Ron Hextall
The Tampa Bay Lightning built the foundation of their championship team through the draft and had to experience a lot of failure before reaching the top. The Flyers may be in the early stages of following the same blueprint.
Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher had his exit day media availability on Thursday afternoon and touched on a number of topics from the progress of the season, what went wrong in the playoffs and what’s ahead for the Flyers in the offseason.
622 days ago, the Flyers were a team in complete disarray. They needed a change and fired the GM. They followed by replacing the GM, firing the head coach and powering through with an interim coach and a rookie goalie in net. Now, they have claimed the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Flyers face the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, and there’s certainly plenty of storylines to look at in this series. Here are five to watch for.
One of the most prolific players in Flyers history is Eric Lindros. From his infamous arrival in 1992 to his rather unceremonious exit in 2000, Lindros’ career was always shadowed with controversy. Here is a look back at the trade saga that brought him to Philadelphia and his career.
The series of greatest moments continues with a moment that is not a great moment, but a tribute to one of the greatest players the Flyers franchise has ever known, Pelle Lindbergh.
On Dec. 8, 1987, Ron Hextall was in the middle of his second season in the NHL and the opportunity presented itself in a game against the Boston Bruins at the Spectrum. To that point, no goaltender had actually fired a shot on an empty net and scored a goal.
When the Flyers and Oilers met in the Stanley Cup Final in 1987, what ensued was a battle of wills that featured two epic comebacks and nearly saw the Flyers top a legendary team in a seven-game war, quite possibly the best Stanley Cup Final ever to take place. Even the greatest player in the league called Flyers netminder Ron Hextall the toughest he ever faced.
After the Eric Lindros-led went through Mario Lemieux and the Penguins, another passing of the torch took place when the Flyers faced the Rangers in the conference final. Here is a closer look at the 1997 Eastern Conference Final between the Flyers and Rangers.
With everything going their way, pushing pause had to be difficult. Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher joined Mike Gill on The Sports Bash on 97.3 ESPN on Monday afternoon and offered his thoughts.
