It was the end of yet another great era in Flyers hockey as Simon Gagne officially retired. Gagne spent 10-plus seasons in Philadelphia. The winger scored 264 goals and registered another 271 assists during his time in Philadelphia.
Gagne was the first true star player for the Orange and Black in the post Eric Lindros era. His best season was in 2005-06 when he scored 47 goals added 32 assists for 79 points playing with Peter Forsberg and Mike Knuble. He would follow up that season with a 41-goal, 68-point campaign in 2006-07.
He is perhaps probably most known and loved by Flyers fans for his incredible playoff goals. In 2004, he scored the overtime winner against the Tampa Bay Lightning to force Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Then in the magical run in 2009-10, he scored the overtime winner to force a Game 5 in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals against Boston in his first game back from a broken foot. He would then go on to score the series winner in Game 7, completing the Flyers monumental comeback from 3-0 down in the series and in Game 7 itself.
It is not a stretch to think one day relatively soon we will see Gagne's name in the rafters at the Wells Fargo Center as a member of the Flyers Hall of Fame. All of us here at Flyerdelphia would like to say congratulations on a fantastic career.
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074
