The Philadelphia Flyers relieved head coach John Tortorella of his duties after almost three seasons Thursday, replacing him with Brad Shaw on an interim basis.
The Flyers have nine games remaining this season. Tortorella said following Tuesday's loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs that he isn't interested in coaching a rebuild.
"Today I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach," general manager Daniel Briere said in a statement. "John played a vital role in our rebuild. He set a standard of play and re-established what it means to be a Philadelphia Flyer.
"John's passion on the bench was only equaled by his charitable work in our community. As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our team to move forward. I'd like to thank John for his tireless work and commitment to the Flyers."
The Flyers have plummeted to last place in the Metropolitan Division with one win in their past 12 games. Philadelphia is set to miss the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
Tortorella is ninth on the NHL's all-time coaching wins list with 770. He's won multiple Jack Adams Awards and captured the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.
Philadelphia went 97-107-33 under Tortorella's guidance.
Shaw was an associate coach under Tortorella and has been behind the bench with multiple NHL teams dating back to 2005-06. His only stint as a head coach came as an in-season replacement for the New York Islanders.
