The NHL is releasing its Quarter-Century Team, and we cannot help but wonder why no Flyers have been named to the team as of yet. In the list of fan-voted players who debuted between 2000-10, is there room for any Philadelphia Flyers?
The 2000-10 list consists of Patrice Bergeron, Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, Patrick Kane, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, and Steven Stamkos. This is a tough list to make, full of future Hall of Fame players, multiple Stanley Cup winners, a ton of Frank J. Selke Trophy wins, and the faces of their respective franchises. These players helped define the 2000-10 decade.
Claude Giroux
Giroux is about as close as any Flyers from this century can get to cracking that list. Subjectively speaking, you can make a case as to why he belongs on the list over some of these players. Objectively, you cannot. That is as painful to read as it is to write.
Claude Giroux was an amazing Flyer who will hopefully get the opportunity to retire with the team, regardless of whether it does or does not make sense to bring him back this offseason. Even if he never dons the team's sweater again, he will likely be elected into the Flyers Hall of Fame.
One can wonder how Flyers' players would have fared under better leadership and deeper benches.
No matter what, we can always enjoy watching The Shift.
Sean Couturier
In the COVID season of 2019-20, Couturier won the Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward. He beat out the perennial winner Patrice Bergeron to claim the trophy. He also got more votes than Bergeron after the 2017-18 season, finishing second behind Anze Kopitar.
Things were looking good for Couturier. He had back-to-back 30+ goal seasons and the Selke season. Then injuries hit hard, namely a back injury that knocked him out for a bulk of the 2021-22 season as well as all of 2022-23.
He was named the team's captain when he returned in 2022-23, but was on the wrong side of 30 by that point. He was never a fast skater, but injury and age did not help. Neither did head coach John Tortorella.
Tortorella moved him to the wing, buried him on the fourth line, and did not give him the respect a veteran captain deserves. Couturier handled it like a pro, but ultimately admitted he felt pushed aside by the coach.
The road ahead will not get easier for Couturier either. He simply could not keep up with Matvei Michkov, and that will continue as the team brings on more young, energetic talent. He is signed through the 2029-30 season and, sadly, may find himself in more of an Erik Johnson-esque mentor role who is scratched for long periods.
Things could have been different for Couturier. If it was not for injury and if he was surrounded my more talent, he might have been among the names on the list above.