PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella lashed out at a beat reporter during his postgame news conference Wednesday night, questioning a report surrounding the trade of top prospect Cutter Gauthier on Monday.
Gauthier told Flyers general manager Danny Briere that he didn’t want to play in Philadelphia or for the Flyers. Unable to sign Gauthier, Philadelphia traded the Boston College star to Anaheim on Monday for defenseman Jamie Drysdale.
On Monday, a reporter with a podcast affiliated with the team said, citing an organizational source, that former Flyers forward Kevin Hayes’ “fingerprints are all over this.” Hayes, a former Boston College player, now plays for St. Louis.
Tortorella took issue with the report after Philadelphia’s 3-2 victory over Montreal on Wednesday night.
“Is the guy here that caused Kevin Hayes a problem?” Tortorella asked.
“Yes,” he answered.
“Are you kidding me? You think Kevin Hayes is going to do something like that? ...,” Tortorella said. “It just pisses me off that you guys throw that around and affect someone’s life. Kevin Hayes and I had a problem and we couldn’t come to an agreement how to play.
“That’s a good man. That’s a good man. And what you said is going to stay with him. That’s what you guys don’t understand. You’re going to sit there and say you have the right sources. ..."
Tortorella then called it a “silly podcast.”
Hayes spoke about the report on Tuesday, denying any involvement in how the situation played out.
“It’s 100 percent false,” Hayes told The Athletic. “I don’t know where (SanFilippo) got his information from. At first, it didn’t really seem like a big deal. But just the s— that’s come from the aftermath, people with death threats, people want my family dead, people happy my brother’s dead, it’s just crazy stuff coming out. … Not a single aspect of what I’ve done had any implications on this kid’s decision.”
Speaking for the first time since the trade, Gauthier made it clear there was no truth to the rumours.
“I’ve kind of seen all the rumours going around about Kevin Hayes having his fingerprints on this,” Gauthier said. “I want to clarify that he has nothing to do with this whatsoever. He has absolutely nothing (to do with it). Some of the people who are kind of saying this stuff about his family and stuff like that, (it) is pretty gutless. He has zero fingerprints on this whatsoever."
“I was impressed how he handled himself,” he said.
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