If Mike Yeo needs any tips on how to be a successful interim head coach, he received the perfect teacher on Tuesday.
Prior to making an announcement that Yeo will remain interim head coach of the Flyers for the remainder of the season, general manager Chuck Fletcher revealed he has added NHL veteran John Torchetti as a new assistant coach on Yeo’s staff, joining Nick Schultz and Darryl Williams in that capacity.
Torchetti, 57, has previously served as an interim head coach at Florida, Los Angeles and Minnesota. Fletcher said Torchetti also will stay with the Flyers for the remainder of the season.
Back in 2015-16 when he was general manager of the Wild, Fletcher fired then-head coach Yeo and replaced him with Torchetti for the remainder of the season.
Torchetti last served as head coach of the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in 2019-20. He led the club to a 50-13-1 record with a .789 win percentage in a season that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He last appeared behind the bench in the NHL as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. He also was an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning (1999-01), Florida Panthers (2002-04) and Chicago Blackhawks (2007-10) where he helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2010, defeating the Flyers in the six-game series Final. Following his tenure with Chicago, he served as an associate coach for the Atlanta Thrashers in 2010-11.
Torchetti also served as an NHL head coach in an interim role with the Panthers in 2003-04 and the Kings in 2005-06.
His overall record in the NHL is 30-30-4-2.
In addition, Torchetti has been behind the bench as head coach in the American Hockey League for parts of five seasons, most recently for two seasons with the Iowa Wild from 2014-16 before taking over as interim head coach with the Wild towards the end of the 2015-16 season when he replaced Yeo. He has an all-time mark of 150-154-12-41 in 357 regular season AHL games.
On his overseas resume, Torchetti was a head coach in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with CSKA Moscow and posted a 32-30-2 record in his only season behind the bench.
Prior to joining the Lightning’s staff in 1999, he was head coach in the International Hockey League (IHL) with the Fort Wayne Komets (1996-98) and Central Hockey League (CHL) with the San Antonio Iguanas (1994-96).
