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The Philadelphia Flyers are a complete and utter dumpster fire.
In fact, that may be an insult to dumpster fires.
The Flyers, who were once one of the NHL’s premier franchises, are stuck in a seemingly endless loop of mediocrity at the moment.
The team badly lacks top-end talent. The organization has poorly managed the salary cap and draft assets in the coming years, and there’s just enough talent on the roster to keep them from completely bottoming out.
Things finally got bad enough that Philadelphia parted ways with general manager Chuck Fletcher.
That’s a major problem in most years. But it’s an even bigger problem in a year where landing the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft likely means the opportunity to draft a player who has been deemed a generational talent in Canada’s Connor Bedard.
Making problems worse for Flyers fans is head coach John Tortorella.
Tortorella isn’t exactly a rebuild type of guy. He’s know as one of the league’s better coaches and always gets his teams to play hard. That’s a problem when you want your team to suck.
The Flyers have won three of their last four games, with the lone loss coming in an overtime, meaning they picked up a point in the process.
That stretch moved the team from the fifth spot in the NHL Draft Lottery to the seventh spot.
Fans are so mad at the team refusing to tank that they’ve taken to sending Tortorella mail (presumably of the “E” variety since it’s 2023).
Now he’s asking them to stop.
Torts: "You wouldn't believe the mail I get. Stop sending me mail about tanking. There's no such thing with professional athletes tanking. They would not be able to live with themselves if they went home & did something to try & disturb the outcome of a game. It is asinine."
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) March 24, 2023
Torts: "I appreciate the want, you know, of winning and getting back to where we want to be. But you don't do it by tanking.
I wish people could look at maybe, this kid Tyson Foerster and say, 'Man, there's a piece right there that maybe fits next year.' Look at it that way."
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) March 24, 2023
Torts on the idea that recent wins are hurting lottery odds: "And there are hockey gods, too. They're there. You go about your business the right way each and every day, you look yourself in the mirror, and you say, 'Did I give everything?' And you live with the circumstance."
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) March 24, 2023
“You wouldn’t believe the mail I get. Stop sending me mail about tanking,,” Tortorella told media members on Friday. “There’s no such thing with professional athletes tanking. They would not be able to live with themselves if they went home & did something to try & disturb the outcome of a game. It is asinine.”
Tortorella also said that tanking risks angering the hockey gods. And maybe he has a point. The Flyers had the 13th-worst record in hockey in the 2016-17 season and narrowly missed the playoffs. In reward for not tearing it all down, they jumped to the No. 2 pick in the lottery.
Except they then used that pick on Nolan Patrick.
Patrick spent most of the draft cycle as the presumptive No. 1 overall prospect. That distinction eventually went to Nico Hischier, whom the New Jersey Devils selected at No. 1.
Patrick appeared in in 197 games in four seasons for Philadelphia and missed the entire 2019-20 season with concussion issues. He notched just 70 points in those 197 games and is now out of the league entirely.
Meanwhile, Hischer has 67 points in 70 games for the Devils this year. To make matters worse, picks 3-5 in 2017 have all become NHL All-Stars. And Cale Makar, who was taken two picks after Patrick by the Colorado Avalanche, is one of the league’s best players.
About those hockey gods…