In the mid-to-late 1990s, the Philadelphia Flyers were a force in the Eastern Conference. They were one of the best teams in the NHL. At the forward position, you had Rod Brind'Amour, Eric Lindros, John LeClair, Mikael Renberg, and (at times) Mark Recchi. That's two Hall of Famers, two more who should be in, and a player who, if not for his injuries, might have been there too. On defense, you had one of the best pairings in Chris Therien and Eric Desjardins. This was a team built for size and power.
What the team lacked was speed. This was made very obvious in the 1997 Stanley Cup when the Legion of Doom Flyers got run over by a faster, more savvy Detroit Red Wings team. Bobby Clarke built a team based on a modern version of his beloved Broad Street Bullies, and he firmly believed that smash-up style of hockey was needed to dominate the league.
However, as GM, Clarke did try to acquire some speed. It just didn't work out. He tinkered a bit too much and gave up on some players too soon. And usually, it was for the wrong player. This is the story of three players, all connected, who may have contributed to the fact that the Flyers never won a Stanley Cup during their heyday in the 90s.
Pat Falloon
Falloon was the second overall pick by the San Jose Sharks in their first draft in 1991. Interestingly enough, he was selected right after the Quebec Nordiques had taken Lindros. He scored 25 goals in his rookie season in 1991-92, but would injure his shoulder the next year. His shoulder never fully healed, and it took some edge off his shot. Still, he possessed some speed.
In November 1995, the Flyers traded a prospect for him, a first and fourth-round pick in 1996. Also of interest, the Sharks would use that first round pick to select future Flyer Daniel Briere. Falloon rebounded a bit, scoring 22 goals, helping the Flyers reach the Cup Finals; however, he scored only three goals in the playoffs that postseason.
The following season, injuries would take their toll on Falloon. He appeared in 52 games, scoring just 11 goals. He would be traded, but we will talk about that later.
Vaclav "Vinny" Prospal
Prospal was the Flyers' third-round pick in 1993. He had been a rising star with the Philadelphia Phantoms, scoring 32 goals in 63 games. He earned a late-season call-up and, playing in a middle-six role, scored five goals and 10 assists in 18 games. Not bad. The kid showed promise. Again, his combination of speed, skating, and passing helped him fit right in.
Then tragedy struck. Prospal collided with a teammate in a practice during the '97 playoffs and broke his arm. The Flyers could've used him, as his speed could've offset what Detroit was throwing at Philly. As it was, in the five games he did appear in, he scored one goal with three assists.
He got off to a good start the following season, but broke his leg battling for a puck against Ottawa's Lance Pitlick. A few months later, with Clarke unwilling to see him heal and improve and wanting to make a big splash, packaged Propsal and the aforementioned Falloon to Ottawa.
Alexandre Daigle
Now and then, a player receives so much hype as an amateur that you can't help but see that it's gonna blow up. Many of these become legendary. The NFL had Johnny Manziel and Ryan Leaf. MLB had Todd van Poppel and Brian Taylor. Sixer fans know all too well about Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz. In the NHL, that man is Alexandre Daigle.
In the junior leagues, he had speed and a wicked shot. He was expected to become the next big-time goal scorer. He also had an ego to boost. He held out for big-money contracts from the Ottawa Senators before he even played, because, gosh darn it, he deserved it.
The thing is, after you've gotten paid, what's the incentive to play well? Not only that, but the guys in the NHL hit harder than in juniors. You know, guys like Tie Domi, Rob Ray, Ulf Samuelsson. They hurt. Better not battle for the puck in the corners. He got a reputation for being soft. The Senators were tired of his antics and lack of production and sent him to Philly for Prospal, Falloon, and a second-round pick in 1998.
Daigle did not give the Flyers much on their investment. He scored nine goals for them in the 1997-98 season after being traded. As the Flyers got bounced out in the first round of the playoffs by Buffalo, he disappeared, registering just two assists. After thoroughly irritating Clarke the next season with his immaturity, lack of hustle, lack of production, and oversized ego, he would be traded away. All told, he played just 68 games in a Flyers uniform.
A quick look at the Flyers' all-time draft pick list shows a distinct lack of top draft picks from 1992-2004. True, some were coughed up in the trade that brought Lindros to Philadelphia. However, many of those draft picks were trades made by Clarke. He traded draft picks as if they didn't matter. And to be fair, if any of those trades brought a Stanley Cup back to Broad Street, we wouldn't be having these conversations 30 years later. Clarke was in "win-now mode", so we can understand his thought process at the time.
However, the price to acquire Falloon was too high. He wasn't a terrible player, but he was injury-prone. The cost of a young Briere is too much. Can you imagine seeing Briere playing with guys like a younger Simon Gagne, Justin Williams, LeClair, Lindros, Rick Tocchet, Jeremy Roenick, etc. He could have gotten them over the hump at that time.
Daigle was a "change of scenery" project. Except he needed more than that. He needed a change of attitude and maturity. He didn't fit in with his teammates, and it was a wasted effort.
The loss of Prospal hurt more. Two years after being traded to Ottawa, he had his first 22+ goal- scoring season. A few years later would become a star player on the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring at least 20 goals three more times. Philly would re-acquire him in the midst of a 32-goal-scoring season, but would deal him back to Tampa that offseason, where he would again score 19 goals before turning in a 20-goal campaign with the Rangers in 2009-10.
Had the Flyers held onto Prospal, he could've added a youthful scoring option to a team with aging stars. That might have been enough to carry them through to the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals...especially if Briere was on the team.
Hindsight is always 20-20. Still, you can look back and wonder at what could've been.
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