Building the Scariest Philadelphia Flyers Team of All-Time
Halloween season is upon us, and the Philadelphia Flyers are the perfect sports franchise for the holiday. After all, they wear orange and black. They also used to intimidate the opposition when they came to play at the Spectrum and the Wells Fargo Center.
As one of the most storied teams in NHL history, there have been a lot of great players on this team who would strike fear into opposing players. Which ones made our Halloween list of spooky, intimidating players?
RW – Mark Recchi
There have been a lot of great scoring players who have played for a season (Jaromir Jagr) or a career (Claude Giroux). Recchi is, perhaps, one of the most underrated and underappreciated scorers in Flyers history.
His 123 points in 1992-93 is still the team’s all-time record. Not only that, he did that on a team that didn’t make the playoffs. When he hit the ice, it seemed as if he could score at will. Even now, 30 years later, he sits in the top 10 of most offensive categories.
C – Eric Lindros
When many Flyers fans think about Lindros, it is hard not to think about “what could’ve been“. The injuries took their toll on a generational talent. He was tasked with leading the team back to the promised land of the NHL and he couldn’t do it; although to be fair, nobody else has either.
When he did play, he was a beast. The Hall of Famer is 19th all-time with 1.13 points per game. If you take just what he did in Philly, that rises up to 1.36, which squeezes him up to sixth place between Bobby Orr and Gilbert Dionne.
Not only that, he was a master of physicality that would’ve made him a shoo-in on the Broad Street Bullies team. He used his size to intimidate the opposition and make them think twice about battling in the corners.
Speaking of intimidating forwards, you can’t go without mentioning Dave Schultz. He is the proud owner of two of the top-10 most penalty minutes in a season; including the all-time mark of 472 in 1974-75. In contrast, last year’s leader Pat Maroon led the NHL with 150 minutes. They didn’t call him “The Hammer” for nothing.
His 2,292 career penalty minutes rank only 35th in the league’s history, but hey, he played only eight seasons. During his career though, he made sure that Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber were protected. He was the ideal enforcer. If you were unlucky enough to see him on the ice, it would leave you shaking in your skates.
Honorable Mentions: (Rick Tocchet, Tim Kerr, Bobby Clarke, Rod Brind’amour, Wayne Simmonds)
D – Andre Dupont
Much like the offensive guys, there have been many great Flyers who patrolled the blue line. “The Moose” was a different sort of guy. He could score and he could fight. As a member of the Bullies teams, he was a physical presence. If he was one the ice at the same time that Schultz was, you were definitely in trouble.
Dupont was more than just a “goon”. He was an All-Star in 1976-77. He also scored the goal with 52 second left in Game 2 of the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals to clinch the win. That goal would help the Flyers win their first Stanley Cup.
D – Chris Pronger
Pronger may be a surprise since his time in Philadelphia was short. It was cut short due to a nasty hit that ended his career with a concussion. However, his time in Philly was well worth it.
During that magical run in 2010, Pronger was a machine. He averaged 29:03 of ice time. That means that at the age of 35 – when many players are considering hanging up their skates – he is playing roughly one half of the game every night. He almost single-handedly willed that team to a Stanley Cup win, despite the fact that they fell short. Had the Flyers won, he was a potential candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Pronger was the perfect combination of strength, skill, ability, and intimidation. Some would call him dirty. Others would say he was tough. However you want to label him, he was awesome.
Honorable Mentions: (Mark Howe, Radko Gudas, Dan McGillis, Luke Richardson, Eric Desjardins)
I almost selected Ron Hextall for this as he was known for being fairly aggressive in his younger years… just ask Chris Chelios. Still, it is hard to deny Bernie’s spot here. He is still one of the best goaltenders in NHL history.
While leading the Flyers in the 1970s, he was the scariest thing in a goalie mask not named Jason Voorhees. You knew that when you faced him, it was going to be a challenge. His coach once said that only ‘God saved more than Bernie’. Flyers fans knew that wasn’t an exaggeration. He was a brick wall in the net.
How good was Bernie? Think about all of the good goalies the Flyers have had since Parent. Every single one of them, fairly or unfairly, have been judged against the golden standard that Parent was. None of them has ever matched up. We were spoiled with a great goalie 50 years ago. We’ve been trying to find his real replacement ever since.
Honorable Mentions: (Ron Hextall, Ray Emery, Brian Boucher)
Honorable Mention: Kate Smith
They called it “The Philly Flu”. Teams would come to play in Philly and their best players would somehow “feel ill” and couldn’t play. Most people chalked it up to the fierce competitiveness and physicality of the Broad Street Bullies. Yeah, that was a big part of it. However, the Flyers had another ace up their sleeve.
We know the story. In the late 1960s, the Flyers would sometimes use her rendition of “God Bless America” instead of the national anthem. For whatever reason, the Flyers would win when she sang, either live or by recording. It got to the point that even after she died, the tradition continued.
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Who knows why it happened, but it did. Whenever Smith sang, the Flyers won. Her record is still an eerie 100-29-5. That seemed enough to shake and quake the opposing teams in major games. For that reason, she deserves to be on this list of scariest Flyers, even if she never actually hit the ice.