Tortorella Rips Media for Ristolainen Treatment

Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella was at his entertaining best this past weekend, and he continued the performance Monday morning, calling out the media for their supposed treatment of defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.

Tortorella on Ristolainen: "You [media] guys hate him. Write all this s-t. I shouldn't say hate. Not the proper word to use in today's world. I just feel he's been under a microscope since I got here." Went on praise RR play from 2nd season onwards.
— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) January 13, 2025

Torts met with the media from @FlyersTCenter ahead of tonight's matchup with the Panthers. #FLAvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/UorHVlqn1X
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 13, 2025

"You [media] guys hate him. You guys write all this sh*t. I shouldn't say hate. Not the proper word to use in today's world. I just feel he's been under a microscope since I got here... He's turned into a pretty good player for us."

Ristolainen has, to be honest, been praised by many in the media this season, as he's been garnering plenty of trade buzz. But Tortorella doesn't want to hear any of it. The big D-man has two more years to run on his contract after this one, with a $5.1M cap hit.

But wait, there's more.

On the weekend, the Flyers "welcomed" former top prospect Cutter Gauthier into the building for the first time since he forced a trade last season to the Anaheim Ducks. The crowd hurled expletives at Gauthier (NSFW) all night, and after all of the ruckus, Torts let it be known in no uncertain terms how he felt about discussing the team's former prospect.

John Tortorella was not a fan of all the Cutter Gauthier stuff tonight:

"I think it's a bunch of bullshit. All I told our team is let's worry about ourselves and play a hockey game. The bullshit is for you guys. All the drama, that's for you guys, whatever you need to do with… pic.twitter.com/YNzaH0XCLv
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) January 12, 2025

"I think it's a bunch of bullsh*t... All I told our team is let's worry about ourselves and play a hockey game. The bullsh*t is for you guys. All the drama, that's for you guys, whatever you need to do with it."

And he was just as animated behind the bench this weekend as well: