John Tortorella refuses to let media pit one of his players against him!

It’s Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella against the world. Or at least the media in Philly.

A few days removed from his controversial decision to healthy scratch the Flyers’ leading scorer Kevin Hayes, Tortorella accused media of pitting he and Hayes against one another during Tuesday’s post-game following his club’s 5-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“Yeah, I’m not giving you an update on Hayes’s game. You guys — I’m not going to have the Kevin Hayes update. You guys are trying to pit him against me and me against him, which is SO ludicrous. So I’m not giving you any update on Kevin Hayes.”

This is how Torts explained his decision to scratch his leading scorers : it was in order to send a message to the rest of the players. But fans and pundits aren’t buying.

The feud and growing tension even prompted Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman to speculate that the Flyers and Hayes could be headed towards a buyout. Most of his performance bonuses have been paid out, with a minimal amount still up for grabs in ’23-24,Hayes’ annual cap hit is $7.1 million per season. This means that if he’s bought out in June, it’ll cost the Flyers $2.25 million against their cap for 2023-24, followed by $4.75 million annually for the next two seasons before dropping to $1.6 million annually for the final three seasons. The insider wondered if Philadelphia shouldn’t look instead to trade Hayes, who holds a 12-team no-trade list clause, but that would still leave the Flyers with 20 potential destinations.

Neither Tortorella or Flyers’ management are hinting at a pending rebuild, however if it is what’s coming next for the franchise, then maybe Hayes could be bought out or traded to make room for the process.

However for now, Torts wants us to shut up and let him and his player deal with the heat on their own!

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