Flyers' History: Top 10s in Flyers history and other recollections

[dragonoffrost]

Like Brindy was with his Hurricane baggage?

When sjould we move on with Flyers Alumni players who fed their families through other organizations after leaving?

Hurricane is totally different than Pens... they'll get booed. See the draft here when the Pens sent Tochhet up to make their pick thinking it would appease the Philly Heathens.

 

[BiggE]

Hurricane is totally different than Pens... they'll get booed. See the draft here when the Pens sent Tochhet up to make their pick thinking it would appease the Philly Heathens.

Apples and oranges. At the draft, Tocchet was representing the Pens. Show a video of his Flyers highlights prior to introducing him and the fans will cheer. Same for Recchi.

 

[Sawdalite]

Hurricane is totally different than Pens... they'll get booed. See the draft here when the Pens sent Tochhet up to make their pick thinking it would appease the Philly Heathens.

I hear you, my friend... but with all due respect, that is apples and oranges; Alumni operating in an capacity with other teams against the Flyers is an enemy, and can expect to be booed... but a Flyers Alum coming in for a Flyers ceremony/event is a returning Flyer -- Once a Flyer, always a Flyer... Unless he willingly disgraces himself with Flyers -- We are talking being honored by the Flyers organization and fans for their past services while wearing the O&B... anybody who boos one as such has to answer to me and all other sane and rational Flyers Fans. Recchi and Tocchet have zero to hang their heads for in Philly... and surely belong in the Flyers Hall of Fame at some point; should already have been enshrined.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

HockeyBuzz.com - Bill Meltzer - Six Finalists Named for Flyers Hall of Fame; Remembering McCrimmon & Dailey

Six Finalists Named for Flyers Hall of Fame

Today, the Flyers announced the six finalists for induction in the team's Hall of Fame during the 2021-22 season. The finalists are as follows:

• Mark Recchi (player),
• Rick Tocchet (player),
• Simon Gagne (player),
• Paul Holmgren (player, coach, GM, team president),
• Bob Kelly (player, Ambassador of Hockey) and
• Lou Nolan (PR department, public address announcer).

The short list of candidates was boiled down to six from a long list suggested by the Nominating Committee. It will now be up to the Voting Committee to choose this year's inductee(s).

The Voting Committee is comprised of current Flyers Hall of Fame members, Flyers alumni, members of the Flyers front office, broadcasters, and members of the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA).

 

[BiggE]

HockeyBuzz.com - Bill Meltzer - Six Finalists Named for Flyers Hall of Fame; Remembering McCrimmon & Dailey

Six Finalists Named for Flyers Hall of Fame

Today, the Flyers announced the six finalists for induction in the team's Hall of Fame during the 2021-22 season. The finalists are as follows:

• Mark Recchi (player),
• Rick Tocchet (player),
• Simon Gagne (player),
• Paul Holmgren (player, coach, GM, team president),
• Bob Kelly (player, Ambassador of Hockey) and
• Lou Nolan (PR department, public address announcer).

The short list of candidates was boiled down to six from a long list suggested by the Nominating Committee. It will now be up to the Voting Committee to choose this year's inductee(s).

The Voting Committee is comprised of current Flyers Hall of Fame members, Flyers alumni, members of the Flyers front office, broadcasters, and members of the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA).

Of all 6, Lou Nolan deserves it the most. 54 years with any company is impressive

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Of all 6, Lou Nolan deserves it the most. 54 years with any company is impressive

If he is #1 in service, depending on his retirement, then Joe Watson could be #2 as a payer, coach, exec, scout, etc. (The exception being when he played for the Colorado Rockies).

 

[Rebels57]

I'd go with Lou Nolan and Bob Kelly this go-around.

Tocchet and Recchi carry too much of the Penguins stench.

Gagne should get in next go around.

 

[BiggE]

I'd go with Lou Nolan and Bob Kelly this go-around.

Tocchet and Recchi carry too much of the Penguins stench.

Gagne should get in next go around.

Other than Kelly, I’m with ya.

 

[Hockeypete49]

If he is #1 in service, depending on his retirement, then Joe Watson could be #2 as a payer, coach, exec, scout, etc. (The exception being when he played for the Colorado Rockies).

