Were the Flyers favored to win the 2010 Stanley Cup Final?

[dalewood12]

On paper, they seemed to have a better mix of vets and young studs, plus they played a grittier game that is typical of a Stanley Cup calibre team.

Also, they seemed more tested than the younger Hawks.

Click to read more...

 

[JianYang]

I don't remember anyone who had the flyers as favourites in that series. The Blackhawks were the league's golden child at the time, and it felt like it was just a matter of time before they win the cup. That was an extraordinary team.

Also, I think the Hawks had adequate grit with guys like Bolland, byfuglien, burish etc... it's hard to poke holes in them. If anything, niemi was seen as the weak link but he seemed to be on a good run himself. With teams like Chicago, you only needed niemi to not make you lose games on his own.

The flyers were also running with Michael Leighton who I believe was their 3rd goalie at the time.

The flyers didn't exactly lay down but they were definitive underdogs at the time.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

The Flyers goalie situation in those playoffs was laughably incompetent

 

[Michael Farkas]

The Hawks were heavily favored. The Flyers had an entire defensive pair that they couldn't out on the ice and a minor leaguer in net...

Niemi vs Leighton is a really bad product.

 

[GKJ]

You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who had them favored. Not only was the roster management horrendous, but the goaltenders they did have, they couldn’t keep them on the ice.

 

[Hockey Stathead]

The betting markets priced Chicago as pretty significant favorites (~70% implied win %):

Chicago -250
Philadelphia +210

That's the 7th highest implied win % for the favorite in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1978-1979.

source: sportsoddshistory.com

 

[Gurglesons]

Not a chance.

The Hawks were heavily favored. The Flyers had an entire defensive pair that they couldn't out on the ice and a minor leaguer in net...

Niemi vs Leighton is a really bad product.

It is kind of funny their bottom 3 D averaged a total of 15 minutes in the entire series.

 

[MadLuke]

Top 4 all 27 minutes, 30 for Pronger.

Krajicek: 8:30
Bartulis.: 4:33

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

No, Flyers had only 88 pts and benefited from Halak taking out Caps and Pens.

 

[The Macho King]

I remember thinking it would be a gentleman's sweep for the Hawks. I don't think anyone outside of Philly had them as winning that series.

 

[WarriorofTime]

No, the Blackhawks were a comfortable favorite. Better regular season, better postseason in what was thought to be the tougher conference with the Flyers needing a reverse sweep to comeback to get beyond Boston and then catching a break with Halak standing on his head to upset Washington and Pittsburgh in series they were outplayed in so that the 7th seeded Flyers somehow had home ice for the Conference Finals.

they seemed more tested than the younger Hawks.

The Blackhawks had won 6 Series over the last two Playoffs by that point, and were 3rd in Goals and 5th goals against during the 2009-10 regular season. I'm not sure why they would need any more "tests" to believe in them heading into that Final. It's not like they were facing Pittsburgh or someone else that had a proven Stanley Cup pedigree at that point.

Thoughts were that Pronger was the best defenseman (but it was Duncan Keith's Norris season... sooo not exactly a massive edge), but the Hawks had an edge in Forwards, a deeper defense and while neither team had great goaltending the Flyers were certainly more of a mess there.

 

[Super Fadio Bro]

No, Flyers had only 88 pts and benefited from Halak taking out Caps and Pens.

The same Halak that the Flyers themselves knocked out in 5 games after beating the 2nd seed Devils and coming back from 3-0 vs the Bruins.

 

[Voight]

On paper, they seemed to have a better mix of vets and young studs, plus they played a grittier game that is typical of a Stanley Cup calibre team.

Also, they seemed more tested than the younger Hawks.

The Blackhawks were tested the prior year.

They lost in 5 to the defending champs in the WCF but three of those games went to OT. That as their coming out party. Signing Hossa was the missing piece.

They also beat the Canucks and Sharks going 8-2 in the final two rounds that year (2010)

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

The Flyers had a bottom pairing that played 10 minutes a game and a goalie that was playing WAY over his head.

Even with Niemi, the Blackhawks were definite favourites.

 

[MadLuke]

The Flyers had a bottom pairing that played 10 minutes a game

When it was going well, the #5 and #6 D in the finals

Krajicek: 8:30
Bartulis.: 4:33

 

[Michael Farkas]

One of my all time favorite game logs is Ryan Parent's game 1 of the 2010 SCF --

One shift, 0:41, 0+0=0 -1

2009-10 Stanley Cup Final Game 1, Philadelphia Flyers vs. Chicago Blackhawks Box Score: May 29, 2010 | Hockey-Reference.com

Get the latest box score updates on the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Chicago Blackhawks game played on May 29, 2010 on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

That was the last postseason game of his career. And that former top 20 pick played four more games in the NHL at age 23 with Vancouver and that was that...

 

[The Macho King]

One of my all time favorite game logs is Ryan Parent's game 1 of the 2010 SCF --

One shift, 0:41, 0+0=0 -1

2009-10 Stanley Cup Final Game 1, Philadelphia Flyers vs. Chicago Blackhawks Box Score: May 29, 2010 | Hockey-Reference.com

Get the latest box score updates on the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Chicago Blackhawks game played on May 29, 2010 on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

That was the last postseason game of his career. And that former top 20 pick played four more games in the NHL at age 23 with Vancouver and that was that...

God there was that one Rangers game that went multiple OTs in the playoffs and Torts had a guy he played for like 3 minutes. His face became a meme around here at some point. Can't remember it for the life of me.

 

[Crosby2010]

They certainly made it interesting, but they were outmatched. On paper you look at the names and wonder, because the Flyers were probably better than their 88 points suggested. You had Richards, Carter, Briere, Gagne, Hartnell and a young Giroux who hadn't quite hit his prime yet. Obviously Pronger on defense, but it was thin after him. Never had to play the Pens or Caps, only had to play the Habs in the semis who were well into their 15th minute of fame that year.

Give them credit though, they became the 3rd team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit vs. Boston. And those were mostly close games the final four. Overtime, a comeback down 3-0 in Game 7, etc. But even in 2009 you knew Chicago was coming, and 2010 was their time.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Obviously Pronger on defense, but it was thin after him.

I don't at all disagree with your point. But I just want to add that I had a lot of time for Kimmo Timonen. But otherwise, you're bang on...Matt Carle was a product of Pronger, that third pairing (+1) rotation has been picked to death in the thread already, young Coburn was just not consistently effective at any point in his career really...

One other thing of minor interest...Philadelphia got a number of red hot guys during that run. Folks these days might call it #unsustainable

Pick around the higher scoring last few five years for a second and Philly really stands out...
# of playoff players w/shooting pct. =>19% (min. 10 games) [2006-2023 playoffs]

Concat	Count
20222023 VGK	6​
20112012 PHI	5​
20092010 PHI	5​
20212022 STL	4​
20222023 SEA	3​
20212022 COL	3​
20202021 COL	3​
20192020 CGY	3​
20172018 PIT	3​
20152016 SJS	3​
20102011 TBL	3​
20102011 NSH	3​
20092010 CHI	3​
20082009 VAN	3​
20072008 PIT	3​
20052006 BUF	3​

 

[Crosby2010]

I don't at all disagree with your point. But I just want to add that I had a lot of time for Kimmo Timonen. But otherwise, you're bang on...Matt Carle was a product of Pronger, that third pairing (+1) rotation has been picked to death in the thread already, young Coburn was just not consistently effective at any point in his career really...

One other thing of minor interest...Philadelphia got a number of red hot guys during that run. Folks these days might call it #unsustainable

Pick around the higher scoring last few five years for a second and Philly really stands out...
# of playoff players w/shooting pct. =>19% (min. 10 games) [2006-2023 playoffs]

Concat	Count
20222023 VGK	6​
20112012 PHI	5​
20092010 PHI	5​
20212022 STL	4​
20222023 SEA	3​
20212022 COL	3​
20202021 COL	3​
20192020 CGY	3​
20172018 PIT	3​
20152016 SJS	3​
20102011 TBL	3​
20102011 NSH	3​
20092010 CHI	3​
20082009 VAN	3​
20072008 PIT	3​
20052006 BUF	3​

