A former NHLer has revealed details regarding the reported verbal altercation between John Tortorella and Cam York that led to the coach's dismissal last week.
Last Thursday, in the midst of another losing season, the Philadelphia Flyers decided it was time to fire John Tortorella, who spent the last three seasons, including 2024-25, as their head coach.
Following Tortorella's firing, a report came out saying that a verbal altercation with defenseman Cam York played a role in the Flyers' decision to move on from their coach and now new details have emerged about what was said during that argument.
Ryan Whitney reveals details of John Tortorella-Cam York verbal altercation
On this week's edition of the Spittin' Chiclets podcast, former National Hockey League defenseman Ryan Whitney shared what was said during the verbal altercation between John Tortorella and Cam York.
According to Whitney, Tortorella was very unhappy with Cam York during the first intermission of last week's 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs and told the defenseman that if he re-signed in Philadelphia, he would "bury" him, meaning that he'd either not be playing that much or his ice time would drastically decrease.
"I talked to somebody in Philly. He had a bad play in the 1st period, Toronto scored, and Torts came in and was just unloading on him, and then [York] kinda went back at him, almost one of those "Hey, I'm gonna be here longer than you are." Whitney said.
He went on to add, "I think Torts was telling him "re-sign here, I'll bury you." It was getting a little over the line, I'd say. I'm just telling you what I'm hearing."
It's unclear what the future holds for John Tortorella in the National Hockey League, but if this story is true, other teams might have some reservations about hiring him in a coaching role as it could potentially effect their ability to recruit players in free agency and via trade.