Tortorella spoke about scratching Sean Couturier during the season

The Philadelphia Flyers missed the playoffs as they mightily struggled down the stretch. A huge topic of discussion, during the season, was Sean Couturier being a
healthy scratch in back-to-back games. This move caused controversy among fans and the media as the long time Flyer was just recently name caption prior to being benched.

The benching may have only been two games, however, the conversation surrounding the benching lasted weeks and led many fans speculating that John Tortorella lost the locker room, and this could have been one of the factors.

When asked about the locker room issues between the players and coach during the end of season press conference, John Tortorella stated "Let me ask you a question. Why wouldn't I communicate with Sean if I'm taking him out of the lineup? Did you think to ask yourself that? Why wouldn't I? I did," Tortorella said on Friday. I'm not going to tell you what was said, but what happens in a gameday, I'll put the lineup up at eight o'clock in the morning. I was sitting out, Staalsy, Cam, I think Nic was out, and Sean. I went to them the day before. I sat with Sean; not going to tell you what I said, but we had a discussion as to why he was coming out. I didn't want him to come to the board in the morning and just see that he was out. "So, why would I want to disrespect him that way? Did you ask yourself that?"

Tortorella also commented on the fact that Couturier told the media that he just has to "leave his ego aside" as he thought he was playing fine.




It is clear, that John Tortorella believes he made the correct decision in benching Sean Couturier, even with the poor timing of just recently naming Couturier captain. Tortorella believed he was putting the best possible lineup out there to win the game, which is ultimately the coach's job. As John Tortorella stated, he communicates with all veterans that they will be a healthy scratch. There may never be unanimous agreement in benching Sean Couturier, but at least for now John Tortorella stands by his decision.

Source: Broad Street Hockey

John Tortorella opens up about Sean Couturier scratch fiasco