Latest news with #PhiladelphiaFlyers'
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
REPORT: Brad Shaw Not Returning To Flyers Coaching Staff
As first reported by PHLY's Charlie O'Connor, Brad Shaw, once considered a leading candidate for the Philadelphia Flyers' head coaching vacancy, will reportedly not be returning to the team's coaching staff under newly-appointed head coach Rick Tocchet. Some Flyers news: I've heard that Brad Shaw -- who served as Flyers assistant and interim head coach -- will NOT be returning to the Flyers bench as assistant coach under Rick story below, but my understanding is that it was Shaw's decision: — Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) May 15, 2025 According to the report, this was Shaw's decision. Shaw served as an assistant coach for three seasons under former Flyers head coach John Tortorella, overseeing the team's defensive structure and penalty kill. When Tortorella was let go from bench duties late in the 2024–25 season, Shaw took over as interim head coach and was widely viewed as a legitimate contender for the full-time role. Previously, Shaw had expressed a willingness to remain with the Flyers in a supporting role if he didn't land the permanent head coaching gig. He cited his strong relationship with the defensive group and his interest in helping continue their development. Brad Shaw said that if Danny Briere decides to go with a different HC, he'd be open to returning to his assistant coach role because 'I've invested three years into this D core' and has enjoyed his time with the organization. #LetsGoFlyers — Siobhan Nolan (@SGNolan) April 18, 2025 However, it now appears that Tocchet, who was officially named head coach this week, will be moving in a different direction with his staff. It's not yet clear whether Shaw is seeking opportunities elsewhere or if another role within the Flyers organization could be in discussion, but for now, the longtime coach appears to be on his way out of Philadelphia. Shaw leaves behind a clear mark on the Flyers' back end. Under his guidance, players like Travis Sanheim and Cam York took noticeable steps forward. "He's been great to me," York said of Shaw during the team's exit interviews back in April. "I would say he's an overthinker—in a good way—of the game. He's really good at sitting down with guys, going over video; he tells you how it is in a good, honest done a lot for me and helped develop my game in a good way and taught me things that I didn't even think of prior to him." "He has meant so much to my game personally," Sanheim said in his exit interview. "I think a lot of guys on the D core could probably say the same thing...I'm just super thankful for where he has taken my game and I really enjoyed my time working with him." As Tocchet begins assembling his coaching staff, all eyes will be on who he taps to oversee the next generation of Flyers—and how his vision will build upon the foundation that Shaw helped lay.
Toronto Sun
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
Hockey Canada names first 15 players to roster for world championship
Published May 01, 2025 • 1 minute read Philadelphia Flyers' Travis Konecny, left, and Travis Sanheim, right, celebrate during an NHL preseason game against the New York Rangers, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, in Philadelphia. Photo by Tom Mihalek / The Associated Press CALGARY — Philadelphia Flyers leading scorer Travis Konecny, Calgary Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar and rising stars Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks and Adam Fantilli of the Columbus Blue Jackets were among the 15 players named on Thursday to Canada's roster for the upcoming world hockey championship. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Veteran forwards Bo Horvat of the New York Islanders, Ryan O'Reilly of the Nashville Predators, and Flyers defenceman Travis Sanheim were also among the initial players announced for the event, which starts May 9 in Herning, Denmark, and Stockholm, Sweden. Konecny, Fantilli, Horvat, O'Reilly, Sanheim and Weegar are among eight players on the preliminary roster who have represented Canada at the world championship before, along with Columbus forward Kent Johnson and Seattle defenceman Brandon Montour. Sanheim and Konecny were also part of Canada's championship team at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. Dylan Garand of the American Hockey League's Hartford Wolf Pack is the only goaltender on the initial roster. Barrett Hayton (Utah), Will Cuylle (New York Rangers) and Tyson Foerster (Philadelphia) are the other forwards, while Noah Dobson (New York Islanders) and Ryker Evans (Seattle) complete the five defencemen. Hockey Canada said in a release that the rest of the roster will be filled out pending the results of the NHL playoffs. Canada's coaching staff, led by Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason, was announced Wednesday. Canada opens its tournament May 10 against Slovenia in Stockholm. The Canadians finished fourth at last year's world championship in Czechia, one year after winning their record 28th gold medal in Finland and Latvia. Editorial Cartoons Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto & GTA NHL Toronto & GTA
New York Times
18-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Flyers failed to meet low expectations this season. What went wrong, and what's next?
