We are in the second part of a series on the top 25 Flyers of the last 25 years. We are looking at the most important players to hit the ice for the club since the year 2000. We've already talked about players 25 through 21.
Let's kick this off with #20!
#20: Scott Laughton
Laughton is not flashy. He's one of the longest-tenured players currently on the roster. In 12 years, the former first-rounder has less than 300 points, has never scored 20 goals in a season nor has scored over 50 points. He's not an offensive threat. So why is he special? Why does the team love him, why do his teammates cherish him, and why does it seem like other teams want to acquire him?
The answer is that he does all of the little things. He battles in the corner. He's a solid center, but nothing spectacular. He is disciplined. Whatever he is called on to do, he can do it. He's a great team leader and the sort of guy that every team needs. He's a steadying force that you can rely on to do the right thing. John Tortorella has always respected his play. That's why he has value.
A lot of what he does doesn't always enter the stat sheet. However, I can guarantee you that him winning the face off, playing good defensive hockey, and/or making smart passes has won the Flyers more than a handful of games each season.
#19: Travis Sanheim
We have another current Flyer on this list. Sanheim is the elder statesman of the Flyers defense, even though he isn't the oldest one on the roster. He just happens to have been here the longest.
He's had quite a career so far here in Philadelphia. He went from a first-round pick with high expectations to a perceived bust, to almost traded to St. Louis, to a guy who has become the steadying force on the blue line. Tortorella had challenged him and he found his scoring touch while not slacking on his defensive duties. He's playing well and has made the club proud that they have stuck with him. Hopefully, this trend will continue throughout the rest of the 2020s.
#18: Mike Richards
At one point, Richards was the captain of the Flyers and the heir apparent to a great legacy. He was one of the driving forces that led this team to a Stanley Cup run in 2010. In six short years, he scored 349 points with 133 goals. He was putting up monster stats, and then it fell apart.
No matter what happened between him and Flyers management, he was a special player. He was super talented and had the edginess that Flyers fans adored. The team could certainly use somewhere with his flair today. But you can't tell his story without his sidekick...
#17: Jeff Carter
Carter and Richards are one of the best duos in Flyers history. They are up there with Eric Lindros and John LeClair or Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber. Carter's stats are eerily similar to Richards's. In six years, he also scored 343 points with 181 goals scored. That's still good for 18th all-time and has just recently been passed by Sean Couturier after a longer period.
Richards and Carter were dynamite on and off the ice. But it is the off-ice issues that bothered the team. The partying and lack of listening to coach Peter Laviolette led to a falling out which led to a pair of blockbuster trades involving both men. Now, looking back at it, those trades would end up being super beneficial to the Flyers and helped to shape the current team in several ways.
Still, it is one of the team's greatest "what ifs". What if the team held onto both Carter and Richards? What if the two could've calmed down in their private lives? We'll never know. But while they were here, Carter and Richards put us through a fun roller coaster ride.
# 16: Kimmo Timonen
How did he do it? How did a 5'10" Finn, who was not in the mold of a proper "Flyers defender", capture our hearts? He played alongside guys like Braydon Coburn and Chris Pronger. Where they were more physical or defensive-minded, Timonen was more offensive-minded, but yet did not shirk his blueliner role. And somewhere along the way, he won our admiration.
He battled through injuries, including some blood clots in his legs and lungs. Somehow, despite all of that, he was flipped for a second-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks where we saw him raise the Stanley Cup in triumph. How we wish he could've done it with us, but at least he got his name carved on that trophy.
He arrived in Philly in 2007 in a trade with Scott Hartnell for a first-round pick. To me, the Flyers made the best out of that deal as both players became fan favorites and key cogs of the team for the next decade. In seven years in Philly, it was only in his last season that he failed to score at least 40 points. But again, he was a solid defender being among the team leaders every season in blocked shots. His willingness to put his body on the line made him so popular. That's why he is on this list.