Tortorella goes off on critics of Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher.

The Philadelphia Flyers are not having a good season. The team has not delivered on expectations and the addition of a demanding taskmaster with John Tortorella behind the bench has seemingly done little to inspire the players currently under contract with the organization.

This has led to considerable discontent from fans, but that criticism truly reached a fever pitch this week when the National Hockey League's trade deadline came and went this past Friday. In spite of the fact that they are well out of playoff contention, Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher failed to move out any of the team's expiring contracts in exchange for assets ahead of the deadline.

Fans are so angry at Fletcher that he was openly booed at a recent season ticket holders town hall.

That seemingly has not sat well with the team's head coach who over the weekend laid into those same critics for pointing their fingers at Fletcher. Tortorella argued that the criticism was unwarranted, given his belief that Fletcher had obviously attempted to move many of the players he has been criticized for holding onto.

“Do you not think he tried to move him?” said Tortorella as per The Philadelphia Inquirer, referencing Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk. “Are you guys kidding me? He tried like hell to move him. There’s so many different scenarios that went on. And I just don’t get the criticism of James still being here. It’s like Chuck held on to [him].”

As many have already pointed out, demand for a player like van Riemsdyk may have been limited given his declining production this season and the significant cap hit he carries at $7 million per season. While van Riemsdyk was owed considerably less in actual dollars, that does nothing to help cap-strapped contenders who are looking to squeeze in as many additions as possible ahead of the trade deadline.

Tortorella admonished the media for creating criticism of the Flyers GM where he feels none should be.

“I just don’t want you to manufacture criticism of Chuck, at this point in time, at the deadline, because something sexy didn’t happen,” Tortorella said. “Nothing sexy was going to happen. I think we all understand that, don’t we — going into this? Is that we’re ... expiring contracts, we’re trying to gain assets. That’s the key. And [Fletcher] tried.”