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Philadelphia Flyers News and Rumors

The Philadelphia Flyers play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference.

Part of the 1967 NHL Expansion, the Flyers were the first non-Original Six team after expansion to win the Stanley Cup, winning it in 1974 and again in 1975. Despite five return trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, they have not won the Cup since.

The Flyers have played their home games on Broad Street since their inception, first at The Spectrum from 1967 until 1996, and then at the Wachovia Center from 1996 to the present, which brought about the nickname, the Broad Street Bullies.

They have had rivalries with several teams over the years, the most heated rival of late being the Pittsburgh Penguins. Their most well known rivals have been the New York Rangers, with whom the Flyers have had many brawls and playoff match ups over the years and the New Jersey Devils, with whom the Flyers traded the Atlantic Division title every season between 1995 and 2007 and have faced three times in the playoffs, losing in 1995 and 2000, and winning in 2004.

The flying P has been the Flyers’ primary logo since the beginning. It was Ed Snider’s sister Phyllis who ended up naming the team when she suggested Flyers on a return trip from a Broadway play.

It was during the 1972–73 season that the Flyers shed the mediocre expansion team label and became the intimidating Broad Street Bullies, a nickname coined by Jack Chevalier and Pete Cafone of the Philadelphia Bulletin on January 3, 1973 due to the team’s brawling ways. After the season, Bobby Clarke was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player.

In 1974–75, Schultz topped his mark from the previous season by setting an NHL record for penalty minutes (472 in all). Clarke’s efforts earned him his second Hart Trophy and Parent was the lone recipient of the Vezina Trophy. Facing Buffalo in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Flyers repeated as Stanley Cup Champions. Parent also repeated as the playoff MVP, winning a second consecutive Conn Smythe Trophy.

The Flyers began the 1979–80 season with a somewhat controversial move by naming Clarke a playing assistant coach and giving the captaincy to Mel Bridgman. While Clarke was against this initially, he accepted his new role. The Flyers went undefeated for a North American professional sports record 35 straight games (25–0–10), before losing 7-1 at Minnesota, a record that still stands to this day.

After missing the playoffs for 5 consecutive years from 1989-90 to 1993-94, The Flyers have made the playoffs every year since, except for 2006-07, with one trip to the Stanley Cup Finals and 4 trips to the Conference Finals coming in this time.

For a team traditionally steeped in goaltending greatness, with Bernie Parent, Pelle Lindbergh, and Ron Hextall each winning the Vezina Trophy, goaltending would be the “Achilles heel” of the Flyers during the Rod Brind’Amour and Eric Lindros era’s.

In 2002–03, Roman Cechmanek had a 1.83 GAA and the Flyers acquired Sami Kapanen and Tony Amonte prior to the trade deadline; however, they fell one point short of a second straight Atlantic Division title. As a result, the Flyers endured a long, brutal seven-game first round match-up with Toronto that featured three multiple overtime games, all in Toronto. After winning Game 7, 6–1, the Flyers fought Ottawa in the second round with equal vigor as they split the first four games of the series, Cechmanek earning shutouts in both wins. Cechmanek’s inconsistency showed through, however, as he allowed ten goals in the final two games and Ottawa advanced in six games. Cechmanek was traded to Los Angeles for a 2004 second round draft pick during the off-season despite having the second-best goals-against average in the league over his three years in Philadelphia.

Young stars Mike Richards and Jeff Carter lead the Philladelphia Flyers presently, but with the off-season acquisition of Ray Emery to potentially start in net, you have to wonder if the trend will continue.