Flyers' History: Nostalgia Thread

[Normand Lacombe]

You gotta wonder what would have happened if the Flyers didn't trade Forsberg for Lindros. Didn't the Avs want Brind'armour instead? Heck if the trade never went down the Flyers might have been better off to begin with.

Quebec originally wanted Viacheslav Butsayev instead of Forsberg. Both Quebec and the Flyers, particularly GM Russ Farwell, thought Butsayev was a better prospect than Forsberg. The Flyers asked Forsberg to come to North America before the Lindros deal was in the works, but Forsberg was unwilling, wanting to wait a few more years. With the Flyers high on the arriving Butsayev, Farwell offered Quebec Forsberg and the rest is sad history.

 

[baudib1]

The difference between the Avs and Flyers is that the Avs (Nordiques) started with a first-ballot Hall of Famer in Joe Sakic and the Flyers didn't. Certainly the additional depth and picks they got from the Flyers helped but that and Patrick Roy are the main differences.

Forsberg and Lindros are similar talents with similar careers. Forsberg missed just as much time as Lindros did.

 

[SchatzY]

You gotta wonder what would have happened if the Flyers didn't trade Forsberg for Lindros. Didn't the Avs want Brind'armour instead? Heck if the trade never went down the Flyers might have been better off to begin with.

Did you know that Forsberg once told me in a private conversation that "Simon Gagne was the purest shooter he ever played with."

 

[Laveuglette]

 

[backburner]

3 more years

 

[Embiid]

Quebec originally wanted Viacheslav Butsayev instead of Forsberg. Both Quebec and the Flyers, particularly GM Russ Farwell, thought Butsayev was a better prospect than Forsberg. The Flyers asked Forsberg to come to North America before the Lindros deal was in the works, but Forsberg was unwilling, wanting to wait a few more years. With the Flyers high on the arriving Butsayev, Farwell offered Quebec Forsberg and the rest is sad history.

Are we sure about this narrative and Suksayev? They really thought he was a better prospect than Forsberg? If so facepalm...

Flyers and Inge Hammarstrom in particular were very high on Forsberg....why they picked him higher than other teams had him ranked. Also I do recall Quebec wanting Brindy....but we opted for Forsberg bc we didn't want to impact our depth more than we already were. Hammarstrom was bothered the most by us giving up Forsberg.

Lindros should have been better but Forsberg ultimately turned out to be the bigger stud. Of course we got the Footsberg version at the tail end of his career....as usual.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Forsberg is the best player I’ve ever seen. It kills me thinking the Flyers drafted him & traded him.

 

[Embiid]

Just found this...now I do recall the Full Spectrum account of the Forsberg trade...what a travesty. Butsayev was so bad..lol.

https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/why-didnt-lindros-want-to-play-in-quebec.1546401/page-6

 

[hatcher]

Peter Zezel too!

He was great man. When you can go head to head with messier and go straight up at that age you have it.

 

[hatcher]

Kerr was my favorite player...went to Tim Kerr camp in HS and was awestruck the whole time learning from him. He taught me my wrist shot which my friends used to refer to me as the master blaster..lol. Kerr took so much abuse in the front of the net...hence his shoulder injuries. Still the dude was a machine in front on the PP especially. Leclair of course was the closest player to Kerr and was great in his own right. We need gritty players like those two again...not just a mascot named gritty...

If you learned that shit from Kerr you learned from the best. We need away different set of players now because in no matter what era you either have it as a team or you don't. Flyers don't today.

 

[Embiid]

Kerr though had more of a snap shot....my wrists unfortunately at the time were Matt Carle like. My snapshot was decent but Kerr spent time every day teaching me the wrist shot against the boards. It was awesome 1 on 1. Mark Laforest was in the camp and he was such a tool....he taught us skating. Propp came for a day....didnt do too much with us....just smiled at center ice while conducting skating drills. And Shawn Cronin was another regular..lol. I can't recall what I learned from him. I just remember what a lug he was and how he looked with his helmet. The guy who ran the camp though was some Hartford Whalers system dude....can't recall. It was a fun camp though. Kerr was the highlight of course. My hero...lol. The best was when I asked him to sign my gloves and didn't have a marker/pen like a dope. He flagged a kid down with a marker and signed them....