I am good friends with Frank the Animal and he took me to a few alumni games and Joe was like the Godfather on the bus. All business. But once the games were over and we met the fans he was cool as hell. I have always said hockey players are the most down to earth people in the world. Talk about pranks!! For me a old school guy I would like to see Lou, Bob and Paul get in this year

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

@BiggE
@Captain Dave Poulin
@JXC

A little blast from the past. Don't spoil the memories.

Former Peterborough Pete Derrick Smith now coaches Durham Roadrunners Jr. A team​

“Mike Keenan is probably my favourite coach to this day. He was a hard-ass for sure, but as long as you gave it 100 per cent and you worked for him, he loved you.”

“We had a great team, a close knit bunch of guys. It was just fun. Ed Snider made up the best ownership in the NHL. They treated us like gold and the fans were amazing,” Smith explains.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

@BiggE
@Captain Dave Poulin
@JXC

A little blast from the past. Don't spoil the

Former Peterborough Pete Derrick Smith now coaches Durham Roadrunners Jr. A team​

“Mike Keenan is probably my favourite coach to this day. He was a hard-ass for sure, but as long as you gave it 100 per cent and you worked for him, he loved you.”

“We had a great team, a close knit bunch of guys. It was just fun. Ed Snider made up the best ownership in the NHL. They treated us like gold and the fans were amazing,” Smith explains.

Glad to see that nothing has changed in Philadelphia. Oh, wait ...

Nick F***ing Seeler is despoiling his number 24. We are all being poisoned.

 

[JXC]

@BiggE
@Captain Dave Poulin
@JXC

A little blast from the past. Don't spoil the memories.

Former Peterborough Pete Derrick Smith now coaches Durham Roadrunners Jr. A team​

“Mike Keenan is probably my favourite coach to this day. He was a hard-ass for sure, but as long as you gave it 100 per cent and you worked for him, he loved you.”

“We had a great team, a close knit bunch of guys. It was just fun. Ed Snider made up the best ownership in the NHL. They treated us like gold and the fans were amazing,” Smith explains.

Who were his linemates, typically, MSE?

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Who were his linemates, typically, MSE?

Rick Tocchet and Ron Sutter comprised a line when healthy.

 

[BiggE]

So where does 2021-22 rank as far as the worst seasons in Flyers history? Stay tuned, that bottom 10 list will be coming out later today.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

So where does 2021-22 rank as far as the worst seasons in Flyers history? Stay tuned, that bottom 10 list will be coming out later today.

Spoiler

It's the worst, by miles.

 

[Embiid]

Chuck Fletcher is a bottom....

 

[BiggE]

And away we go with perhaps the ugliest (next to Kevin Hayes) list of all, THE 10 WORST SEASONS IN FLYERS HISTORY!

First, as always, the dishonorable mentions in chronological order:

1971-72: After getting both swept and embarrassed by Chicago in 71, there was still room for optimism as young center Bobby Clarke was quickly becoming a star player. However, even though Clarke put up 81 points and came in 8th in the Hart trophy voting, the Flyers took a step back and were eliminated from playoff contention the last game of the regular season.

1991-92: They missed the playoffs for the 3rd straight year with a lousy 75 points in 84 games. It would lead to the acquisition of Eric Lindros later that spring.

2000-01: After a mediocre start, the Flyers played much better under new coach Bill Barber who would go on to win the Jack Adams award as the league's top coach that season. However, they flamed out badly in the playoffs, losing to Buffalo in 6 games, the last being an 8-0 shellacking.

2014-15: After bouncing back well under new coach Craig Berube the previous season and taking the eastern conference finalist Rangers to 7 games, the Flyers crashed and burned the following year and it led to the hell that was the era of Dave Hakstol.

2016-17: Once again the Flyers followed a season in which they made the playoffs and seemed to be improving a bit with yet another letdown. Claude Giroux struggled to recover from a core injury and once again the Flyers missed the playoffs.

And now the bottom 10, yuck!

10. 1993-94
The Flyers went into the 93-94 season with a new coach (Terry Simpson) and a lot of optimism. Eric Lindros had taken the league by storm in his rookie season and the Flyers seemed poised for a return to the playoffs. Instead, Simpson was a massive fail, the goaltending was inconsistent all year and, worst of all, Lindros missed significant time with another knee injury. They missed the playoffs and both Simpson and GM Russ Farwell were soon on the unemployment line.

