It’s not breaking news to anyone that the Philadelphia Flyers need a center. Sean Couturier is aging, Morgan Frost needs flushing, and the rest of the bunch are bottom-six centers at absolute best. The Flyers desperately need help.
Luckily, there’s a center that Philadelphia knows quite well that is available on the free-agent market.
That’s right, I’m talking about Jason Kelce.
Kelce, who recently retired after a 13-year career in the NFL with the Eagles, has the résumé that the Flyers need at the center position.
A true Philadelphian.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) March 4, 2024
Congrats on your retirement and a Hall of Fame career, @JasonKelce! pic.twitter.com/mfH7nslirA
He already brought one championship to Philadelphia, so why not lace up the skates to help the Flyers in the early stages of their rebuild?
Danny Briere, Keith Jones, and John Tortorella have made it clear that this New Era of Orange is about building a team the right way. They got rid of a few pieces early on and have held onto some of their leaders despite receiving some enticing trade offers for them. This next era of Flyers hockey is being built on culture and the Super Bowl champion brings plenty of that.
Kelce knows what it takes to play in Philadelphia and is perhaps one of the most beloved athletes in the city in the 21st century. He’s already battled it out on the gridiron, so why not take it to the rink?
I know, I know. “Kelce is a football player! He can’t play hockey!”
See, that’s where you’re wrong. Kelce found his roots playing hockey for the Cleveland Heights Tigers in high school. He even has an Elite Prospects page!
“I grew up loving hockey,” Kelce said earlier this year. “The Stanley Cup in my view is the greatest trophy in all of sports.”
Wouldn’t it be something if he came back to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup?
Kelce wore the A his senior year, scoring 21 goals with 15 assists for 36 points in 27 games while racking up 34 penalty minutes. Over his four-year hockey career, Kelce was nearly a point-per-game player with 95 points (57 goals, 38 assists) and 190 penalty minutes in 98 games.
He played hockey “just like how he plays center,” according to his high school coach.
“I didn’t tell Jason this, we were in a tournament, it may have been the last game I coached Jason,” coach Steve Bogas recalled. “There was a guy literally hanging on his back and Jason took a slapshot from the blue line and scored. I still don’t know how he did it. A guy was basically trying to tackle Jason, couldn’t pull him down, he scores, and the referee just skated by me going ‘Wow. That might be the strongest 15-year-old I’ve ever seen.’”
The former Eagle could bring that hard-nosed mentality to the Flyers while playing a style that Torts would love.
Kelce has been away from game action since January and it was a notably hard decision for him to retire. Could he be feeling the itch to get those competitive juices flowing again?
The 37-year-old center would be the oldest player on the Flyers with just over four months on Erik Johnson, who recently played in his 1000th NHL game, but he would be far from the oldest player in the league.
There are over a dozen active NHL players older than Kelce. Hell, Kelce is two years younger than Sid “The Kid” Crosby. If The Kid can be a point-per-game player in his age-37 season, why can’t the high-school standout get back to that level?
It’s an outside-of-the-box idea for sure, but given the situation the Flyers are in down the middle, it can’t hurt.
