After decades of being a contender, getting into the playoffs being of no real signifcance and getting to the semis 15 times from expansion to the 2009-10 season, the Flyers have won, er, let me check here…ah yes…two Stanley Cups. Unfortunately for the fan base, heartbreak has often been the rule rather than the exeption with finals losses to the Habs, Islanders, Oilers (twice), Detroit and Chicago.
It also seemed like every former Flyers player was hoisting the Stanley Cup in a new city with a new team that managed to nail down the required 16 post-season wins. The trade to acquire Eric Lindros set up the Avalanche quite nicely years later with Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall and Mike Ricci among others. And in the span of a few hours one memorable June day in 2011, the Flyers ditched Jeff Carter and Mike Richards who both earned two rings with the Kings. Also who can forget Nick Aube-Kubel dinging the Cup before Colarado could even take the celebratory team photo in 2022? In short there have been a bevy of ex-Flyers who have won it all. Just not in Philly.
However, when you look into the line by line transactions the team has made over its existence (thanks Flyers History) the Flyers have only sent a handful of players who went from Philadelphia at the deadline straight to a Stanley Cup champion months later. The reasons? Well when you field a legitimate team who could make a deep playoff run as was the case in the ’70s, ’80s and parts of the ’90s, you don’t very often deal important players elsewhere. Another reason is the fact some of the teams that had multiple Cup wins were in the old Patrick Division, namely the Penguins and the Devils. The late owner Ed Snider would’ve folded the team first before giving more talent to teams the Flyers always had their hands filled with come late April and May.
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