They had the iron hot in the playoffs, that's for sure. Briere always brought his "A" game in the postseason, but man, 30 points is still pretty epic! Especially in a losing cause. Then Richards had 23, I can see that, he was a heck of a player then. You've got a young Giroux with 21 and then Ville Leino comes out of nowhere and gets 21. And he basically does nothing afterwards the rest of his career. I guess if you had to pick, Pronger with 18 points is the Conn Smythe favourite perhaps just because of the fact he was averaging 30 minutes a game at still a very elite level. But man, I have to tell you, Briere would be about as good of a non-Smythe winner as you can get out there. He never had a bad series and probably saved his best for the finals (12 points in 6 games)

 

[GKJ]

First off, there’s no denying, Halak did the dirty work.

If the Flyers had Laviolette from the start of the season, they would’ve had more than 88 points. They came back with largely the same roster the next year, sans Gagne, and Pronger got hurt, but got much better goaltending and defensive depth and won the division, though they were leaking oil when they got to the playoffs in 2011.

They were good on paper because ultimately they did underachieve during the season. They lose Emery to the hip injury right at the Olympics. Leighton, which nobody will ever understand how that happened, got hurt in March. Brian Boucher just barely held it together, literally with how the regular season ended.

Then they got to take a breath once the playoffs began, and seemed to revel in their battle scars, but it wasn’t like the injuries stopped. In Game 4 vs. Boston, they were running out AHL guys to kill penalties in overtime. Jeff Carter is hurt, Gagne came back from a broken foot. Flyers got a huge boost though because it allowed Ville Leino to emerge, and playing with Briere, might have been the biggest key on the Flyers roster.

Their greatest bit of fortune in their games was actually in Game 3 vs. Boston, when Richards hit Krejci which broke his wrist. Boston immediately scored and won the game, but that was a killer as it allowed the Flyers to get the advantage at center

 

[Michael Farkas]

Through another lens...does anyone have an example handy from back in the day (likely pre-WWII) of a star player just going from team to team and being a huge part of them making their respective Final?

Pronger: '06 Edm (SCF), '07 Ana (Cup), '10 Phi (SCF)...he was with a decent Blues team in the early 2000's...imagine if the Blues went on a run in '03 or '04...'04 they lost to SJ, they would have gotten Detroit - which #6 Calgary beat in 6.

In '03, they lost in 7 to Vancouver in round one. That would have led them to expansion Minnesota. Which would have led them to another sandbagging team in Anaheim. There was definitely an avenue there, but...ya know, Chris Osgood is fairly heavy baggage to have to carry around...

 

[jigglysquishy]

Through another lens...does anyone have an example handy from back in the day (likely pre-WWII) of a star player just going from team to team and being a huge part of them making their respective Final?

Pronger: '06 Edm (SCF), '07 Ana (Cup), '10 Phi (SCF)...he was with a decent Blues team in the early 2000's...imagine if the Blues went on a run in '03 or '04...'04 they lost to SJ, they would have gotten Detroit - which #6 Calgary beat in 6.

In '03, they lost in 7 to Vancouver in round one. That would have led them to expansion Minnesota. Which would have led them to another sandbagging team in Anaheim. There was definitely an avenue there, but...ya know, Chris Osgood is fairly heavy baggage to have to carry around...

Tommy Phillips might be a good candidate.

Between 1903 and 1909 he played in Stanley Cup games for four different teams (Montreal AAA, Toronto Marlboros, Kenora Thistles, and Edmonton).

We have some other examples of two or three teams, but I do believe he's the only pre-WWII player to play in Cup games on four different teams.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Interesting, thanks for that. I see that he was voted a top 10 pre-merger player recently and a top 5 forward. At a glance, we rated Pronger just the 10th best post-expansion d-man in the last top 100 list. Worse than that on the top d-man list.

I wonder if the DOB situations were reversed, if either of them would be viewed any differently.

(This isn't a Colombo like thing, I'm not trying to lead to anything...I just think it's mildly interesting to consider)

 

[HisIceness]

They were a popular pick before the season. Lot of excitement about acquiring Pronger.

I'm sure most including me, had them as a quick out when the playoffs started.

The Finals? Blackhawks in 6 seemed to be a popular consensus if I remember right.