John Tortorella Rips The State Of Hitting In The NHL

Leagues and sports change over the years as playing styles and techniques evolve. It's then up to everyone to debate whether or not that evolution is for the best. Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella recently talked about the state of hitting in the National Hockey League, lamenting the fact that players no longer know how to take a hard check.

And he makes one hell of a point.

Tortorella's comments came on Friday after the team's practice when he was asked about an incident that occurred in the team's 4-3 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

It involved a play in which Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway was racing Devils D-man Luke Hughes for a puck that looked like it was surely going to be icing. However, the linesman blew the whistle incredibly late. So late that Hathaway had already delivered a check to Hughes that nearly put the rookie into the third row of the Wells Fargo Center.

Hughes rushed to the locker room, which may have been a factor in Hathaway being dealt a very questionable 5-minute major and a game misconduct for the hit.

Hughes was fine and returned and even scored the overtime game-winner.

Flyers head coach John Tortorella having a quiet chat with his team during a timeout. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)

Tortorella Slams State Of Hitting In The NHL

Tortorella was irate when the call against Hathaway was upheld and gave his take on the incident as well as hitting in general the next day.

"I'm not going to give you names, the people that have talked to me, talked to the league, said it was a nothing play," Tortorella said, per NBC Sports Philadelphia. "The point there is, and I'm glad the kid isn't hurt — a really good player, a young man in this league — but that's a problem in our league right now. Our players in this league do not put enough emphasis on making sure you're protecting yourself from hits like that, making sure you absorb hits like that."

Ask anyone who has ever played hockey at a level where checking is allowed. They'll probably agree with that statement. Learning how to take a hit is as important, if not more so, than dishing them out.

Considerably less fun though...

Tortorella pointed to attempts at turning the NHL into a no-hit league — which it of course isn't — as a major reason why some players end up getting hurt.

"Because we've kind of tried to turn this league into a no-hit league. And now people aren't ready to be hit. I think it's a lost art in how you take hits. I do think, looking at the clip, I think thinks it's icing. A mistake was made. We've got good refs, we've got good linesmen, but a mistake was made last night.

"What bothers me is we had to suffer for that mistake — losing a player."

He makes a great point about the importance of knowing how to take hits. Torts was also bang on that an unfortunate error cost both teams a player. Hughes was out for a brief time and Hathaway for the rest of the game.

It'll be interesting to see if anyone will try to push back against Tortorella's argument. That's because I don't really think there's any way to do it.

The War On Hitting — And Getting Hit — Has Been Going On At Other Levels For Years

Years ago, there was a movement to limit hitting at younger levels. This was done in the name of safety. However, as Torts pointed out, it prevents players from learning how to get hit.

I saw a micro version of this play out during my days playing in the esteemed Central Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League (2014 All-Star… not like that's super important though, but worth mentioning).

If I recall correctly, I remember being allowed to check in middle school. By the time I had moved on to high school, checking was phased out at the middle school level. I remember thinking even back then how dangerous it seemed to not let seventh and eighth graders check each other. That way they could learn how to do it properly with people their size.

So, now, middle schoolers would go to high school having never taken a real hit before. That means the first hit they ever take could involve getting waffled by a senior who is a full-sized human being. If they don't know how to properly take a hit like that, it's going to be really bad. Someone would need to go out and squeegee that hypothetical freshman off the ice.

That's the kind of thing Tortorella appears to be talking about. This push to ban or limit hitting — instead of teaching the proper way to get hit — isn't that old.

Still, it wasn't long before we started seeing some of those knock-on effects at the NHL level.

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