April 13, 2012: What a time to be alive! Claude Giroux, 24-year-old captain of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Sean Couturier, 19-year-old rookie tasked with shutting down Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin, each scored hat tricks in an 8-5 playoff win over their rivals. The Flyers would win that wild, high-scoring series in six games. Giroux scored 14 points in the series, and coach Peter Laviolette called him “the best player in the world.” It never really got better than that though. Giroux went on to score at nearly a point-per-game rate for the next seven years and Couturier became one of the greatest defensive centers in the league. Couturier developed into an elite two-way center, scoring 76 points in 2017-18 (when Giroux moved from center to Coots’ wing) and 2018-19 before winning the Selke Award in 2019-20. How good were these two? EvolvingWild rated them the best two skaters in the NHL in 2017-18! https://twitter.com/EvolvingWild/status/953726981165678594 Despite this, Giroux and Couturier -- who faced off as opponents for the first time on Saturday in Ottawa (Giroux tallied two assists in a 5-2 win) -- never really found consistent success with the Flyers. After beating the Pens in 2012, the team took eight years to win another playoff round, beating the Montreal Canadiens in The Bubble in 2020. That’s it though; two playoff series won in the 11 years these two studs played together before Giroux was traded to Florida late in the 2021-22 season. Why the Flyers failed to win during this period is a question that will haunt us forever, much like how some of us can remember the domination of Eric Lindros and John LeClair. But the Legion of Doom and company at least made one Stanley Cup Final. The trade of Sergei Bobrovsky to Columbus sure didn’t help, as the Russian goalie won two Vezinas with the Blue Jackets and the Flyers never really had reliable goaltending (yes, Steve Mason was solid for a minute) until Carter Hart came along. A lot of the kids and high draft picks disappointed. The lack of depth on the team was a perpetual problem. There’s a whole slew of coaches like Craig Berube, Dave Hakstol and Alain Vigneault who seemed to be successful with other teams but couldn’t coach their way out of a paper bag in Philly. There were some questionable free agent signings (looking at you, James van Riemsdyk and Kevin Hayes). It was a collective team failure. https://twitter.com/NHLFlyers/status/1713244468923564189 Giroux set a career high in goals, 35, at age 35, last season with Ottawa, and with more than 1,000 points and seemingly plenty left in the tank, he looks like a surefire Hall of Famer. (Please come home, Claude!) Couturier missed the entire 2022-23 season, but he’s back this year, and, at age 31, it’s not inconceivable that he could contend for the Selke again (especially with Patrice Bergeron retired). Maybe, just maybe, Couturier will stick around long enough to be the wise, grizzled veteran who helps Matvei Michkov lead the Orange and Black to playoff glory. But man, what a wasted opportunity the entire 2012-2023 Flyers era was.