NHL Latest (Mar 28)

One day after John Tortorella was dismissed as the Philadelphia Flyers‘ bench boss, news about what led to his firing is starting to surface.

According to a report from The Athletic‘s Kevin Kurz on Friday, an altercation between Tortorella and Flyers defenceman Cam York contributed to the coach’s dismissal.

York was benched by Tortorella for the final 50 minutes of Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

According to Kurz, a non-physical altercation between York and Tortorella took place after the game and “they probably both crossed a line.”

Tortorella was fired on Thursday, and York was a “scratch” for Thursday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. York dressed, but sat on the bench for the entire game because the Flyers were out of healthy players.

York was asked about the Thursday benching on Friday, and declined to get into details.

“I’m not going to get into the details of it,” York said. “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.”

Asked about his relationship with his now-former coach, York spoke highly of Tortorella.

“I have nothing bad to say,” York told reporters. “He taught me a lot of really good things and was a really good coach for me. I’m going to use a lot of the things that he taught me down the road in my career. He’s a really good coach, and I wish him the best of luck down the road.”

The altercation, combined with Tortorella’s comments after Tuesday’s 7-2 loss to the Leafs, contributed to the Flyers’ decision to move on from the veteran coach, Kurz reports.

“This falls on me,” Tortorella told reporters after Tuesday’s game. “I’m not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season, where we’re at right now. But I have to do a better job.

“So this falls on me, getting the team prepared to play the proper way until we get to the end.”

Tortorella, 66, was brought in as the Flyers’ coach back in June 2022. During his time in Philadelphia, Tortorella went 97-107-33 and failed to reach the post-season.

“Today, I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach,” general manager Daniel Briere said in a statement on Thursday. “John played a vital role in our rebuild. He set a standard of play and re-established what it means to be a Philadelphia Flyer.

“John’s passion on the bench was only equaled by his charitable work in our community. As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our team to move forward. I’d like to thank John for his tireless work and commitment to the Flyers.”

Briere also stated Thursday that it was an “acc