 

[Normand Lacombe]

Are we sure about this narrative and Suksayev? They really thought he was a better prospect than Forsberg? If so faeepalm...

Flyers and Inge Hammarstrom in particular were very high on Forsberg....why they picked him higher than other teams had him ranked. Also I do recall Quebec wanting Brindy....but we opted for Forsberg bc we didn't want to impact our depth more than we already were. Hammarstrom was bothered the most by us giving up Forsberg.

Lindros should have been better but Forsberg ultimately turned out to be the bigger stud. Of course we got the Footsberg version at the tail end of his career....as usual.

It was from Full Spectrum. Haven’t read the book in awhile, so was going off memory.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

Are we sure about this narrative and Suksayev? They really thought he was a better prospect than Forsberg? If so facepalm...

Flyers and Inge Hammarstrom in particular were very high on Forsberg....why they picked him higher than other teams had him ranked. Also I do recall Quebec wanting Brindy....but we opted for Forsberg bc we didn't want to impact our depth more than we already were. Hammarstrom was bothered the most by us giving up Forsberg.

Lindros should have been better but Forsberg ultimately turned out to be the bigger stud. Of course we got the Footsberg version at the tail end of his career....as usual.

We were way out ahead of everyone on Foppa. People at the time of the draft talked about it as a huge reach, and then started to slowly back off of that opinion. In retrospect it was obviously a great pick, but I was ****ting bricks and fireballs lol

 

[hatcher]

Kerr though had more of a snap shot....my wrists unfortunately at the time were Matt Carle like. My snapshot was decent but Kerr spent time every day teaching me the wrist shot against the boards. It was awesome 1 on 1. Mark Laforest was in the camp and he was such a tool....he taught us skating. Propp came for a day....didnt do too much with us....just smiled at center ice while conducting skating drills. And Shawn Cronin was another regular..lol. I can't recall what I learned from him. I just remember what a lug he was and how he looked with his helmet. The guy who ran the camp though was some Hartford Whalers system dude....can't recall. It was a fun camp though. Kerr was the highlight of course. My hero...lol. The best was when I asked him to sign my gloves and didn't have a marker/pen like a dope. He flagged a kid down with a marker and signed them....

Thats awesome.

 

[Lindberg]

Plus we had Forsberg and didn't win a Cup with him. So that proves nothing would change.

Well the Flyers would have had draft picks and other assets to more for a player. Perhaps they could have acquired Roy? Forsberg has been on record saying his career after 30 wasn't all that great, sorta unfortunate the Flyers got him at that point :/.

Ironically when I made my name it was a combination of Lindros / Forsberg and not Pelle Lindbergh.

Edit : Also I'd just like to add I really do enjoy the story lines of "what if" when talking about the Lindros trade.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Well the Flyers would have had draft picks and other assets to more for a player. Perhaps they could have acquired Roy? Forsberg has been on record saying his career after 30 wasn't all that great, sorta unfortunate the Flyers got him at that point :/.

Ironically when I made my name it was a combination of Lindros / Forsberg and not Pelle Lindbergh.

Edit : Also I'd just like to add I really do enjoy the story lines of "what if" when talking about the Lindros trade.

My favored "what if" is what if we manage to get Hasek? That ought to have been good for a Cup.

 

[Lindberg]

My favored "what if" is what if we manage to get Hasek? That ought to have been good for a Cup.

Oh. Was that a possibility?

 

[Beef Invictus]

Oh. Was that a possibility?

I have never known. But the dude dragged Buffalo to the Finals. Imagine what he can do with our roster then.

