Why Tortorella was fired: A Broad Street Hockey exclusive
The Philadelphia Flyers parted ways with John Tortorella last week. Most believed it was due to the fact Tortorella didn’t like coaching a team that was near the bottom of the league in several categories, no playoff hopes and in the midst of bad play. But Broad Street Hockey has uncovered the catalyst as to why he was fired. It’s a tale bound to surprise many.
John Tortorella started every training camp by bringing out “the rope.” The rope was attached to either goal net on each end of the rink, with players told to skate hard for a mentally and physically punishing, brutal introduction to the camp.
Tortorella became notorious for the skate, driving his players to the limit and beyond. Many players dreaded that first day (yes, Cam York you!) and a few like Jett Luchanko thought it was a walk in the park. But one player approached the “rope skate” very differently: Matvei Michkov.
When the Flyers drafted Michkov in 2023, those in the organization were happy to see him in a Flyers jersey, telling the young Russian star they were all working towards the same goal of building a Stanley Cup contender. In the initial days of being in Philadelphia, Michkov, not fluent in English, kept hearing Briere and others speaking about “pulling on the same rope.” Michkov made a mental note, hoping to acquire a rope somewhere prior to the 2023-24 KHL season.
Michkov’s time in 2023-24 was primarily in Sochi. There, while racking up points and accolades, he still couldn’t find the ideal rope the Flyers spoke of. Every KHL road trip saw Michkov either on the ice, working out, or seeking to find the rope. But despite the successful campaign the 19-year-old had, he felt like the season was a failure. “No rope, no hope!” He tersely replied to Russian reporters in exit interviews.
So, when Michkov took to the ice for the first day of Tortorella’s training camp in September 2024, he saw the equivalent of water in the desert: a beautiful, long rope finely woven, not a fray found from one end to the other. Michkov wasn’t one of the fastest skaters on that day, slowing down coming into the turns to get a better glimpse of what was mere feet away.
Roughly 45 minutes later, a weary but determined Michkov was the last Flyer on the ice besides the coaching staff. Tortorella, impressed with the Russian rookie determination, approached him smiling. Michkov was having none of it, pointing to the rope. “Net!” Tortorella said, looking in the general direction Michkov was pointing. “Nyet!” Michkov said, pointing again. “Net!” Tortorella said a second time. “Nyet!” “Net!” “NYET!” “NET!” “NYET NYET!!!” “NET NET F—KING NET!!!” Breaking his stick in frustration, Michkov screamed some Russian barbs in Tortorella’s direction and headed off the ice, leaving Torts to tell assistant coach Brad Shaw the following: “That little f—ker is one mad Russian!”
Michkov never saw that pristine, lengthy piece of twine the remainder of the season. But set his sights on obtaining the rope however he could. Michkov went so far as to demand Aleksei Kolosov remain with the big club despite Kolosov seeing no action. Michkov then relayed to his countryman his dream of getting the rope, telling Kolosov there was a reward of 43,000 Russian rubles (roughly $500 US) should he find it. Unfortunately for both Michkov and Kolosov, an unassuming Tortorella one morning saw two folders near Michkov’s locker. One was a building blueprint of the Wells Fargo Center and various rooms in the bowels of the arena. The other included a detailed sketch of what looked to be Tortorella’s rope. “The little f—king Mad Russian!” Torts screamed again into the ether. “That’s what he wanted back at training camp. He’s trying to find my rope. Nobody gets my rope!”
In November, Michkov met with Tortorella, screwing up the courage to speak English to his head coach. “I want rope!” Michkov said. “Nyet! Get out!” Tortorella quipped. “Ask me again and I’ll scratch you!” “I want rope!” Michkov replied. Hence Michkov missed two games in November. On November 10, Briere told Michkov he would iron things out with Torts. Tortorella went apopletic the morning of Nov. 11 when he found a waffle iron in the middle of his designated parking space with a gift tag. “To: Coach. From: Matvei” it read.
As if that incident wasn’t bizarre enough, it was later determined Kolosov spent parts of October, January, and February sleeping in janitor rooms of the Wells Fargo Center hoping to find the rope. Nobody outside of Michkov knew where Kolosov was, resulting in the Flyers being unable to send Kolosov down to Lehigh Valley as they had no figurative or literal clue as to Kolosov’s whereabouts. “Better to say he’s with the club than we can’t find our goalie,” Danny Briere wrote in an e-mail to Keith Jones. “We know he disappeared in games he’s played, but this is ridiculous!”
Michkov continued needling Tortorella the more English he learned. In January, Michkov started referring to Torts as Ted Lasso, a not-so-subtle hint he thought Torts was an idiot. And the character’s surname another hint at his desire for Tortorella’s rope. The rookie also developed an affinity for country music icon Garth Brooks and his 1991 album Ropin’ The Wind. Cracking under the pressure, Tortorella tried appeasing Michkov, giving him ice time for entire power plays, letting him cheat a little bit more for offense, and praising him for taking checks to make plays.
Eventually things boiled over during last week’s road trip. Michkov, with Cam York accompanying him, demanded he get the rope. “Get the f—k out of here with your rope BS, you and Ginger Spice!” Torts could be heard shouting after practice last Tuesday in Toronto. Eventually it became physical, with York picking up Michkov and swinging the Russian like a battering ram at Tortorella. Finally, assistant coach Brad Shaw and the training staff separated York from Tortorella and then Michkov from York.
Sensing something needed to change, Danny Briere demanded Tortorella give the rope to the future face of the franchise. The coach wouldn’t budge, adding he’d make both Michkov’s and York’s remaining time under him a living hell. Briere had enough, firing Tortorella on March 27.
(Happy April Fools’ Day)...
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