Let's face it, everyone wants to score goals. In the NHL, everyone needs to score goals, and those adept enough to be referred to as goal scorers are heavily paid and coveted throughout the league.
The Flyers, as a franchise, haven't always had the greatest selection of goal scorers. We've had some very good ones, and today we're talking about the one that is vastly underrated in hockey circles, and that younger fans might not know these days. Today, we're talking about Tim Kerr.
An Undrafted Gem
Kerr played his junior hockey with the Windsor Spitfires and the Kingston Canadiens, where he was an effective power forward, but was probably more physically feared than offensively. In the late 1970s and early 80s, these forwards were plentiful, there was a gas shortage, and no internet, so scouting was pretty much a crapshoot. Kerr fell through the cracks, but the Flyers gave him a shot.
Kerr was able to jump right into the league, playing full-time and scoring 22 and 21 goals in his opening seasons despite getting limited opportunities lineup-wise. In his third year, he was limited to 24 games, but had already racked up 11 goals.
The Breakthrough
The next year, Kerr was fully healed and getting prime-time minutes. He responded with four consecutive 50+ goal seasons. This also happens to be a record feat for the Flyers. From the 1983-84 season to the 1986-87 season, Kerr scored 54, 54, 58, and 58 goals. He's one of ten players ever to achieve 4 or more consecutive 50-goal seasons. He also had a season with 48 goals in 69 games in 1988-1989, narrowly missing notching his 5th in 6 seasons. That effort helped win him the Masterton Memorial Award.
Kerr did a lot of damage on the power play. also holds an all-time NHL record for power play goals in a season, which has been challenged, but remains in Kerr's name. His 34 power play goals in 1985-86 have held up against runs from Brett Hull, Mario Lemieux, Dave Andreychuk, and Leon Draisaitl.
Those five seasons built up the bulk of Kerr's career totals. They accounted for 272 out of his 370 career goals.
A Career That Could've Been
Kerr only played 655 career games, with significant portions of time missed during them. In 82-83, he only played 24 games, and in the 1987-88 season, he only played 8 regular-season games. He also played a few seasons in the 90s, which were injury-ridden and hurt his overall career totals.
Despite only scoring 17 goals over his final three seasons, Kerr finished his career and remains 10th all-time (minimum 200 goals) in goals per game with 0.565. He's also hovering around the top 20 all-time in shooting percentage % depending on what Brayden Point and Leon Draisait do.
Kerr's career was too short to be Hall of Fame worthy, but he was more than a point-a-game player, and remains one of the Flyers' biggest "What If" players. Kerr was a combination of size, skill, and unstoppable will that helped define the Flyers in the 80s, and he'll continue to remain an all-time great.
Kerr was officially named to the Flyers Hall of Fame in 1994. His number hasn't been retired yet, but a joint ceremony with Michael Raffl would be fantastic. I'm of course kidding; the more appropriate choice is Simon Gagne. Plus, they could rile up Gary Dornhoefer for another appearance as they send 12 out in style.
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