 

[Lindberg]

I have never known. But the dude dragged Buffalo to the Finals. Imagine what he can do with our roster then.

Jeez I wonder how much he would have cost to pull away from the Blackhawks at the time. The Flyers had a huge advantage in those days since they could trade cash, sorta pisses me off that the goaltending for this team has been so poor.

 

[Embiid]

Thats awesome.

It was...with the wrist shot I had more success than the snap like I noted. If anything the snap shot requires more wrist action. He showed me some tricks with the "wrist" shot that helped a lot since like I noted my wrists weren't actually the strongest. I wasn't ambidextrous though like him obviously....dude so awesome with his switching of hands in front of the net when the opposition would literally piggyback on top of him....

 

[Normand Lacombe]

Jeez I wonder how much he would have cost to pull away from the Blackhawks at the time. The Flyers had a huge advantage in those days since they could trade cash, sorta pisses me off that the goaltending for this team has been so poor.

To get Hasek from Chicago, not much. Buffalo gave up G Stephane Beuregard and a 4th for Hasek in 1992. We could have easily topped the garbage the Sabres gave up.

There were rumors in late 1997 about a possible Hasek for Brind'Amour swap. Remember reading the Hockey News speculating about it more than once. Eskin went on Channel 10 and announced his "sources" informed him the Hasek-Brind'Amour trade was imminent. Either Clarke did not want to give up Brind'Amour or the rumors never had merit.

 

[GapToothedWonder]

Danny Briere is the f***ing man.

 

[jghockey]

To get Hasek from Chicago, not much. Buffalo gave up G Stephane Beuregard and a 4th for Hasek in 1992. We could have easily topped the garbage the Sabres gave up.

There were rumors in late 1997 about a possible Hasek for Brind'Amour swap. Remember reading the Hockey News speculating about it more than once. Eskin went on Channel 10 and announced his "sources" informed him the Hasek-Brind'Amour trade was imminent. Either Clarke did not want to give up Brind'Amour or the rumors never had merit.

That would have sucked at the time. Roddy was coming off a great playoffs for us in '97 and was our all-around guy. Very underrated player at the time. Maybe we could have had Hasek for Zubrus, Snow, and a first round pick.

 

[kudymen]

I believe two Harts/two Lindsays/six Vezinas dude could offset this..

 

[jghockey]

Personally, the most bitter Flyers for me would have to be (in no particular order):

1996 - to Florida. They were clicking on all cylinders heading into this series. They would have made the finals. Could they have beaten Colorado??? Well, they would have been clear underdogs. I don't think they would have won.

2000 - Blow 3-1 lead in East Finals to NJ. No words necessary. When Lindros was KO'd in game 7 it was obvious the era had ended. The rest of the game was anti-climatic. Any other franchise Lindros would have either won game 6 or game 7 with a heroic goal,,..... but not us. And they would have beaten Dallas in the finals.

2004 - Lost game East finals to Tampa - IMO they were the best team that season but injuries to the defense caught up with them, Why did Clarke decimate the depth at the trade deadline by moving Therien? This loss really hurt. In reality this marked the end of the run that began with the dawning of the Lindros era. This was their lost chance and they fell short. At different points during this run I was convinced they were winning the cup. I never had that feeling before or since. Hurt as bad as 87

I don't include something like 87,95, 2010 because I don't view those losses as bitter to the degrees of the above.
87 - it was a heroic effort. There was nothing bitter in losing to arguably the greatest team ever.
95 - bitter loss but there was the feeling of a great new era beginning and promises of glory in the near future. It seemed like a growing pain at the time.
2010 - bitter loss but losing to a dynasty,

1996 - losing to an inferior team that benefited from the tackle football rules
2000-2004 - game 7 losses in East Finals in which I maintain they win both finals if they make it.

Had we beaten the Panthers in '96, we would have gone to the Cup Finals. Even though we would have lost to the Avs in the Finals, we would have put up a good fight.