It could end up benefiting them in the long run. The Philadelphia Flyers' poor 2024-25 season, which concluded on Thursday with a 5-4 regulation loss in Buffalo, leaving them with a 33-39-10 record, gives them the fourth-best odds to win the NHL draft lottery next month. Even if the ping-pong balls don't bounce their way, a very good prospect will be there for the taking. Advertisement There's a chance, if the Flyers end up as a perennial playoff team at some point down the line, that this season will ultimately be viewed as just part of the painful process of rebuilding. After all, general manager Daniel Briere was still in subtraction mode, systematically removing pieces from a roster that wasn't in the top half of the league in terms of talent even when the season began, while adding assets and salary-cap flexibility that could aid their process if he uses them right. But last place in the Metropolitan Division, behind teams such as the aging and declining New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins? Just 22 regulation wins, more than only the miserable Chicago Blackhawks (20) and San Jose Sharks (14)? For an organization that has stressed that winning games was a priority and tanking was never going to be in their vocabulary, that's an odd way of going about it. The primary reasons for their failures, both this season and last, when they faltered down the stretch, have been talked about ad nauseam. The goaltending will need an offseason upgrade. Samuel Ersson's ceiling could be as a 1B, while both Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov posted some of the worst numbers in the NHL. Finding a reliable goaltender who can play at least half of the games next season will be no easy task for Briere, and may force him into using assets and/or cap space that he could have used elsewhere had he more suitably addressed that vital position last summer. The Flyers' final power-play ranking again begins with a 3. It was 32nd, dead last, for each of the three previous seasons, and at 14.9 percent this season, finished 30th in the NHL. Had the John Tortorella firing not been so abrupt, power-play overseer Rocky Thompson may have followed him out the door. It seems inevitable that whoever the next head coach is, he will have to hire at least one new assistant. Advertisement And while we're on coaches, well, that was some unexpected unpleasantness a few weeks ago. Certainly, when the season began, Briere didn't envision having to let Tortorella go before it was over. It was the right call, to be sure, considering everything that went down. The Flyers couldn't risk further blow-ups from Tortorella, who wasn't handling the losing very well. But every indication before that, including the morning of that game in Toronto on March 25 in which Tortorella seemed understanding of what the team was going through, was that everyone in the organization was on the same page, from the front office on down. For whatever reason, that clearly wasn't the case. But even before Tortorella was let go, the Flyers seemed to be losing their way. The Scott Laughton trade to the Maple Leafs on March 7 affected them much more than it should have, as they lost nine of 10 games immediately after it. Whether that's primarily on the players for not handling that like professionals, or on Briere for not recognizing the impact that losing Laughton (and, to a lesser extent, Erik Johnson) would have on the group, is up for debate. Regardless, it wasn't encouraging, considering how much the word 'culture' has been used throughout this rebuild. If the foundation there was strong enough, it shouldn't have gotten so wobbly in the aftermath of losing Laughton, who, as is now evident, was their emotional leader. Further, the two primary guys the club is counting on to fill that leadership void underneath captain Sean Couturier, and who are now established franchise cornerstones with long contracts, were among the late-season disappointments: Travis Konecny managed only two goals over his final 25 games, which isn't exactly rising to the occasion on a team with a depleted roster. Travis Sanheim, meanwhile, was never the same after the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, at one point going 15 straight games without a point, and finally ending a 40-game goal drought on March 22. It's the second straight season in which Sanheim got off to an encouraging start but faded late. There were other letdowns. Owen Tippett managed just 20 goals, and in the first of