When the Flyers brought in John Tortorella two years ago, it's safe to say there were mixed reviews for the new head coach.
His one-of-a-kind personality and reputation across the league made some fearful of the decision. Would he be the right fit? How would he handle the younger players and their development? Well, hopefully most of those takes have fallen to the wayside since.
It turns out, all Tortorella needed to do was come to Philly … because Tortorella is Philly.
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Flyers fan Jaxson Webster shared a post on X about his dad. A few months back, he wrote a letter to the Flyers explaining how he felt about Philly teams falling short — and how the 2023-24 club has been exceeding expectations to that point in the season.
In return, he received a handwritten letter from Tortorella himself.
As written in the note:
Philadelphia Flyers
"Thanks for your letter. I can feel your love of sport thru reading your letter. We are going to try like hell to get this right with the Flyers. Thanks for your thoughts! -Torts"
This isn't the first time the topic of mail has come up with Tortorella, either. In November, he brought up how much he receives from fans.
"I get mail. It's mind-boggling," Tortorella said. "We talked about it last year, I'll say it again. Stop sending me letters about tanking because it's not going to happen. And I know people want that high draft pick, you know, next year in the draft. And, 'You're not winning the Stanley Cup, so just lose the games.' It's not going to happen. It's so wrong and it's the worst way you can develop your young players.
"My mail is the highlight of the day for me. I read all my mail because I am not going to miss a young kid's letter. An autograph or a letter back to them, I will not miss. I read it all. It's astonishing some of the thoughts I get."
After that, how can you not buy in to all Tortorella has to offer?
Now, when you look at the current bench boss — you see hope with the Flyers. You see a team that wants to play hard for itself and its coach. (Tuesday's win against the Panthers was a clear indication of that.) You see someone who understands the vision of the franchise, while also being effective now.
Most importantly, you see a person who fully understands Philadelphia, its fans and the desire to be a winning team again.
And when it comes to Philly fans, that's all you can ask for.
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