If you're willing to dish it out, you'd better be willing to take it, even if it's coming from an imposing figure like John Tortorella, head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. A reporter got an earful last night from Torts for starting a rumour involving Kevin Hayes. <h2>John Tortorella Tells Off Reporter for Rumour on Kevin Hayes</h2> Shortly after Philadelphia traded away 5th overall pick Cutter Gauthier on Monday, it came to light that the prospect had requested the trade and didn't want to play for the Flyers. Then, Anthony SanFilippo went live on air to report that Kevin Hayes, a former member of the Flyers who had developed a friendship with Gauthier, had convinced him not to go there. Both Hayes and Gauthier denied Hayes had any involvement whatsoever. Tortorella decided to take SanFilippo to task for the rumour. <q>Tortorella: Is the guy here that caused Kevin Hayes a problem. SanFilippo: Yes. Tortorella: You? SanFilippo: Yeah. Tortorella: Are you kidding me? You think Kevin Hayes is going to do something like that. It's bulls--t.</q> <div align='center' style='padding-top:20px;padding-bottom:20px;'><img src='https://i.marqueur.com/habsetlnh/i/photo/361944.webp' width='100%' border='0' alt='image' loading='lazy' defer /></div> It seemed like Tortorella was ready to move on to the next question at that point, but then changed his mind. <q>It just, it pisses me off that you guys throw that s--t around and affect someone's life. Kevin Hayes and I had a problem, and we couldn't come to an agreement on 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 say something, and you're going to sit there and say you have the right source. I call bulls--t.</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/BR_OpenIce/status/1745291980291125694?s=20'> </a></blockquote></div> <h2>Tortorella Confronts Reporter for Starting Rumour about Kevin Hayes</h2> At that point, Tortorella was done and decided to move on to the next question. For his part, SanFilippo took to X and seemed to try to play the victim in the incident. <q>Well, Torts just lit me up in his press conference about Kevin Hayes. Completely unprompted. That ought to be a joy for everyone for the next couple days.</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/AntSanPhilly/status/1745285753599414553?s=20'> </a></blockquote></div> If you're going to say it, you'd better be prepared to back it up. If it's about his team, you'd better be prepared to the wrath of Torts.