Flyers Fire John Tortorella, Here's Why The Next Coaching Hire Will Be Pivotal For The Team's Future

Look, I had high hopes when the Flyers hired John Tortorella, but we all knew this was coming…

The Torts Era in Philadelphia is officially over.

Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened.

Now, while we were given some memorable moments from Tortorella's almost three seasons with the Orange and Black, we didn't exactly get stellar hockey.

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Sure, the Flyers almost made the playoffs last season in the midst of a rebuild, and this season was expected to be a bit of a step back, no one saw it getting this bad.

I think Torts himself was probably finished, as evidenced by his recent comments in the midst of the team's latest losing skid.

Oof.

And while the Flyers' announcement said that Tortorella had been "relieved of his head coaching duties," look at how NHL insider Elliotte Friedman put it.

Unfortunately, there may be some more tough times ahead for the Flyers before their rebuild is complete, which means that General Manager Danny Briere and President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones have a pivotal coaching decision ahead of them.

Torts' assistant Brad Shaw will be behind the bench for the rest of the season on an interim basis starting with Thursday night's game against the Montreal Canadiens, but according to ESPN's Emily Kaplan, the team will do a full coaching search over the summer.

We'll see how the coaching market shapes up as the season draws to a close, but the Flyers may not want to simply hire the biggest name on the market.

They need the right person for the job. Matvei Michkov has proven that he is the future of the Flyers, even if he has been a bit streaky at times. The team has other strong young players with a lot of potential, like Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, Cam York, and Jamie Drysdale, who need a coach that will help them develop as the front office does what they need to do to build a winning team.

I'm anxious to see what they do. Do they bring Ian Laperrière up from Lehigh Valley? Do they wait and see if maybe Mike Sullivan becomes available and bring him across the Keystone State? Maybe they will take someone like Jessica Campbell, who is an up-and-comer with a history of working well with and developing younger players.

There are lots of directions to go in, and hopefully — from the perspective of a Flyers fan (not sure that that has come up on this site, but I'm a Flyers fan) — they go in the best one.