an eight-year contract, he was supposed to take another step. Cam York's struggles may have been in part due to an ongoing conflict with Tortorella, and it's odd that he was essentially the only defenseman not to get any power-play time, but he failed to build on his strong finish to 2023-24. Rasmus Ristolainen, who was the Flyers' best defenseman on many nights, saw his season cut short once again, vanishing from the lineup after a game on March 11 due to an undisclosed injury. Perhaps the price to acquire the frequently banged-up defenseman before the trade deadline should have been lower, considering his history. Of course, it wasn't all bad. Matvei Michkov had about as strong of a rookie season as could have been expected, with 62 points in 80 games and a team and NHL-rookie leading 26 goals. Getting at least 30 goals next season seems inevitable for the 20-year-old, particularly if the Flyers hire a coach who realizes they should be running the power play through him. Whether he becomes the star-level difference maker the Flyers will need him to be is not yet a sure thing, but Michkov is at least on the right path. Advertisement Tyson Foerster has probably secured his future with the club with a strong finish, while his linemates, Noah Cates and Bobby Brink, both outplayed expectations. Jamie Drysdale stayed healthy over the second half of the season and showed flashes of elite skill along with improved awareness and vision, while Ryan Poehling is arguably one of the better fourth-line centers in the league, and was one of the few consistent players over the final few weeks. One calendar year ago, coming off of that surprisingly competitive 2023-24 season, Briere cautioned against the group taking a collective step forward. The timing just wasn't yet right. 'I know the expectation next year will be that — oh, we've got to get into the playoffs. I don't even know that we're there yet,' he said last April. Clearly, they were not. That part wasn't unexpected. But Briere has already said that he hopes the team has hit 'rock bottom,' while chairman Dan Hilferty acknowledged that in 2025-26, the Flyers will have to 'achieve that next step in the rebuild.' That means better results, and maybe even a playoff push. Whether this season was simply a speed bump on their way to getting there, or a concerning indication of things to come, will be revealed soon enough. But for now, it feels like a step backward. (Photo of Sean Couturier: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
New York Times
04-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Flyers governor Dan Hilferty on Tortorella's firing, search for a coach, salary cap spending and more
PHILADELPHIA — Dan Hilferty has been around long enough to know what he doesn't know. When the longtime health insurance executive was introduced a little more than two years ago as the new chairman and CEO of the Philadelphia Flyers' parent company Comcast-Spectacor, Hilferty acknowledged that when it came to the team that he was now overseeing, he had only ever looked at it through the everyday fan's lens. The intricacies of the sport and the various machinations of how the NHL operates were foreign. Advertisement But Hilferty — previously the president and CEO of Independence Blue Cross until 2020, after serving in various leadership roles for other Philadelphia-based health companies — is also aware of what has made him successful. While the industry may have changed, the 68-year-old's vision of how to run a company did not. '(I) was always involved in complex organizations,' Hilferty said this week in an exclusive interview with The Athletic. 'Coming in here, I knew that I have a leadership philosophy and a leadership strategy, and I was able to work that right away.' But he still wanted to learn more about what he was seeing on the ice on a nightly basis. Hilferty is seen frequently in the Flyers' executive suite on the press level of Wells Fargo Center seated next to general manager Daniel Briere, president of hockey operations Keith Jones or various other key hockey operations personnel. 'Trying to switch my focus from a fan's perspective to, look, I'm the ultimate decision-maker,' Hilferty said. 'I'm the leader of the organization.' 