On June 23, 2011, the Flyers’ organization (not liking the direction the club was heading) decided to ship two of it’s biggest stars Capitan Mike Richards and sniper Jeff Carter out of town in two separate blockbuster trades on the same day. The first move of the day was Mike Richards, who was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for then-prospect Brayden Schenn, forward Wayne Simmonds, and a 2nd round pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Then, just a short time later, the Flyers sent their sniper Jeff Carter packing on his way to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for a young winger named Jakub Voracek and the Blue Jackets’ 1st and 3rd round picks that year. The first-round pick was later used by the Flyers to select a young Sean Couturier.
Since that shocking day, the team has essentially been handed over to their former 2006 1st round pick Claude Giroux and the then-newly acquired Jakub Voracek. But what have they really done since?
Claude Giroux- who is now 33 years of age- was named the team’s 19th captain back on January 15th, 2013 after the Flyers traded then-Captain (defensemen) Chris Pronger’s rights to the Arizona Coyotes’ organization. Giroux has since remained captain of the Flyers for some time now, even surpassing great Flyers legends and NHL Hall-of-Famers like Eric Lindros and Bobby Clarke to become the teams longest-tenured Captain in franchise history. Over his now 14-year career with the Flyers, he has played in 922 games, has scored 266 goals, and has 576 assists for 842 points. During this time, Giroux is now (and has been for a while) the highest-paid player on the Flyers’ roster, making $8,275,000 a year. During his time here in Philadelphia, he has been able to reach the 100-point plateau only once and helped his team reach the post season only 50% of the time- or 8 times in his 14 years with the club.
Onto Jakub Voracek: The former 2007 (7th overall) 1st round draft pick is now 31 years old and in his 11th season with the Flyers organization. This hand-to-the-King (Giroux) if you will, has played in 706 games with the Flyers in which time he has managed to score 173 goals and 415 assists, for a total of 588 points as a Flyers up to this point. For his efforts, the team’s management has awarded him the honor of being an alternate captain and an equally impressive contract that pays him $8,250,000 million dollars per year.
While these players’ stats may seem notable, the Flyers have only managed to make it once to the Stanley Cup Finals in Claude Giroux’s reign and never in the 11 years Voracek has been with the team. During the time that either Giroux (or both) of these players have been in place and supposed to be “leaders” of this club, the Flyers have been through (and placed the fault of their shortcomings on) 6 different coaches and have seen a total of 19 different goalies to start a game for them during that time.
So, the question that the fans of Philadelphia should then be asking themselves is just when is any of the blame going to be placed on this veteran duo? For it is not for choosing coaching staff over the years. Some of the stand outs in this writer’s mind were Peter Laviolette, who was the Flyers’ bench boss from ’09-’13. He was able to take the Flyers to their only Finals appearance during these two player’s time in Philly. Prior to Laviolette joining the Flyers he had previously won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes, and in total has coached 4 different teams to the Stanley Cup Finals and managed to make it to the post season 10 different times in his career behind the bench, not to mention achieving 637 wins during his lengthy career as a coach. There was also Craig Berube who was the Flyers’ bench boss from ‘13-‘15. After his dismissal from the job as the Flyers’ head coach he won a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues’ organization. Then, there is the present Flyers’ head coach Alain Vigneault, who is a former Jack Adams Award winner back in 2007 and has made the playoffs 12 different times during the course of his career as a head coach in which he has achieved a total of 706 wins thus far placing him 8th all time in wins for a head coach.
Let’s take a look at goaltending, a position that the Flyers tend to blame the most for their shortcomings. This problem is so prevalent that Philadelphia has become known as a goalie graveyard of sorts; a place where promising, young, award-winning goalies come to end their careers before they truly get a chance to take off, or where established goalies come to have their careers ruined. Let’s take a look at a few over the years. Remember, all of these goalies played during either one or both of these players’ eras. Martin Biron came to the Flyers from the Buffalo Sabers where previously he won a Gold medal at the World Junior Championships (WJC) as well as a CHL Memorial Cup Championship. Antero Nittymaki was a promising young goaltender who, before joining the Flyers, had won two SM Liiga Championships in his native Finland before coming over to the states, and then an AHL Calder Cup Championship with the Phantoms before joining the Flyers. Goaltender Brian Boucher, much like Carter Hart, had won the WHL’s Del Wilson Trophy (given to the league’s best goalie) before turning pro, only to be named an AHL All-Star and later winning the league’s championship (the Calder Cup) as well that year in his first-year as a professional. Ray Emory had a short stint here, left, and won a Stanley Cup and the Jennings Trophy that same year (an award given for having the lowest GA) with the Chicago Black Hawks where his goals against average (GAA) that year was a 1.94 and his save percentage (SV%) was an equally impressive .922. He later returned to the Flyers where his numbers later shot back up to a 3.06 GAA and dropped to a .894 SV%. Coincidence??? I think not!
