Flyers Coaching Candidates: Trotz vs Torts

As the NHL enters its culmination of the season with the Stanley Cup Finals already set, Flyers fans are still waiting for news on who their next head coach is going to be. Several candidates have been interviewed, with second interview on the way. But several major hockey news sources have indicated that the Flyers seem have narrowed their list to include Barry Trotz and John Tortorella.

While the recently fired Bruce Cassidy seems to be on their target list, they have not had an official interview with him yet; or at least has been revealed.

IF all the rumors are true that it could between Trotz and Torts, let us take a quick examination of all of each coach. Can we determine which one would be the best fit?

Attraction for the Coaches

Trotz is 59 while Tortorella is 63. Trotz is from Winnipeg and Tortorella is from Boston. And surprise, both teams are looking for coaches. This could be a problem for the Flyers. They could face some stiff competition. Besides this, the Red Wings, Stars, and Knights are still looking for a coach.

Boston is, year in and year out, one of the best teams in the league. If Tortorella is not looking for a rebuilding team, Boston is your best bet of all teams looking to get the Stanley Cup. But that also depends on if Marchand doesn’t miss too much time due to injuries and if Bergeron comes back for another season. Likewise, Pastrnak is reportedly upset at not having gotten a contract extension. This could be a team on the decline.

The Jets are also looking for a head coach. They have some young players; the sort of players that Trotz seems to enjoy working with. He gets the best out of players who are quick, fast, and defensive minded. The Jets could appeal to him.

Looking at the Flyers, they have a group of young players that potentially have a lot of potential. They also have a core group of vets that can hopefully bounce back. While they were one of the worst teams in the NHL, a lot of that can be traced back to multiple key injuries. This might not be a major rebuilding effort. As such, maybe this team needs just the right coach to jump in and grab the reins.

Either one of these guys could be attracted here. The Flyers have a long, storied history. They have a stable fan base that is rabid and loyal. There is a lot to love about this city and this team.

Edge: Tie.

Coaching Style

Trotz likes to employ a defensive minded approach first. While not exactly a neutral-zone trap mentality, his teams tend to sit back and exploit your mistakes. All four lines he puts out are gritty. They are built on speed. The Flyers have a LOT of young speedsters who could really break out in a system like this. Carter Hart could flourish as Trotz repairs the leaky defense. He tries to maximize the best players to the system he has and, as we saw with the Islanders, he adjusts his system to his players.

Tortorella likes to use tandem goalies; except when in New York when he had Henrik Lundqvist because…well because he had Henrik Lundqvist. Would this work with a young goalie like Hart? Perhaps if the Flyers had the right backup to go with him; such as Braden Holtby. Other than that, he demands the most of his players and expects nothing less than perfection.

Edge: Trotz

Management Style

Trotz has worked with some of the best players in the game, with Alex Ovechkin being the prime example. He knows how to get his star players to work with the players on the team and thus improve everyone around them. When coaching Washington, the Caps were usually in contention for the President’s Trophy. With the Isles, he took a bottom dwelling team that had lost their best player in John Tavares and turned them into a winner.

Totorella is one of the NHL’s winningest coaches. However, he is an extremely controversial guy. He has had many feuds with some of his players over the years, including: Patrick Laine, Roberto Luongo, Vincent LeCavalier, and Pierre Luc-Dubois. At the same time, some players like Cam Atkinson have shared their appreciation of him. He’s a tough coach who will rally around his players and challenge coaches (just ask Pete DeBoer and Bob Hartley)

Edge: Tie 

Intangibles

Both coaches are some of the winningest coaches of all time. Trotz currently sits at second with 914 wins and could pass Joel Quenneville’s 969 within a year or two. Torts is 14th at 673 and should hit 700 this season; becoming the first American coach to do so. This would also allow him to crack the top 10.

Both of them have a Stanley Cup championship with Trotz winning with the Caps and Tortorella with the Bolts. They have also each won the Jack Adams Award for best coach in the NHL twice. In 19 full seasons as a head coach, Tortorella has missed the playoffs only seven times, Likewise, Trotz in 23 full seasons has made the playoffs in 14 seasons, but five of those missed playoff seasons were when he was the inaugural coach for the Nashville Predators.

Trotz is also more stable. In 23 seasons, the first 15 were with the Preds. For whatever reason, the Caps let him walk the year he won the Stanley Cup. (Fun Fact: They haven’t been back to the Cup since!). And then this season, he was let go by the Isles.

Tortorella puts together strong teams, but his abrasive personality with the media, team ownership, and players has hurt his longevity of staying with teams. He coached Tampa for seven seasons, the Rangers for five, Vancouver for one, and Columbus for six.

Edge: Trotz