How John Tortorella’s recent comments hinted at his Flyers exit

John Tortorella's three-year tenure with the Philadelphia Flyers came to an end prematurely on Thursday, March 27. The longtime coach was ousted after a disappointing loss amid a recent streak that's pushed Philadelphia to the brink of playoff elimination.

He may have either known he was on his way out or wanted to leave regardless. Some recent comments of his indicate as much. The now-fired coach said not even two full days before his firing, via Yahoo! Sports:

"When you're in this type of situation and you're losing all the time, and there's nothing at the end of the tunnel for you, there's certainly going to be some frustration. But, this falls on me.

"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."

Last year, Philadelphia missed out on the playoffs but they were much closer than this year. With Tortorella's firing, they sit at 65 points on the year, and the final wild card in the east, the Montreal Canadiens, is 10 points away.

Tortorella had about $4 million and one season left on his deal, but the Flyers opted to go a different direction. After last night's drubbing by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tortorella said the blame for such an outing falls on coaching. The front office was apparently in agreement and decided to go a different direction.

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Flyers thank John Tortorella for time as head coach

John Tortorella is out as coach for the Philadelphia Flyers. The veteran coach will now be in search of a new home. The decision to move on was, according to GM Danny Briere, a difficult one.

The Flyers fired John Tortorella (Imagn)

He said via Sportsnet:

"Today I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach. 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."

John Tortorella has coached for several other teams before, including the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, and Columbus Blue Jackets.