Tortorella blunt about benching Bobby Brink for MN homecoming

Philadelphia Flyers forward and Chaska, Minn., native Bobby Brink didn't get the chance to take the ice in his return to Minnesota on Friday night. 

Flyer coach John Tortorella pulled Brink from the lineup ahead of the game, saying the former Minnetonka High School standout has things “he needs to work on” and that he’s been a “little inconsistent. Brink, 22, has 18 points (7 goals, 11 assists) in 36 games this season.

“Bobby Brink doesn’t have a cemented spot in the National Hockey League,” Tortorella told reporters. “He has a ways to go as far as to find that. But that’s to be expected. I think he’s going to be a really good player for us.”

Tortorella scoffed at the idea that it was tough to take the Minnesota kid out of the lineup during his homecoming trip.

“It’s the National Hockey League. I can’t get itineraries from players when their parents are coming in to decide what a lineup is. I can’t,” Tortorella said. “I knew that would come up. You’re in the wrong game. If we’re going to play intramurals and all that stuff, whatever you want to call the fun stuff — this is the National Hockey League. These are part of the things that kids have to go through.

“Having said that, yeah, I’d love for his parents to see him play. It just didn’t work out that way.”

Brink also played for the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL in 2018-19, tallying 35 goals and 33 assists in 43 games for the club.