What’s the deal with the Philadelphia Flyers sitting Sean Couturier?
With Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella healthy scratching captain Sean Couturier, a lot of eyebrows have been raised. Today on Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen give some insight into the decision behind sitting Couturier.
Tyler Yaremchuk: News of the day, John Tortorella with an interesting decision out in Philadelphia. They got a big game tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Flyers are no longer in a divisional playoff spot, they are in a wild card position and Washington is a tick above them and the Flyers are going with the decision of scratching their captain. It’s Couturier, Atkinson and Marc Staal out, with Bobby Brink, Olle Lycksell and Adam Ginning drawing into the lineup for them. The big name here is Couturier and it’s game 69 for the Flyers, what do you make of Tortorella going the healthy scratch route?
Colby Cohen: Yeah, I don’t like it at all. I’ve given Torts the benefit of the doubt on everything this year and that’s because it works. He’s held guys accountable, taken guys in, taken guys out, but this is just the one where I am going to part ways hard. Couturier has missed two years of hockey and you’ve ridden him hard this year and he’s helped you get to this point. Torts feels like his game has slipped, and Sean has vocalized that and the way he is getting treated.
Colby Cohen: It won’t be a distraction to him, he’s not going to whine, he will put his ego aside and be a good teammate and obviously do everything he can to cheer on his teammates. I don’t think you should be treating first or second-year players, the same way you treat a guy who has been a Flyer since leaving junior hockey and who is only a few months removed from having the C put on his jersey. He needs to carry your culture and not be singled out, I do not like the way this is being handled and I think it hurts your team going into tonight against Toronto, this is a player who has won a Selke trophy.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, and our guy Brock Seguin who runs the fantasy side of Daily Faceoff did point out that the average age of healthy scratches this year was 34, and the average age of players coming in is 23.3 years of age. You get some new legs and speed in there, but to me, if you want to send a message you can do that in games 16, 17 or 25, but by this point, there are only 13 games left and they are barely holding on to a playoff spot. So why intentionally cause a rift?
Colby Cohen: I don’t think it will cause a rift since I know who Couturier is, and he’s not going to be swearing at Torts in front of teammates, that is just not who he is. I was just with him a week ago at Danny Briere’s son’s birthday party, so you got two guys in Briere and Couturier who played together, whose wives are friends and then you got the coach in the middle of the two making a decision like this. But, when you bring Tortorella in, Torts is going to be Torts.
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