John Tortorella Just Proved he is Already Better Than Alain Vigneault

Things quickly went south, and the organization hardly had any change from the previous season. Was it the coaching aspect, the roster, or management that cause the Flyers underwhelming season?

It seems as if it may have been the coaching, and it'll be tested out this season to identify the real issue as the Flyers now have head coach John Tortorella, who is known to work his players hard.

Tortorella recently stated some knowledgeable things in a interview before the season has even started, something we have never heard Vigneault talk about throughout his year in Philly.

"I think people make a big deal out of "systems," a different system. There may be slight details, you may have a different philosophy of man-on-man defense versus a zone defense. But it isn't a huge change. I coached in the minors two years, in Rochester. And it wasn't like an organization talked about this, like, we have to do the same things.

I think Chuck has kinda left it to Lappy and I. l'm just a true believer - because I coached down there - in sometimes, you're not yourself as a coach if you have to coach someone else's system. And I think it's a rotten place to be as a coach, trying to be another guy and his thoughts about how to play the game."

I don't think the game's that difficult. I think we make it more... it's not that hard to think how to play.
It's such a reactionary game, and I think that's the most important thing, is to get out of their way half the time as a coach. So Lappy and I talked - we talked early on, when I was hired - and I told him right away, 'It's your call how you want to go.' Because I want them to win also.

Sometimes when you're in the middle of a game or a third period, and it's not working, are you thinking: 'Well, shit, l've got to play that system, it's not working.
It's good to develop players in a winning situation. So which outweighs the other? I think allowing a coach to express himself and to be his own person, and trying to find ways to win and teach them how to win, is more important than saying, 'Shit, l've got to play the trap, l've got to do a zone defense, l've got to do this on a faceoff. It's too much. And it pigeonholes that coach in the minors. So I don't believe it in."