'I can tell you two years into it … I'm seeing much more of the game. I'm beginning to assess talent — not that I'm going to make a decision on talent, but if asked a question, I feel comfortable answering the question.' Hockey decisions are ultimately left to Briere and Jones, something everyone wanted to make clear in a joint press conference with Hilferty, Briere and Jones on May 12, 2023. That hasn't changed. Hilferty 'doesn't want to overstep' what he considers 'Keith and Danny's territory.' A recent and consequential decision reflects that. The Flyers made what was perhaps their biggest headline of the 2024-25 season on March 27, firing coach John Tortorella. Hilferty was involved in what he called 'long conversations' about Tortorella's future with the organization, as the coach had one season to go on his contract, but 'in the end, Danny made the decision it was time.' Advertisement 'The reality for Danny and Keith, with me in the room listening — and agreeing, by the way — (it) just felt that it was time to make that change without showing any disrespect for what Torts had accomplished.' Hilferty echoed Briere in suggesting that the Flyers dealing away players this season, making the team much less competitive, 'ultimately did wear on Torts.' An important offseason is on the horizon, both from a hockey and business perspective. The Flyers will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season, and are now a full 15 years removed from their most recent appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. Meanwhile, local teams such as the Super Bowl-winning Eagles and baseball's Phillies, a perennial playoff team, soak up most of the oxygen. Many Flyers fans have seemingly been patient during the current rebuild and are understanding of the new regime's overall vision, at least according to Hilferty, who said the organization has a 90 percent renewal rate among its season-ticket base for next season despite a price hike. 'We have a very strong fan base that, in part, has been dormant in these past several years that I think we have really started to kindle or ignite their passion again,' Hilferty said. But there's still work to do. 'We've been a little quiet for the past several years,' Hilferty said. 'We've got to rebuild that excitement.' Here's what else we learned from Hilferty in an approximately 30-minute, wide-ranging interview in his office at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday. The process to name a new coach won't fully ramp up until the NHL regular season concludes, Hilferty said, adding that the organization is concurrently 'assessing the current coaching structure,' he added. 'Ultimately it will be (Briere and Jones') decision,' he said, but Hilferty will be intimately involved in the process, in meetings and in interviews with potential candidates. And he can offer the kind of perspective that is perhaps different from the two men in charge of hockey operations. Advertisement 'Everywhere I've been… I've tried to build a culture of excellence and expectation that will achieve, and bringing as many people along as you can,' he said. 'That's what I'm going to look for in a coach. I want a level of charisma … someone who can relate to (the media), can relate to the fan base, and instills a level of excitement and commitment among the players and the rest of the staff — and a standard of excellence.' That new coach will play a vital role in the ongoing rebuild. 'When we get to the point we're going to go after free agents … we want a player who's considering several options that check the box that, 'I can play for that guy' — in addition to the facilities, in addition to the commitment to excellence, in addition to the fan base,' Hilferty said. Hilferty didn't say so, but the timeline on when the Flyers plan to start adding more talent has seemingly moved up, given some of the trades Briere has made in the past two seasons as well as rookie Matvei Michkov's earlier-than-expected arrival. In one of his more notable quotes in the aftermath of the firing of Tortorella last week, Briere said he hoped the organization had reached 'rock bottom' — the implication being that the Flyers would like to be more competitive next season. That will probably take at least one major trade, and maybe even a mid-level free-agent addition or two. The ability to ink any big-name free agents who might be available is probably another year away, but Briere has given the organization some flexibility for this summer, too. From Hilferty's perspective, 'I want to see continued improvement,' he said. 'I'd say expectation No. 2 (is) that the goalies will continue to improve, or we'll find a solution there, without getting into specifics.' 'In terms of adding, I think they're not going to add for the sake of adding,' Hilferty continued. 