How Did The Flyers Go From “The Broad Street Bullies” To “The Boys Who Get Bullied On Broad Street”?

Gone are the days that Philadelphia fans use to pour into The Spectrum (and the then-new CoreStates Center- now referred to the Wells Fargo Center) to see a fight, only to be disappointed when a hockey game broke out. Gone are the days that opposing teams would ask “who do we play tomorrow night?” while riding on the team’s bus or plane to only curse obscenities when they find out the answer was the Flyers! This  response was mostly due to the fact that every team around the league knew they were going to be in for a hard-fought battle (to put it nicely) when facing the appropriately nicknamed Broad Street Bullies and, depending on the era, they would have to line up against guys like Dave “The Hammer” Shultz, Behn Wilson, Rick Tocchet, Dave Brown, Craig Berube, Todd Fedoruk, Donald Brashear, or even Ron Hextall, to name a few. Now, I don’t know about you, but this writer misses those good old days when you could go to a game and see everyone in attendance standing on their feet as they cheered “KILL HIM” or “BEAT HIS BRAINS IN” (while they act out how their team’s current combatant should be doing it) as the Flyers literally fought for every win they received. 

Yes, the game has changed- I get it. But in my opinion, the enforcer position should still be considered essential (with a minor compulsory measure that is). No team should fill a roster spot with a knuckle-dragging goon type anymore; The kind of player that is only put out on the ice for the purpose of immediately starting a fight off the faceoff and then having to be helped to the box afterward because he either has trouble skating or can’t because he has tried taking his skate off to stab a player (yes that’s a Happy Gilmore reference) Sadly, I agree that those days seem to be behind us and the league has moved past that image, but that does not mean that teams should not have a guy on the roster like the Flyers had in Rick Tocchet who could provide the team with 40+ goals a year and 100 penalty minutes to go with it. There are plenty of good players in the league today who can provide offense and still come to the defense of his fellow teammates when needed. Guys like both Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, Evander Kane, Lawson Crouse, Tom Wilson, Max Domi are all such examples of the type of players I’m talking about.

The lost art of a fight can be used for many intended purposes. Whether it be to retaliate against an immediate action of another which caused one of their teammates to get injured or against an action that could have caused a serious injury. Another method is to use fighting to build momentum or switch it if their team is down, or to simply get the fans back into a game if it is lacking excitement. A fight can be used to draw a skilled player from the other team into the box, or to retaliate against an action or words said to them that will result in them getting a penalty. 

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These enforcers, or policemen if you will, maintain order while out on the ice, more than any penalty infraction a referee can hand out. For if a player takes a run at a star player and injures them the aggressor may be so inclined to do it again if they only receive a boarding penalty, but may not be so inclined to do it again if they know they will receive physical bodily harm for their actions.    

The Flyers’ current roster is not respected by other teams around the league. More and more you can see opposing teams taking cheap shots or runs at the Flyers’ star players because when they do there is little to no consequences for their actions. Yes, that player may receive a penalty or even a game or two suspension from the league for his actions, but what good does that do for the Flyers if they lose their star player to injury for an extended period of time? An enforcer may not only make the Tom Wilson’s of the league pay for such an action, but rather whose presence might even prevent such an incident from even happening in the first place. Think about it, is a mugger going to be inclined to take a woman’s purse if there is a cop standing in close proximity? NO! 

As a matter of fact, the only player that could develop to be so physical within the teams’ system is defenseman Sam Morin, but he will most likely not make the starting defensive core for the Flyers and, due to his inability to stay healthy, shouldn’t be considered a reliable option anyway. 

So, who then should the Flyers look to acquire to fill this role? Unrestricted free agent Matt Martin would be an obvious choice to bring in as a ‘long arm of the law’ but, given his $2.5 million dollar cap hit and his added offensive success in the playoffs last season, should be considered out of the Flyers price range.  

Given the Flyers’ limited cap space that will be available after they re-sign defenseman Philippe Myers, they may have to get creative to find their next great heavy weight via a trade. My pick would be to look to the Boston Bruins who have a 22-year-old, American-born center (who can also play wing) named Trent Frederic who was a 1^st round pick back in 2016. Trent, who now stands at 6’2 and 203 pounds, played all but two games last season for Boston’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate the Providence Bruins. There, he was able to pair 32 points on the season with a league-leading 148 penalty minutes as well. Frederic’s strong wrist shot has helped him over the last couple of years in the AHL while he has been recultivating ways to get back to that near point-per-game pace he had while playing for the United States National Development Team and the University of Wisconsin Badgers of the NCAA. 

Trent’s physical brand of hockey is just what the Flyers are lacking. Frederic is never one to not finish his checks, and is always willing to come to the aid of a fellow player without hesitation when they are the recipient of a dirty hit or bad play (which can be seen in the video provided below).        

Once Trent drops his gloves, his long reach helps him to rip off his combatants’ helmet, at which point Frederic deliveries a flurry of fists with his signature over and under approach, where Trent will land one punch to his opponent’s orbital bone then follows it up immediately with a nasty upper cut to the chin. He repeats this process over and over again until his current punching bag keels over in defeat. This past season Frederic even got the chance to prove that this method is effective in the NHL during a call up he had with the big club when he squared up with Brandon Tanev of the Winnipeg Jets as seen below. If you think that this was just a fluke or beginners luck, I would then urge you to type his name into You Tube where you will have the pleasure in watching tons of other bouts that Trent has been in that resulted in a decisive win or total TKO in his favor.  

Now you may be asking why on earth would Boston be willing to get rid of this guy? Which I would point out to you that the Bruins have already lost star defensemen Torey Krug during free agency, and still have yet to re-sign the long time Beantown blueliner Zdeno Chara. So, to say that the team maybe scrabbling for some quality NHL defensemen may be an understatement. With that being said, Boston maybe willing to trade Frederic (who has a minimal cap hit of just $925,000)  for any number of the Flyers’ over-abundance of quality D-men, or NHL-ready defensive prospects from within their system in order to plug up the empty slots on the Bruins’ currently empty blueline. This swap would provide both teams with something they currently lack, and such a deal could be worked to keep both teams under the league’s cap ceiling.  

This move would bring an up and coming Bully to Broad Street who will not only protect his new teammates against the Tom Wilson’s of the Eastern Conference, but also provide some additional offense as well. Trent Frederic is ready for a full-time role in the NHL next season and, if acquired by the Flyers, would pay dividends to the city of Philadelphia as early as next season, hand-over-fist!  

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