regardless of who agrees.
