The draft is done, free agency is done, the offer sheet is history (at least for Leo Carlsson) and there are a few upcoming contracts (or arbitration cases) that need to be resolved either through a contract extension, or the harder, more acrimonious way. But with some down time, what better way to celebrate the greatness of the Flyers franchise than to go in alphabetical order (surnames only) and laud the greatness of 26 (well a few more than that with ties and honorable mentions) of various players. A few of them are also the worst and best simultaneously as they’re the only ones whose name begins with a certain letter. Here then are the Flyer greats: A to Z edition.
A: Keith Acton
Keith Acton wasn’t the super pest like Ken Linseman was in the early ’80s, but he wasn’t too far off from being a guy who could get under an opponent’s skin. In February 1989, the Oilers traded Acton to Philadelphia with Dave Brown and a draft pick going the other way. In the stretch run he scored three goals and had 13 points. In 16 playoff games he had a pair of goals and five points. His biggest claim to fame was being traded along with goaltender Pete Peeters to Winnipeg on Sept. 28, 1989 for future considerations. On Oct. 3 the same year, the future considerations Winnipeg sent to Philadelphia was, er, Peeters and Acton. It was a means to circumvent the waiver draft as the Flyers also had Ron Hextall and Ken Wregget in the mix, and each club could only protect two goalies. The league didn’t take kindly to the move, fining both clubs $10,000. In 303 games, Acton scored 45 goals and had 72 assists for 117 regular season points.
B: Bill Barber & Rod Brind’Amour
Bill Barber was a lifer when it comes to being a Philadelphia Flyer, joining a select few to play their entire careers for the club (like Bobby Clarke and, possibly, Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny). Barber scored 420 goals, reaching the 50-goal mark in 1975-76 but potting 40 goals or more on five occasions. The forward was just as prolific in the playoffs, splitting his 108 playoff points almost right down the middle with 53 goals in 129 games. A two-time Cup winner, Barber was an assistant coach for a handful of seasons before winning the Jack Adams with the Flyers in 2000-01.
Rod Brind’Amour
As for Brind’Amour, the forward was the heart and soul of the Flyers for a few seasons during the early years of Eric Lindros tenure with the club. With 601 points in 633 games with Philadelphia, Brind’Amour provided a light at the end of what was a tunnel with three consecutive seasons missing the playoffs. Brind’Amour scored 30-plus goals in four seasons, and had three years with 80 or more points, including 97 in 1993-94. Traded from St. Louis to the Flyers (alongside Dan Quinn) for Ron Sutter and Murray Baron, the player was one of the bigger fan favorites prior to the Legion of Doom. After winning a Cup with Carolina in 2005-06, Brind’Amour got a second ring — this time as a coach — for Carolina in 2025-26.
C: Bobby Clarke
Clarke will be the legendary face of the franchise until the Flyers win their third Stanley Cup in their history. Leading the club in the ’70s to consecutive championships, Clarke was a strong, ruthless captain who did whatever it took to win. Over 1144 regular season games he had 358 goals and 1210 points overall from 1969 through to the 1984 season. Clarke never scored more than 37 goals in any season yet surpassed the century mark in points on three occasions, including 119 points in 1975-76. His best playoff year wasn’t during the Cup-winning years but in 1979-80, when he scored 20 points in 19 games before the Flyers lost to the Islanders in six games in the final.
D: Eric Desjardins
Considered an afterthought by some in the deal which saw John LeClair arrive from Montreal in exchange for Mark Recchi, Desjardins was a cornerstone of the Flyers’ blueline for well over a decade. A quiet, unassuming but incredibly well-rounded defender, Desjardins had two seasons over 50 points (1998-99 and 1999-2000) and finished with 396 points over a decade-plus of regular season play. The defenseman won the team’s Barry Ashbee Trophy seven times. In April 2004, the Flyers got some horribly bad luck when Desjardins was playing catch with his child and broke the metal plate that was in his arm, resulting in him missing the playoffs. The Flyers took the Lightning (who eventually won the Cup) to seven games in the Eastern Conference Final. A healthy Desjardins might have got Philadelphia into the Stanley Cup final. Or possibly more.
