John Tortorella publicly humiliates captain Sean Couturier

We all know that fiery Philadelphia Flyers bench boss John Tortorella doesn't care about hurting anyone's feelings when it comes to his decisions made of what he feels will give his team the best chance to win, but this one is certainly going to be drawing some scrutiny. 

The Flyers, who have lost two straight, host the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening, and will be scratching team captain Sean Couturier.

Couturier, who was named the team captain earlier this season, has registered only a single assist in his last nine games. And when asked if he thinks that the 1st year captain deserves more ice time, Tortorella pushed back on that notion. 

"No, I think there are a number of players, him being one, that need to be better," Tortorella told reporters.

Speaking of a "number of players", both Cam Atkinson and trade deadline addition Denis Gurianov were alongside Couturier as the last group of forwards on the ice, meaning that the entire line could be sitting in the press box. 

"I'm coaching 20 guys, not just one or two or three," he said. "Those are the decisions I have to make...And the people I have slotted and given more minutes as we've gone through here, I think deserve it."

"It's the old chicken and the egg—'give me more ice time and I'll show you,'" he said. "I give plenty of ice time.  There's no special answer; you've got to play better, whether it's 10 minutes, it's 17-18 minutes, I don't care if it's seven minutes. You've gotta give me something to hang my hat on to keep on trying to earn more ice time."

As far as Couturier is concerned, he knows that he has to perform better. 

"I control what I can control, it is what it is, and I'm gonna move on...It doesn't matter what I think," he said. " I've gotta leave my ego aside, I guess. Hopefully I can get back into it soon."

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