We've finally made it. We've been trying to examine and rank the top 25 most important players on the Flyers since the year 2000.
Before we get into the top five, here's how we got here.
#25-21
#20-16
#15-11
#10-6
Now, let's look at who the five most important Flyers in the last 25 years are.
#5: Daniel Briere
He is the best free agent signing since the year 2000 and arguably one of the best ones of all time. The fact that he spurned a multi-year contract to sign with his hometown Montreal Canadiens, considered to be a Stanley Cup contender, and come to Philly, which had been one of the worst teams in the league the season before, sent shockwaves through the NHL. However, Daniel Briere knew what he was doing.
He joined a team ripe with young talent and savvy vets: Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timmonen, and Simon Gagne. That's a team loaded with talent that could, under the right circumstances, go far. And boy did they.
Briere spent five seasons in Philadelphia, scoring 30+ goals twice. However, he was instrumental in that magical Stanley Cup run in 2010. Had the Flyers won, he would've been crowned with the Conn Smythe Trophy. Chris Pronger may have been the defensive guy leading that team, but Briere came up with needed goals at every turn and pushed that team further.
Now, he is the general manager and hoping to put the Flyers back on the hockey map. So far, we're getting closer to where we need to be. Hopefully, the playoff drought ends soon.
#4: Simon Gagne
After a bunch of first-round busts (or just plain traded away), Gagne burst onto the Flyers' scene in 1999-2000 with a flourish and a breath of fresh air. He scored 10 goals in his first season and finished in fourth place in the Calder Trophy race. He was not the prototypical Flyer. Then GM Bobby Clarke preferred big hulking men, like Eric Lindros, Keith Primeau, Rod Brind'amour, and Joel Otto. While tall, Gagne didn't have a big muscular build. That didn't matter.
Instead, it probably was an advantage. The smaller size allowed him to speed down the ice, an advantage that many of the older vets at this time (Primeau, John LeClair, Mark Recchi, Jeremy Roenick, etc.) couldn't match. They could feed him the puck and watch him take off. And with the exceptions of an injury-filled 2002-03 and 2007-08, he never scored less than the 20 goals he scored in his rookie season. Twice he topped the 40-goal mark and was named an All-Star on 2000-01 and 2006-07.
However, injuries took their toll. After the magical Stanley Cup run in 2010, the Flyers traded him to Tampa Bay for a defender who played eight games in two years. He returned as a free agent one year later, but the Flyers chose not to re-sign him. Still, he is 10th in career goals with 264 and 12th in career points with 535.
#3: Wayne Simmonds
Philly sports fans are funny critters. Go to any game and you will see jerseys of players who haven't played in a very long time. Ok, this is normal if you have an all-time great, like a Mike Schmidt or Bernie Parent. Even recent legends like Jason Kelce have their jerseys all over the place. Go to any Flyers game and I am sure you will count dozens wearing Wayne Simmonds, a player who hasn't played as a Flyer since 2019.
The reason? He was EVERYTHING a Flyers fan wants in a player. He could shoot. He could score. He could deliver a hit. He could get into a fun fight and rally the troops.
More than that, he gave everything he had to this team. He put it all out there on the ice every single game. He played through injuries. He absorbed hit after hit after hit. The sad thing was, the thing we loved about him was what ended his career so soon. We loved him because he put it all on the line and his body took the brunt of it. Injuries mounted and became too much. Eventually, we had to say goodbye to him.
While I said earlier that Scott Hartnell was the most fun Flyers of the last 25 years to watch, that was from a pure enjoyment standpoint. Hartnell's antics would make you laugh and smile. Simmonds was a fireball of talent that burned too hot. Simmonds was fun on a different level. He brought an energy and tempo that has been unmatched since he left the Flyers and is greatly missing.
He won an All-Star Game MVP and the Messier Award. He scored at least 20 goals every year from 2011-12 to 2017-18, except in the strike-shortened season of 2012-13. More importantly, he won our hearts and our respect.
#2: Eric Desjardins
Much like John LeClair and Mark Recchi, his best years were in the 1990s. His last of three All-Star game appearances came in 1999-2000. So why is Eric Desjardins on this list and why is he up so high?
Desjardins was one of the better defenders of the 1990s. However, you have to look at him in context. He was not a fighter like Chris Chelios, but he could throw down or deliver a hit if necessary. He was not a higher scorer like Paul Coffey, but he could quarterback a power play. He was not the shutdown defender that Niklas Lidstrom was, but he could hold his own.
The thing was, Desjardins was not a single-dimensional defender, like so many are. He was a little bit of each. While not a master of all three skills, he was strong in each. Even then, that's not why he is on this list.
In the fallout of the Clarke-Lindros feud (this keeps coming up!), Desjardins was named team captain for the 1999-2000 season, a role that would be then passed on to Primeau. He was a level of stability, especially on defense, during a turbulent time. He was also one of the few vets to come back to the team following the lockout of 2004.
His 396 points are the second most ever scored by a Flyers defender behind Hall of Famer Mark Howe. He brought a level of stability and leadership to the defense that hasn't been seen since Howe and not again until Chris Pronger. It's the sort of leadership on the blueline that this team could use right now. That's why he is up this high.
#1: Claude Giroux
Big surprise. Who else would it be? It's the guy who is second on the team with 900 career points, 609 assists, and 1000 games played. It's the guy who is eighth in goals with 291. From his two-game debut in the 2007-08 season, until he was traded away in 2021-22, he was the unquestioned heart and soul of the Flyers as he became the longest-tenured captain in team history.
Giroux came of age during the Stanley Cup run of 2010. He was part of a young corps of Flyers that looked like they would be the stars of the 2010s. However, those "stars" were soon gone. James van Riemsdyk, Mike Richards, and Jeff Carter all signed long-term contracts and were traded away. Giroux was the only one who survived. However, when teamed up with Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, Hartnell, and Simmonds, he became one of the most lethal scorers in the league. As of 2025, he is the last Flyer to score over 100 points in a season (102 in 2017-18).
He also gave us this moment with a great pose after.
However, despite all of his achievements and stats, the Flyers could never advance far into the playoffs. Some of it was just running into better teams. Some of it was the team just underachieved. To be fair, the team hasn't won a Stanley Cup since 1975, so you can't pin that all on him.
Even still, Giroux has to be counted among the greatest Flyers of all time. His inclusion here at the top of our list may not be a surprise, but it should be a reminder of how truly special he was when he played here.