O’Connor: Why the Flyers need to call it a rebuild, whether they like it or not

The discrepancy in delivery from the two men who spoke on behalf of the Philadelphia Flyers organization on Thursday morning was striking, to say the least.

First up was John Tortorella, a veteran NHL coach in his first year behind the bench for the Flyers. And as usual, Tortorella did not mince words in calling the Flyers’ situation exactly like he sees it.

“Where we’re at as a team, we are grassroots, as far as teaching,” Tortorella said. “We are just beginning to teach. Even when we get healthy and get some guys in, we’re just beginning.”

Wait, grassroots? Just beginning?

“This isn’t a one-year type of thing,” he continued. “We’ve got some work to do. And it’s gonna take some time, no matter what people want to hear out here. It’s going to take some time to get this right.”

That sure sounds like the definition of the word that, to this point, the Flyers have seemingly been terrified to use: rebuild. So is that what this is, at least in Tortorella’s mind?

“I’m not a big language guy. I like building,” he responded. “I like using building words. I like seeing things built and I am thrilled that right now, I have the opportunity to help there.”

OK, Tortorella may have used the word “build” instead of “rebuild.” But at long last, a key figure with the Flyers is finally admitting that the situation can’t be resolved with a relatively quick fix, that they’re at the grassroots, that it’s going to be a multiple-year process to return the club to respectability.

So is it a rebuild now, Chuck Fletcher?

“Again, there are labels,” he responded about 45 minutes later in a separate session. “I think if you look at it, we have worked at some young pieces over the last few years, we’ve talked over the last couple of years about needing more high-end talent, we’ve certainly tried to address some of that through the draft. So we have certainly tried to be aggressive in adding some young talent. And we’ve tried to find a way to add some pieces here to keep us competitive. So I’m not sure what the label is for that.”

There isn’t a label for the “middle ground” path described once again Thursday by the Flyers general manager. And that’s part of the problem.

Tortorella, to his credit, isn’t sugarcoating things. As the new face in the organization, what he sees is a situation that isn’t going to get better anytime soon, a situation that will require years of hard work to fix. In other words, he’s talking to the fans as if they’re also watching the games, and also understand a hard truth: the Flyers just don’t have the talent to compete for anything meaningful. He’s being honest with them.

“I love the opportunity that we have here, to build something from really the ground up,” Tortorella said. “And when you’re feeling some pain — and we’re gonna feel more pain, we’re gonna go through a lot of pain — when you start feeling that pain, do you change your…