Let’s keep going. There’s the promising young Sergei Bobrovsky who won Gold at the WJC with team Russia before coming to the Flyers. After just a short stint with the Flyers, Sergei won his 1st (of two Vezina Trophies) the very next season with the Columbus Blue Jackets when he was able to then drop his GAA by more then a goal a game from last season when he was with the Flyers. Let’s speed it up now: Ilya Bryzgalov had won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks before having his career severed in Philly. Steve Mason had won an OHL Championship, won Gold at the WJC, and won the NHL’s Calder Trophy (for rookie of the year). Michal Neuvirth was quite promising before joining the Flyers, winning an OHL Championship and back-to-back AHL Championships. Anthony Stolarz had won an OHL Championship before coming to Philadelphia. Brain Elliott came to the team as an established veteran who had won an NCAA National Championship and had been selected for multiple NHL All-Star games and won the NHL’s Jennings Trophy for the St. Louis Blues, where he posted a 1.56 GAA with a .940 SV% that year in 38 games played. Elliott, this season with the Flyers, has now seen that GAA nearly double! Petr Mrazek was an AHL Calder Cup Champion before joining the Flyers and had a 0.99 GAA and a .955 SV% in 4 games played this year for the Carolina Hurricanes before getting hurt. He’s on the mend, set to return soon, and should make quite the playoff push this season. Carter Hart’s friend Cam Talbot (who only played in 4 games in Philly) felt the effects that the team has on goalies. Two years removed from Broad Street he is flourishing with the Minnesota Wild. What’s potentially the scariest thing is that seeing all this, the team once again did not learn from their misplaced blame and is now putting the finger at Carter Hart as if it’s his fault! Absolutely not!
After seeing this about the goalies over the years some of you may be saying “well it’s the defense’s fault.” While I think you’re right to a point, the Flyers’ organization has at least tried to add strength to the back end with a trade or two during the time Giroux alone and/or Giroux and Voracek were both there. The team brought in Stanley Cup winner and longtime captain of the Dallas Stars Derian Hatcher, who played three seasons with the Flyers. Then, Flyers brought in veteran and former longtime captain of the Oilers Jason Smith to play a season here. The Flyers brought in Nashville’s captain Kimmo Timonen the same year Giroux came into the league and he stayed in Philly for 7 years. Philly traded for NHL Hall-of-Famer, defenseman Chris Pronger who stayed here 3 seasons. Next, there was the Islanders’ blueliner and captain Mark Streit, who the Flyers acquired and who played for five years while both G and Voracek were there. They drafted elite defenseman Ivan Provorov who has been there for five years now, and Chuck went out and got veteran defensemen Matt Niskanen last season to bolster the lineup.
In saying this, I ask you: Just how many more coaches, how many more goalies, and how many more defensemen are going to be blamed before the team realizes that it might be a culture change that is truly needed? Now some may say the game has changed, but I would ask if that change has been for the better. The past five Stanley Cup-winning teams had grit to them. The Flyers as a whole have become soft and easily pushed around by the opposition; not willing to stand up for themselves or each other when a dirty play occurs under Giroux and Voracek’s reign. Previously, under the leadership of Chris Pronger, Mike Richards, Jason Smith, Derian Hatcher, Keith Primeau, Eric Desjardins, Eric Lindros, Kevin Dineen, Rick Tocchet etc. they feared no one! The GM can try to bring players in to help, the coach can give the team a game plan, but the captain and his assistants are the ones on the ice whose play sets the tone for how the team plays! This is a young core and if the captain shows an unwillingness to come to a player’s aid, feels no need to complete a check, fails to play a full 60 minutes, and/or doesn’t set an importance on back-checking, the team will then follow suit. Just like 10 years ago, the Flyers find themselves in need of a culture change: A few players around here have become too comfortable and are settling for mediocrity (Looking at you, Giroux and Voracek!) Leadership needs to make a series of big moves that will send a message to the rest of the team and force them to take a long look at themselves. In doing this, hopefully Fletcher can bring in a few new players to the locker room who can help this team see what it looks like to play ice hockey the right way once again!
