First of all, congrats to Alex Ovechkin for breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal-scoring record. If he comes back for a 21st season at the age of 40, he'll be the first NHLer to crack 900 goals and who knows, 1,000 career goals could be another year or two away if he so wishes.
And all that got me thinking. What Flyers records could be broken? After all, we all thought that Gretzky's records would stand forever; although to be fair, Ovi needs 1,000 more points to take that record away from the Great One. But are there any records that the Flyers have that could be topped by the current group?
Most Goals: Bill Barber- 420
This one could be broken under the right circumstances. Right now, Travis Konecny has 198 goals. Let's say he reaches 200 by the end of the year. That's not unreasonable. Let's also say he gets 25 goals each year in his eight-year contract. That is 200 more goals. That puts him at 400. That puts Barber's record within striking distance.
Could Konency do it? Could someone else, like Matvei Michokov or Tyson Foerster, do it? Perhaps. Konecny has the best shot. However, that also means he can't get hurt or traded away. We'll see. It would be exciting to watch.
Most Assists: Bobby Clarke - 852
This one looks like it could be a little trickier. An assist depends on your ability to feed someone else a goal. It also relies heavily on you and someone else having that great relationship. The last pair the Flyers had that could do this well was Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. Even there, Giroux sits in second place with 609 and Voracek at fifth with 427. For all those years that they played in Philly, that's all they got, and they put up really solid numbers.
Sean Couturier sits at 333 assists. That's a long way from Clarke. With this young crop of guys coming up, that could change, but Clarke's record looks safe from here.
Most Points: Bobby Clarke - 1,210
Again, Giroux came the closest to sniffing this one out. He scored 900 points as a Flyer. Couturier is the only active Flyer over 500 points (538, good for 12th all time). Konecny is right behind with 474, but that is 1/5th of what Clarke scored.
It's looking at stats like this that really help you appreciate how rare and special a player like Clarke was. Unless we get our next star sometime soon, this is not going to change.
Most Games Played: Bobby Clarke - 1,144
This is all about endurance, staying healthy, and staying on this team. Giroux became just the second Flyer to crack 1000 games and then was promptly traded away to Ottawa.
There is some hope here. Couturier is fourth all-time with 869. He should crack 900 next year and pass Bill Barber (903). If he can play out his contract in Philly and average at least 65 games a season, he would have an extra 325 games. That would put him over 1200 games. Had he not gotten hurt and missed 18 months not that long ago, he would be close to knocking on that door within a year or so. Keep an eye on this one. With him playing almost every game, this one could topple in the 2028-29 season.
Most Penalty Minutes: Rick Tocchet - 1,815
You probably would've figured it would've been a Broad Street Bully here. Nope. It's Rick Tocchet. This is not a surprise, though. Tocchet is tenth all-time with 2,970 penalty minutes in total.
To be fair, the game has changed, and the physicality that Tocchet and other Flyers are known for is frowned upon. The two current Flyers with the most penalty minutes are Konecny (474) and Couturier (345). While Couturier's numbers are kind of a surprise, it is a testament to how little he gets penalized and doesn't hurt the team by putting them down a man. This record is safe and is probably their most unbreakable one.
Most Power Play Goals: Tim Kerr - 144
Ha! This team can't score power-play goals at all. Nobody is going to break this record the way they are playing right now. Giroux was the closest to this in recent years, with 84 goals. Konecny has 39. Maybe Matvei Michkov, who has seven power-play goals as a rookie, could challenge this.
However, this team needs to fix its play on the man advantage first. Then we can worry about breaking records. Kerr is going to sit atop this leaderboard for a long, long while.
Goalie Wins: Ron Hextall - 240
I think it is safe to say that this one is safe for a while. I still believe in Sam Ersson. I still feel he can be a good goalie in the NHL, whether as a starter or as a solid backup. I am more concerned about burning him out and ruining his confidence. It's not his fault he's been overworked with a bad defense/team in front of him.
Interestingly enough, he has 50 career wins, which is good for 19th all-time. If he gets two more wins, he'll be tied with John Vanbiesbrouck and Ilya Bryzgalov. A 25-win season next year would catapult him into the top 10. That's rather weird when you think about it.
If he blossoms, can get on his feet, and the Flyers stick with him, this could easily be broken. If not, maybe Carson Bjarnason will have the next crack at it.
Shutouts: Bernie Parent - 50
This one is not going away for a while either. Ersson's seven shutouts tie him for tenth all-time with Bryzgalov. However, the way he's played, and the way the Flyers' defense has been playing, there is no way that 43 shutouts are coming anytime soon for Ersson. Bernie's got this one in the bank for years to come.