9. 1998-99
Everything was going great for coach Roger Neilson's Flyers that season until that fateful night in Nashville. Eric Lindros, who was probably the odds on favorite to win his 2nd Hart trophy that year, suffered a collapsed lung and was done for the season. Not only did the Flyers struggle to score goals in a first round PO loss to Toronto, but the Clarke/Lindros saga morphed into open warfare and things got very ugly very quickly.

8. 1983-84
After 2 straight years of first round flameouts, it looked like the Flyers were finally going to put things together. They had a nice mix of youth (Sutter, Propp, Kerr, Poulin and Sinisalo) experienced vets (Clarke, Barber and Sittler) and Mark Howe to anchor the D. But sadly, Bob McCammon was behind the bench and causing dissension in the ranks. While working out during his McCammon ordered "vacation", Bill Barber blew out his knee and ended his career. The Flyers were also blown out in 3 straight 1st round playoff games by the Washington Capitals and a lot of empty seats were being seen in the Spectrum that season too. McCammon would soon be fired as both HC and GM and better days soon followed.

7. 2018-19
Seven goalies, the firing of Hextall, the replacing of Hakstol with Mimsy Gordon; man it was just ugly all around. The Flyers had made the playoffs in 2017 and things seemed to be (finally) moving in the right direction. Thinking his team was ready to take the next step, Hextall signed free agent JVR to a 5 year deal and then it all unraveled quickly in the fall. Goalies started dropping like flies, Hakstol was clueless and stubborn (a bad combo), and before we even knew what happened, Hextall was gone and in came the disaster that is Cuck Fletcher.

6. 1978-79
You can basically sum this season up as: Shero went to NY and the Flyers went to shit. Plus, they lost Hall of Fame goalie Bernie Parent to a career ending eye injury that season as well. After squeaking by Vancouver in the 1st round on the back of some great play by Bobby Clarke, the Flyers were simply destroyed by the Rangers in the next round. Not only did they lose 4 straight games after winning game 1 in OT, but they were outscored 26-5 in those 4 games! It was the worst overall playoff effort in Flyers history and the shit ridden cherry on the rancid sundae that was the 78-79 season.

5. 2001-02
As if getting humiliated in the first round of the playoffs by Buffalo wasn't bad enough, the players then mutinied against head coach Bill Barber who had just lost his wife to cancer following the playoff debacle. It was flat out disgusting and I really don't even want to write about it anymore.

4. 2020-21
It was the Chuck, AV and Michel show and it was uglier than Kevin Hayes in the bright sunshine. The goaltending was horrid, the coaching was horrid, the powerplay was horrid and having to actually watch this lousy team was the most horrible of all. Fletcher and AV both should have been sent packing after the season, but the brilliant Dave Scott, and his cronies Clarke and Homer, doubled down on Cuck and AV and the offseason that followed (FORESHADOWING) was even worse than the season.

3. 1989-90
The Flyers went into the 89-90 season coming off a tough loss to Montreal in the 1989 conference final and having made the playoffs for 17 straight seasons. Well, it all rapidly went to shit. The team was riddled with injuries, and the effects of Clarke's poor drafting quickly set in as the team had little in the prospect pool that could step in and help. It was a mess all around and it led to the firing of GM Bob Clarke and the start of 5 seasons with no playoffs. YUCK!

And now, the 2 worst, I went back and forth between these two for the top spot, but I finally made a decision.

2. 2006-07
For the first time in the history of the franchise, the Flyers finished dead last in the NHL. The horrific start to the season led to the November firing of both GM Bob Clarke who seemed to have little grasp of both the new salary cap and rule changes, and coach Ken Hitchcock who had completely lost the team. However some good moves by new GM Paul Holmgren, including the acquisitions of Braydon Coburn and goaltender Martin Biron along with the trading of Forsberg to Nashville for a great return kept this season from being the worst ever. But don't kid yourselves, it was still pretty damn awful!

And the worst.....

1. 2021-22
Why is this the worst? Easy. CUCK FLETCHER, that's why. The Ghost fiasco, the horrible trade for Ristolainen and the even worse contract extension, the Yandle mess, replacing the asshole AV with the idiot Mike Yeo, Grompson, Zack, injuries; other than some good play from Carter Hart and young players Farabee and York, this season has been a total disaster. And yet, the idiot in charge, thought this was a playoff team going into the season! They aren't dead last, but hey, one more 10 game losing streak should do the trick. Cuck is the worst GM in the NHL and the fanbase, except for the mouth breathing authentic group, are frustrated beyond words. In all the other bad seasons (except for the previous, sigh), there was at least a bit of optimism that things could get better, but sadly, not today. It's the all time mountain of pure shitgarbage and it's squarely on the empty head of Cuck Fletcher and the clueless dipshit in charge, Dave Scott. May God have mercy on our suffering souls by having Comcast just sell the damn team.

