When news broke on Thursday that the Philadelphia Flyers were parting ways with head coach John Tortorella, it wasn’t surprising that they did it. What was surprising was the timing, with a handful of games remaining in the 2024-25 regular season. Like the Boston Bruins, the Flyers are not going to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Like Philadelphia, the Bruins are going to be in the market for a new coach this off-season after they fired Jim Montgomery in November and naming Joe Sacco the interim coach. President Cam Neely said to the Boston Globe this week that Sacco would be considered for the job, but in the end, you get the feeling they will have a different head coach beginning next season.
You may think that the Flyers firing Tortorella might open the door for him to Boston, and it very well may, but that’s not the angle we’re taking here. If hired to coach the Black and Gold, what press conference gold would we have? We saw him in action back in December, calling out the Bruins after they rallied to beat Philadelphia. Boston can benefit differently from this coaching change with a few weeks left in the regular season.
How the Bruins can benefit from Philadelphia firing John Tortorella
Boston has lost seven games in a row heading into Saturday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings in the Motor City. It’s th end of a five-game road trip that has been nothing short of a disaster for them. Boston is currently tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins with 69 points at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and two points ahead of the Flyers.
When the Bruins fired Montgomery, what happened? Yes. things turned around for a bit, the team played better, and collected wins. If that happens with the Flyers over the last couple of weeks, that would be huge for the Black and Gold in terms of positioning for the NHL Draft Lottery and improving their chances for a higher pick in June’s draft.
Given Don Sweeney’s draft history as general manager of the Bruins, do you really trust him to make the right choice with a lottery pick? Or do they package it in a deal that would be a big one to address needs they have as they look to retool on the fly? Regardless of what they do with it, more Philadelphia wins and more Boston losses to close out the season greatly benefits the Bruins.