Elliotte Friedman does the popular 32 Thoughts hockey podcast with Kyle Bukauskas. He reported Thursday morning that John Tortorella was “stepping down” as Flyers head coach, which looked more like a firing. He clarified on the latest episode, saying:

“go with that, (the word firing)… I think there was a lot that happened, Danny Briere said it wasn’t just about the comments after the game in Toronto on Tuesday night, but I think that really forced things to a head. I think when I got it confirmed, I think there was some deference to the way the Flyers were going to announce it, so I think that led to my confusion. I would say that (he was fired). I would believe what the Flyers said.”

Friedman talked about the recent weeks leading up to Torts’ firing.

On the idea that this was an “accumulation” of things, as Briere said Thursday evening:

“I think there were a lot of people that believed this was going to be John Tortorella’s last year of coaching in Philadelphia, that even though he had another year after this one there was definitely a belief around the league that this would be the end of his coaching time there and he would move into a role in the front office. Now, it was denied to me in a couple places that that decision had already been made. I heard rumors that had been the case, but it was denied to me that it had already been the case. However, I think there were a lot of people who thought that was the likeliest scenario. Briere in his media conference mentioned the trade deadline and it also lines up with something I heard, that when you look at Philly and the deadline, they traded Erik Johnson, but the big one is that they traded (Scott) Laughton for futures, a first round pick and (Nikita) Grebenkin, who I think will play in the NHL and I think will be a perfect Flyer, but he’s not going to help them right now. I heard after the deadline, when the Flyers basically said ‘not this season,’ I heard that was really hard on Tortorella, that the kind of relationship I think really began to move sideways then. They were struggling heading into Thursday’s game, it wasn’t going well for them at all, and I just think it was getting harder and harder…

I started to hear rumors that the comments (after Toronto) weren’t being well received in both the dressing room and front office. And I think there were some pretty tough conversations and ultimately the decision was made Thursday morning to make the change. Briere made a point of  saying that wasn’t the reason (for the firing), but I do think it was the whipped cream on the sundae. It was the end, and it forced Philadelphia to make the decision.”

Can’t blame Torts, honestly. The guy wants to win. He wants his best players here, not shipped off for assets. But that’s not what the job entails. The job entails tearing this thing down and rebuilding it properly, for the first time ever. Torts was explicit letting everyone know that’s not what he was interested in doing, so the Flyers relieved him of his duties and we move on. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that, does it?

We can argue forever about the direction of the franchise, but you can’t deny that this is new territory for a team that never believed in rebuilding and had too much pride to do it, or to even be honest about their current NHL standing. Losing on purpose isn’t ideal but they’ve been trying to win and haven’t been successful with that either. So here we are, ripping this thing apart, clearing the salary cap, and stockpiling draft picks. For what feels like the first time ever, there is a clear strategy and direction, it’s just a matter of making the right picks, developing the players, and hiring the right coach. Much easier said than done.