John Tortorella roasts his own player in post game interview
Yesterday, a rare NHL matinee game featured a 4-3 Flyers loss to the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The game was uncharacteristically close in the score, based on the positions in the standings of these two teams. However, delving more the game would show the Leafs dominated the Flyers, setting Tortorella off in his post game interview.
The target of Tort's rage tonight was the young forward Morgan Frost. Drafted in the first round of 2017, Frost will be a valuable piece for the team moving forward, but has struggled to produce offensively in his short career. In response, Tortorella laid into him for his lack of a complete game.
Frost has been scratched at times through the season, with Tortorella frequently listing poor play without the puck as his reasoning. One could argue Tortorella's insistence of developing a defensive game is helpful for the player long term, but on the other hand, that his ruthlessness is stunting Frost's growth offensively.
Not only did Tortorella single out Frost pretty harshly, but he did so in a game with personal meaning to Frost. Growing up in the Greater Toronto Area, Morgan was a Leafs fan, and his father was the long-time Leafs Public Announcer, Andy Frost. It's got to be tough being called out in your hometown, a few days before Christmas no less.
Regardless of what you may think of him, Tortorella has proved to be an effective coach. His tactics in Philadelphia so far have been bizzare at times, but he does seem to be taking a development based approach with the young players. Whether he is the right coach to oversee a developing team however, remains to be seen.