'It will have to be somebody that really has an impact at key positions of need. So my expectation is continued improvement. Maybe a couple younger guys will step up.' Advertisement Playoffs or not, don't expect the Flyers to languish near the bottom of the league standings again next season — at least, not if all goes according to plan. Their marketing slogan for the past two seasons — 'A New Era of Orange' — will be retired, perhaps representative of their desire to move forward. 'I think we have a responsibility next year, however we define that next step in the rebuild, to achieve that next step in the rebuild,' Hilferty said. 'For me, as the fan, I'd love to see us compete for a spot in the playoffs.' Brian Roberts, Comcast CEO and essentially the owner of the Flyers, was spotted in the executive suite sitting between Briere and Jones for the first two periods of their 2-1 win over Nashville at home on Monday. According to Hilferty, Roberts said he was coming after Michkov posted back-to-back two-goal games the previous week. Hilferty said he and Roberts are in fairly constant communication about the club. 'The range of our conversations are from the fans' reactions, to what's going on with the goalies, to whatever it might be. I'd say we talk or text several times during a game, of if we're next to each other, we're chatting,' he said. Hilferty continued: 'I feel as though he's my partner in this. A very significant and influential partner, but he's my partner in this.' The NHL salary cap will rise fairly dramatically over the next few years. It jumps to $95.5 million next season, $104 million in 2026-27 and $113.5 million in 2027-28. So, is it safe to say that Comcast won't have any reservations in spending to the cap? The answer from Hilferty wasn't a hard yes, but he did seem to indicate that it's not going to be an issue. 'Our goal is to contend for Stanley Cup championships over the course of a number of years,' Hilferty said. 'If our goal is to get there, we're going to have no qualms about going out and spending what we're able to spend in a hard-cap system.' Advertisement 'Starting from Brian on through his team, they allow me to lead. … There's excitement about the potential of the franchise, and (an) understanding that in order to compete, we're going to have to go out and find players, and have the resources to do that.' Don't expect the Flyers to be involved in any outdoor or overseas games in 2025-26. But Hilferty, who got his first glimpse of the spectacle of outdoor hockey last season when the Flyers played the Devils at MetLife Stadium, suggested he'd like to see another involving the club sooner than later. 'They're years ahead planning these things, and we're always going to hang around the net to get an opportunity to get to participate,' he said. One event he'd like to see is a potential recurring game between the Flyers and Penguins, perhaps on the campus of Penn State University, something that's been talked about since these games became annual. 'I brought it up to the league, and the Penguins as well. … One year there, and several years later, here,' Hilferty said. 'What if we played it at Beaver Stadium? (There's been) no commitment from the league, but I'd like to keep stoking the flames of that possibility.' The Flyers under Hilferty have made it a point to try and reestablish what previous owner and Philadelphia sports icon Ed Snider built and stood for, including the annual 'Ed Snider Legacy Game' they've held each of the past two seasons. Hilferty had no interest in criticizing the previous business-side leaders for what was perceived by many to be a move away from Snider's legacy. But, he acknowledged, 'it was a fertile field for us to pursue. There were opportunities there.' 'The ultimate titan of the franchise is Ed Snider,' Hilferty said. 'So we will always make sure that we honor that legacy and try to bring that same level of connectedness to the community.' Advertisement When he's not sitting with Briere or Jones, on the concourse shaking hands, or hobnobbing with sponsors, Hilferty uses the same suite Snider and his family used at Wells Fargo Center when Snider was alive. 'He had a seat. He had a phone,' Hilferty said. 'The phone is gone. The seat stays empty.' (Photos courtesy of Philadelphia Flyers)
New York Times
27-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Flyers fire John Tortorella: Did they wait too long, or did he lay a foundation for success?
