Inside source reveals John Tortorella got into altercation with Flyers star before firing

More news continues to come out regarding John Tortorella’s last few weeks as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. In an article from Kevin Kurz of The Athletic, the Philadelphia-based reporter succinctly described Tortorella’s growing feud between Flyers management and defenseman Cam York.

For context, York was benched for much of Tortorella’s last game as Philadelphia’s head coach and for the entirety of the Flyers’ game Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens, which interim head coach Brad Shaw described as a “disciplinary issue.” As mentioned in Kurz’s article, and later confirmed by Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, there was a "heated verbal exchange" between Tortorella and York that led to the former’s ouster as head coach and the latter’s lack of ice time Thursday night.

Kurz noted the growing tension between York and Tortorella dating back to the trade deadline, when after being a healthy scratch, York said, “I mean, I’m not playing to prove him anything. I’m playing for the guys in this locker room and the logo on my chest. I’m not playing for him, necessarily, if that makes sense.”

Questioned about the incident after Thursday night’s contest, Kurz quoted York with a generically pacified response. 

“I’m not going to get into the details of it. I will say this, I take full responsibility for my actions. It’s been addressed here in the locker room. It’s something that I’m going to put behind me and move on from. We’ve got eight games left here and that’s my focus right now. We’ll leave it at that.” 

Frustration had been mounting around Tortorella at all levels of the Flyers organization, leading to his ouster shortly before the regular season’s conclusion.

Other notes from the Eastern Conference:

• According to a team announcement, Andrei Svechnikov will return to the Carolina Hurricanes’ lineup tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. The former second overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft had missed Carolina’s previous seven games with an upper-body injury. Despite being the fourth-highest scorer on the team, the Hurricanes have fared well without Svechnikov, managing a 5-2-0 record in his absence.
• Moving to the Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins welcomed back defenseman Nikita Zadorov, who had missed the team’s last game due to a personal leave. Hopefully, for the Bruins’ sake, Zadorov’s return to the lineup against the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night will give Boston a much-needed jolt. The team has performed dreadfully since the trade deadline in early March, managing a 2-7-1 record in its last 10 games while being outscored by a 19-goal margin.