Sean Couturier's agent blasts John Tortorella

Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella has once again caused a bit of controversy with his lineup decisions, electing to scratch newly appointed team captain Sean Couturier for Tuesday night's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs along with fellow veteran Cam Atkinson. 

And by all indications, Couturier will be scratched for tonight's game against the Carolina Hurricanes, meaning that he'll be a spectator for the second game in a row.

Tortorella outright refused to discuss the matter with media members this morning, but that's not the case with Couturier's agent. Erik Lupien also stated that he's spoken with his client about his diminishing ice time, which he didn't see coming. 

“He was clueless about his ice time, why his ice time went down,” Lupien said. “But he said, ‘I’m just going to manage and play whatever he maybe wants me to play. If it’s 14 minutes, it’s going to be 14 minutes.’”

It's clear that Couturier's agent didn't appreciate the lack of communication between Tortorella and his client regarding his controversial two-game scratch from the lineup. 

“Throughout last year and at the beginning of (this) year, in the conversations with Sean, he always told me that Tortorella and him had a pretty good relationship,” Lupien said. “As soon as we get through that character, he’s a pretty funny guy. And the conversations are good with him, and he knows what the team wants and what he wants from him.

“From my point of view, when I saw the news (Couturier was scratched), I’m like, I really hope the communication why and the reasons why are really clear. I hope he’s going to get an explanation soon because he’s the captain, a leader of the team, and he has ‘Philadelphia’ tattooed on his chest since he got drafted. That’s why he wanted to sign there and to sign a long contract. I hope he’s going to get that respect from John Tortorella.”

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