When the new Philadelphia Flyers' new leadership group was formally introduced on May 12, 2023, the messaging regarding coach John Tortorella, who had just completed his first season, was clear. He wasn't just going to remain in his post, but general manager Daniel Briere, president of hockey operations Keith Jones, and chairman Dan Hilferty were going to rely on him to be the day-to-day standard-bearer for what they hailed as a 'New Era of Orange.' Advertisement Less than two years later, Tortorella is out, fired on Thursday morning near the end of his third season. So was it the correct decision to keep him in 2023? The unsexy answer is, it's too early to say. The Flyers were never trying to win the Stanley Cup in the short time that Tortorella was reporting to Briere. It's been all about roster subtraction, and Briere methodically has been dealing current pieces for future assets since he was put in place. It's entirely possible that some of the habits Tortorella instilled in some young players will benefit them down the line. Tortorella demanded a certain level of competitiveness and detail from his roster, and if he didn't feel they was being met, the players suffered the consequences. And all indications are that until Thursday, Briere was on board with how Tortorella was running things at ice level. When Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee were dealt to Calgary on Jan. 31, it removed two players from the team who were often targets of the head coach. Frost was a healthy scratch at times in each of the last two seasons despite being one of the Flyers' few serviceable centers, while Farabee also was scratched earlier this season as Tortorella attempted to get more out of the former first-round pick. It was only a year ago that Tortorella was being mentioned as a candidate for the Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach. The Flyers were the surprise of the NHL up until mid-March, when poor goaltending, the trade of puck-moving defenseman Sean Walker, and the departure of No. 1 goalie Carter Hart all caught up with them. Then, Tortorella was earning praise for what he was doing with a fresh-faced group that was expected to be among the league's worst. Travis Konecny found a new level, reaching a career high in points and earning an eight-year extension in the offseason. Travis Sanheim looked like a top-pair defenseman, playing responsible defense and generating offense, too. Sanheim's partner, Cam York, stepped up in the second half when Sanheim was battling through a knee injury. Advertisement Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett and even goalie Samuel Ersson were all developing nicely and helping to keep the Flyers in playoff position. Even players that Tortorella was hard on, such as Frost and Farabee, seemed to respond to some of the coach's sometimes-severe tactics. Tortorella, though, can't be let off the hook for that team's dramatic collapse, which included an eight-game losing streak and a string of unfortunate headlines. There was his getting kicked out of a game in Tampa Bay on March 9, and a subsequent two-game suspension. There was the scratching of newly minted captain Sean Couturier, coupled with what Couturier believed to be a lack of communication as to why. There was a dramatic late-game comeback on April 1, when the Flyers, playing in front of goalie Ivan Fedotov making his NHL debut in relief of Ersson, tied the New York Islanders with 10 seconds to go before succumbing in a shootout. After that game, Tortorella referred to his team as 'soft,' essentially an expletive in hockey parlance. For most of that season, opposing coaches and pundits were quick with their praise for the Flyers' work ethic, while giving Tortorella the bulk of the credit. But as March turned to April, they seemed to sag in some late games that they should have won, even with a roster that was missing some key pieces from earlier in the season. Tortorella wears some of that. This season, the Flyers got off to a rough start, just 1-5-1 in their first seven games. But they still played a respectable brand of hockey most nights before the post-trade deadline losing streak took hold. In fact, as recently as after a 2-1 win in Winnipeg on March 1, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility to think that the club might work its way back into the playoff conversation. But an abysmal 1-6-0 homestand, sandwiched around the trade deadline, sealed their fate. Considering the state of the current roster, coupled with the deflation of partially blowing up the dressing room — including the loss of emotional leader Scott Laughton — there might not have been any coach who could have salvaged anything from this year's group. Advertisement Tortorella, though, made it known after Tuesday's game, in his viral comments in Toronto, that he wasn't pleased with where the team was, and maybe he didn't know how to handle it. Benching York for the final 50 minutes of that game, despite it leaving the team with just five defensemen at the end of a 10-day road trip, spoke to that. Perhaps that more than anything was a red flag for Briere, considering some of the coach's missteps a year ago. Plus, after York was scratched from a game on March 8, he indicated that Tortorella never gave him a reason for the move, similar to what happened with Couturier last March. Further, it's been a mixed bag this season when it comes to the young players. York, Tippett and Ersson have all been inconsistent, but guys such as Noah Cates and Jamie Drysdale are playing dramatically better lately than they were in October. Rookie Matvei Michkov, meanwhile, has not disappointed, with 51 points in 71 games headed into Thursday's game against the Montreal Canadiens. Every indication from Briere is that the Flyers plan to start getting better next season. It seems inevitable that this offseason will be about trying to find more young pieces — a center or two remains a desperate need — and they even may fill some holes via free agency (finding a veteran goalie, in particular, seems likely). The hope will be that Tortorella established enough of a foundation and culture with the remaining group that outside additions, whomever they may be, will enter a dressing room in which a standard has been set. If that happens, and the team reaches new heights either next season or beyond, Tortorella will be seen as having played a key role in it. If they falter, though, that won't be the case. And Briere, Jones and Hilferty will be left wondering whether they should have cut the cord at their first opportunity.