And there you have it, the most painful list (not including tragic deaths) in Flyers history. As always, I welcome your comments and opinions, thanks!

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

I won't say good job but kudos as more so the scars of doom were on ample display.

You managed to do the impossible and mention 1978-79 without specifically saying Robbie Moore and Wayne Stephenson. But without Parent, that was impending disgust.

Don't forget 1985-86. That was the season of hope and optimism after Clarke-Keenan resurrected the franchise following three years of cataclysmic failures in the playoffs. Then the quick start. There was a sense of another Cup maybe more so than what happened in 1984-85. But it all ended one night in November.

 

[BiggE]

I won't say good job but kudos as more so the scars of doom were on ample display.

You managed to do the impossible and mention 1978-79 without specifically saying Robbie Moore and Wayne Stephenson. But without Parent, that was impending disgust.

Don't forget 1985-86. That was the season of hope and optimism after Clarke-Keenan resurrected the franchise following three years of cataclysmic failures in the playoffs. Then the quick start. There was a sense of another Cup maybe more so than what happened in 1984-85. But it all ended one night in November.

Thanks amigo. 85-86 is hard to rate as one of the worst from a hockey sense. The team showed tremendous resilience and heart and I really couldn’t fault them for just running out of gas by the playoffs. Now if it was a list of the most tragic seasons, it would be right there at the top.

 

[Kermit the Prog]

Thanks amigo. 85-86 is hard to rate as one of the worst from a hockey sense. The team showed tremendous resilience and heart and I really couldn’t fault them for just running out of gas by the playoffs. Now if it was a list of the most tragic seasons, it would be right there at the top.

I'm wondering if a Top-10 "What If" Seasons could be conjured. The caveat being a single obstacle that precluded possible glory. Yes, I would be expecting to read the name, "Leon Stickle" in such a list.

 

[BiggE]

I'm wondering if a Top-10 "What If" Seasons could be conjured. The caveat being a single obstacle that precluded possible glory. Yes, I would be expecting to read the name, "Leon Stickle" in such a list.

So alternate history scenarios, eh?

That’s a tough one because where do you draw the line: draft picks, trades, FA signings, missed calls, etc…?

I’m not sure it’s possible to narrow this down to 10. The permutations are basically endless.

 

[Kermit the Prog]

So alternate history scenarios, eh?

That’s a tough one because where do you draw the line: draft picks, trades, FA signings, missed calls, etc…?

I’m not sure it’s possible to narrow this down to 10. The permutations are basically endless.

It's a tricky one, to be sure. Off the top - Bufalo's last-second goal in 1972 (71?), Bernie not getting injured, MacLeish missing the 1976 Finals, Kerr missing the 1987 Finals, drafting Forsberg, Lindros' collapsed lung, Pelle's death, Leon F*cking Stickle...

Your last list just stirred up those "What if?" vibes.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

Kerr missing the 1987 Finals

I have been saying it for 35 years - had everything else been the same, and Kerr healthy, we win that series. For sure. It was a glaring, massive hole.

 

[BiggE]

It's a tricky one, to be sure. Off the top - Bufalo's last-second goal in 1972 (71?), Bernie not getting injured, MacLeish missing the 1976 Finals, Kerr missing the 1987 Finals, drafting Forsberg, Lindros' collapsed lung, Pelle's death, Leon F*cking Stickle...

Your last list just stirred up those "What if?" vibes.

Here are just a few off the top of my head:

Parent and Macleish are both 100% going into the 76 final. The result: that Montreal team was ridiculously deep but the Flyers would have been stronger down the middle and Leach was red hot. Montreal is deeper on the wings and has the much better D group. It likely comes down to a game 7 in Montreal and I think the Habs would win a close one on home ice.

1980 final game 6: Stickle calls icing
Hard to say if that one change affects the final outcome of game 6. But if the Flyers did win, I don’t see them losing a game 7 in the Spectrum.

I’m doing this on my phone so I’ll stop now before I lose it. I’ll post a few more a little later.

 

[Beef Invictus]

The thing that puts this year over 06-07 is the total lack of hope going forward. For me at least