The NHL is releasing its Quarter Century Team and, of course, not all local fan bases agree with the decisions. This may be especially true for fans of the Flyers, as not one has made the team (yet).
The NHL.com Players Who Debuted Before 2000 list consists of Zdeno Chara, Jarome Iginla, Nicklas Lidstrom, Joe Sakic, Teemu Selanne, and Joe Thornton. There may be some orange and black omissions worth considering. To preface, the groups are voted on by fans and only consist of players who were listed on their franchise's Quarter Century First Team.
Admittedly, this is one of the harder points to argue. A lot of Flyer greats did not have a ton of crossover between the two centuries. And even though none of these players made the First Team list, they are still a surprise not to see at all.
Peter Forsberg
Sure, the high-flying Swede played the bulk of his career in Colorado, but he was drafted by the Flyers and played a couple of good seasons here. Few players have been as enjoyable to watch finesse their way up and down the ice as Foppa. So, no matter which team you associate him with, he should be on the list.
In his Hall of Fame career, he was well over a point-per-game player, was a five-time All-Star, won two Stanley Cups, and had his name engraved on plenty of awards.
In the points-per-game category, he is ninth all-time in the regular season (1.25) and sixth in the playoffs (1.13). Comparing the stats against which are all filtered from the year 2000 and on, he is first in assists per game and points per game in both the regular season and the playoffs.
Mark Recchi
Let’s discard his association with the Pittsburgh Penguins (and Bill Barber’s ousting). Recchi was a smaller finesse player in an era full of brawn and cheap shots. He made it through to the other side with 22 years, 1,841 games (1,652 regular season/189 playoff) and 1,680 points (1,533/147) under his belt in his entire career. He is a three-time Cup winner and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017.
At the age of 43, he played the entire season and notched 48 points in the 2010-11 season. He would have been third on the Flyers in points this past season, between Matvei Michkov and Sean Couturier. That was just the regular season. He then tacked on 14 points in 25 playoff games en route to winning the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins that season.
Chris Pronger
This may or may not be a divisive decision, but I would put Chris Pronger on the Quarter Century Team before Zdeno Chara. In his prime, Pronger was an amazing player on both ends of the ice and the power play. He was strong, fast, smart, and could get in your head like no other.
He was funny and a jerk, but intentionally so. Like when he kept stealing the game pucks in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. Chara was nowhere near as multidimensional.
* Players who played less than 100 games have been filtered out of the list.
What about other Flyers?
- Eric Lindros only played the end of the 1999-2000 season in Philly before heading to Broadway. He played a total of five playoff games, registering one point from the start of 2000.
- Danny Briere was a blast to watch in the playoffs, but would disappear for long stretches in the regular season.
- John Leclair? I think you can swap him in or out with Recchi, but Recchi had a longer and more successful career.
- Jeremy Roenick was on a slow but steady decline by 2000, entering the decade with 78 points that season, and eventually dropping down to 13 in his final (half) season.
- Kimmo Timonen? Keith Primeau? Eric Desjardins? Maybe?