I like how last year, HF posters pretty much thought Torts with DeAngelo would be a disaster. Now that it's the disaster everyone predicted, there seems to be a large % of posters placing the majority of the blame on DeAngelo. To be clear, Tony doesn't get the benefit of the doubt based on his history, but neither should Torts.
The Torts narrative is overblown big picture
He can wear on certain players not ready for accountability or who’ve otherwise just lost interest, and he can have a shelf life but a lot of players actually liked playing for Torts, especially after he sorta reinvented himself a bit more tame after Vancouver.
Philadelphia is one of those places players
have to be losing interest as he’s not really there to be anything but a rebuild coach and the team isn’t competitive. Though I don’t think that’s DeAngelo who should be happy another team took a chance on him. He legit sucks at defense and has had attitude issues w authority his whole career. Except maybe the Canes but he was in a good sheltered role there, maybe an abnormally strong room.
I remember after the Georgiev thing, it was put out there that it wasn’t just the punch. That was the final straw, the coaches had had other issues with his attitude and trying to get him to relax, I’m pretty sure he was benched at one point. He wasn’t taking the hint and they had enough.
(And, I mean, offensively gifted right handed defensemen are constantly in demand. How many teams need to move on from him before some posters accept it’s not “political”, idk)
I’ll try to find the article, but people here were baselessly speculating players leaving CBJ was him, but interviewed former players said many liked Torts, and that some players didn’t like the ‘small town’ feel of CBJ, while the team has a rep for harsh negotiations and some players felt offended or unwanted (the team trying to convince them they’re worth less)