Flyers History: Conn Smythe Trophy Winners
By Colin Newby
The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 to win the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Vasilevskiy recorded five postseason shutouts, including one in each of the four series clinching games, and solidified his case to be called the best goalie in the world.
The Conn Smythe Trophy has been awarded to a member of the Philadelphia Flyers four times throughout their franchise history. The unique part, however, is that two of the instances came following losing efforts from the Flyers. This bizarre novelty has only happened three other times in history.
Ron Hextall- 1987 Stanley Cup
The Flyers were heavy underdogs entering the 1987 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, who boasted one of the best NHL rosters of all-time featuring Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, and Grant Fuhr.
Rookie goaltender Ron Hextall infused a stunning level of winning energy to a Flyers team that was slowed by the absence of forward Tim Kerr and nagging injuries to stars Mark Howe and Dave Poulin.
The Flyers went the distance with Gretzky and the Oilers but missed out on the ultimate prize. Hextall, now a long-time NHL general manager, spoke of the Game 7 loss years later, saying “the one thing I would change about my career would be the outcome of one game.”
Reggie Leach- 1976 Stanley Cup
Winger Reggie Leach is the only skater in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe in a losing effort. He led the NHL with 61 goals during the 1975-76 regular season and followed it up with a historically prolific postseason.
Leach set a playoff record with 19 goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which was tied by Jari Kurri of the Oilers nine years later but never broken, despite Philadelphia’s unfortunately abrupt loss at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. His 10-game playoff goal streak still stands as an NHL record after Lightning winger Brayden Point fell just short of tying it this postseason.
The trends of Conn Smythe Trophy voters don’t favor players on the losing side in the Finals, and they certainly don’t favor skaters who miss out on lifting the greatest trophy in sports. Former defenseman Chris Pronger came close in 2006 as a member of the eight-seeded Oilers, but it’s not likely you’ll see anybody else challenge Leach’s unique claim in the near future.
Bernie Parent- 1974, 1975 Stanley Cups
The Lightning showcased prolific offensive firepower on their way to back-to-back Cups in 2020 and 2021. Their star-studded lineup distracts from the fact that they never would’ve won without top end goaltending from Vasilevskiy, just as the notorious allure of the Broad Street Bullies distracted from the excellence of goaltender Bernie Parent.
Parent won back-to-back Conn Smythe Trophies in 1974 and 1975, the only two seasons in which the Flyers have lifted the Cup. Remarkably, he also won the Vezina Trophy and finished second and fourth, respectively, in the Hart Trophy voting in both the 1973-74 and 1974-75 regular seasons.
Parent posted a 2.02 goals against average and .933 save percentage in the 1974 postseason and somehow followed it up with a statistically superior playoff performance in 1975, in which he recorded four shutouts in only 15 games. As bumper stickers around the city of Philadelphia used to read, “Only the Lord saves more than Bernie.”