With the mid-season business of captain Claude Giroux remaining 12 months, the workforce that explained the remaining decade-plus of hockey in Philadelphia has died at the approximate age of 11. It was once predeceased through the Mike Richards Flyers and the Legion of Doom; it’s survived through Sean Couturier.
The 2011-12 Flyers roster was once person who was once rebuilt on the fly, and lots of of its elements would come to outline this period. It was once Giroux’s breakout season as a point-per-game first line heart; it noticed the Flyers debut of Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier, and Brayden Schenn; and it additionally featured Kimmo Timonen, Matt Read, Steve Mason, and Scott Hartnell. The subsequent season noticed Giroux ascend to the captaincy and the debut of Scott Laughton. The following few seasons noticed the Flyers upload avid gamers round the edges like Michael Raffl, Andrew MacDonald, Luke Schenn, Radko Gudas, and Shayne Gostisbehere, amongst others.
The core of this workforce was once the assortment of avid gamers that will play in that wild and contentious playoff collection in opposition to the Pittsburgh Penguins that really stoked the inner-state contention in 2012. Their early successes gave the entrance place of work and lots of fanatics the self belief that the staff was once headed someplace. From Paul Holmgren to Ron Hextall, this core was once constructed round slightly than tinkered with.
For the latter part of the decade, there have been at all times fanatics—in the 200 sections, in East Passyunk bars, on Twitter—wondering whether or not the core must be blown up. Why are we proceeding to roll again the identical assortment of avid gamers that best makes the playoffs part the time and after they do get bounced in the first spherical? Giroux and Voracek have been saved round lengthy sufficient to place themselves in the best two and best ten, respectively, in each video games performed and issues for the Flyers all-time. Couturier is correct in the back of. It’s necessarily the first core of my Flyers reminiscence to no longer be blown up prior to their time was once up. At absolute best, that you must argue that the Derian Hatcher/Eric Desjardins/Keith Primeau mid-aughts staff elderly out, however they have been all guys obtained later of their careers and Jeff Carter and Mike Richards have been already in the wings on the ones rosters anyway.
Schenn was once traded in 2017, Simmonds in 2019, Raffl and Voracek in 2021. Oskar Lindblom was once purchased out this summer season. If the send of Theseus have been saved in a harbor and each phase changed one at a time, would it not then be a brand new send? If each phase of the Philadelphia Flyers’ roster is changed one at a time, would it not then be a brand new staff? Coming into the 2022-23 season, it’s the first time in a very long time that this Flyers roster seems like a brand new staff. With a ahead corps stuffed out through guys like Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee, Kevin Hayes, and Cam Atkinson and a back-end consisting of names like Rasmus Ristolainen, Tony DeAngelo, Justin Braun, and Cam York. This roster is principally unrecognizable to a Flyers fan of even simply 5 seasons in the past.
Of the last avid gamers, best Couturier has performed greater than 500 video games as a Flyer. James van Riemsdyk, Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov, Scott Laughton, and Travis Sanheim are all in the 400 vary—and there’s been lovely vital business chatter surrounding every one of them.
It’s going to take a while prior to we all know what’s going to outline this period of Flyerdom, however as of at this time, this seems like Kevin Hayes’ Flyers. Not essentially as a result of he’s the absolute best participant on the staff, and no longer as a result of he’s the captain—no less than no longer but—however as a result of of the sneaky feeling that he’s been shadow-GMing this staff. It every now and then turns out like each Chuck Fletcher acquisition is one of 3 classes: a former Minnesota Wild participant or draft select, a USA Hockey man, or a Kevin Hayes Guy. And what defines a Kevin Hayes Guy has its personal subsets, too: there’s Boston College guys and Boston-area guys, there’s Barstool guys and ex-Rangers, and there’s guys who’re actually simply associated with Kevin Hayes. Keith Yandle, Tony DeAngelo, Cam Atkinson, Johnny Gaudreau, Ryan Fitzgerald, Joel Farabee*, Derick Brassard, and Patrick Brown, among others, are all Kevin Hayes Guys.
Now, whether or not or no longer it is a excellent factor remains to be unknown at this level. It indubitably doesn’t glance nice—this roster isn’t that other than it was once remaining 12 months but even so the main subtraction of its absolute best participant. And there’s no longer so much for the long term, as a result of maximum of the younger roster avid gamers are nonetheless sufficiently old that their video games don’t seem to be going to expand a lot previous the place they’re now. Maybe the Flyers in point of fact did wish to transfer previous the Giroux-Voracek generation, as greater than a decade with them didn’t convey a lot tangible good fortune. Is the approach Fletcher and Co. went about it the supreme solution to move about it? Probably no longer.
Maybe I’m mistaken about this subsequent generation. Maybe Sean Couturier will likely be named the Flyers nineteenth captain, will play out all or maximum of the last 8 years on his contract, will turn into the Flyers all-time chief in video games performed, and can come to outline this subsequent generation, and the Flyers will likely be a success.
But we’re no longer right here to speak about the long term; that is an obituary, in any case. The demise of the 2010s Flyers got here peacefully, in its sleep. As adversarial to the two well-defined eras prior to it, it pale away a lot more than it burnt out. The 2010s Flyers loved dropping shootouts, sticking it to the Penguins, slightly lacking the playoffs, grilled cheese, slightly making the playoffs, mainstay fourth-liners, the occasional highlight-reel objective, blocking off folks on Twitter, lovely deficient goaltending, and irritating the hell out of all of us.
It in the long run made the playoffs 5 occasions, successful a complete of two collection’: the aforementioned six-game defeat of the Penguins in 2012 and a hard-fought six-gamer over the Montreal Canadiens in the 2020 Toronto bubble. It cycled via six other head coaches and 3 other normal managers. It lived via 3 shortened seasons—the 2012 lockout and the two pandemic-affected campaigns.
It will likely be ignored, or, at the very least, remembered. In lieu of vegetation, please crack a Kenzinger and pour one out. Viewings for family members and buddies will likely be open at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, November 12 at 1 p.m.
*I’m mindful that Joel Farabee was once drafted prior to Hayes was once with the staff. He’s nonetheless a Kevin Hayes Guy, despite the fact that.