E: Pelle Eklund
Per-Erik Eklund, better known as “Pelle,” was a fine two-way defensive forward for the Flyers during the mid-to-late ’80s. Eklund had 14 goals in the 1986-87 regular season but followed that with seven goals and 27 points in the deep Cup-losing playoff run to the Oilers in seven games. Eklund was crucial during much of that playoff drive, with backbreaking goals against the Canadiens in the semis. In March 1994, Eklund was traded to Dallas but only played five regular season games with the Stars before heading back to Sweden to play pro hockey for another five seasons. In 589 games, Eklund had 118 goals and 334 assists for 452 points.
F: Peter Forsberg
There could be weeks of discussion about whether the Flyers trade for Eric Lindros was worth it. They landed a coveted young phenom and a generational talent. However, they gave up a boatload of players, money and prospects. And perhaps none of them were more crucial to Quebec’s (then Colorado’s) success than Peter Forsberg. Forsberg was a monster for the Avalanche, putting up four seasons over 90 points as Colorado won a cup in 2000-01. As strong as Lindros was, Philadelphia never got to the promised land.
Forsberg was in his twilight when he signed a two-year contract with Philadelphia, battling a lot of foot injuries and issues which hampered him. Despite these problems, he registered 115 points in 100 regular season games before the Flyers sent him off to Nashville for a package that included Ryan Parent and Scottie Upshall.
G: Claude Giroux and Simon Gagne
Despite speculation Giroux was returning for another chapter in his Flyers story, the Senators signed him and kept Giroux’s regular season games total for Philadelphia at a nice round 1000. Giroux, who had 900 points over that time, was the leader, captain, and point-getter most seasons despite the Flyers rarely having any playoff success in those years they got there. Giroux had just 291 goals for the Flyers over the 1000 games, but his playmaking capability provided the bulk of his production.
Giroux’s best playoff runs were early in his career, and his shift against Sidney Crosby in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs is still talked about on par with the shift Mike Richards had against Montreal in 2010. The body check against the Penguin icon, and then the game-opening goal, set the tone for the Flyers’ victory over Pittsburgh, the only time the Flyers defeated the Penguins in the post-season until this last playoff victory. He was a great player, but never quite had the secondary support around him to take Philadelphia to the next level.
Simon Gagne
As strong as Giroux was, nobody was more clutch in the 2000s than Simon Gagne. Gagne has the same amount of goals in his career that Giroux had as a Flyer, but he scored 47 and 41 goals in consecutive years. In 109 playoff games, Gagne had 37 goals, none bigger than the series-clincher against Boston in 2010, winning Game 7 4-3 over Boston and staging an incredible comeback from three games down. Unlike Giroux, Gagne had a brief second stint with the Flyers. In a 27-game span he scored five goals to go with six assists. One of the better, more consistent goal-scoring threats the Flyers had in recent memory.
H: Ron Hextall and Mark Howe
Goaltender Ron Hextall won almost half of the 489 regular season games he played for Philadelphia over 11 years. He won 240 of them, sporting a .895 save percentage and a 2.91 goals-against average. His best season with the Flyers was his rookie year, taking the Flyers through a 26-game playoff odyssey before losing 3-1 in Game 7 against the Oilers in 1987. The fantastic playoff performance saw him earn the Conn Smythe Award but no Cup ring. A close second in terms of years was 1995-96 where he posted a miniscule 2.17 goals-against average, and a stellar .913 save percentage. He was also the first National Hockey League goalie to score a goal shooting the puck the length of the ice against Boston. He would do it a second time in a playoff game against the Capitals on April 11, 1989.
Hextall’s saves and play was highlighted by his temper. He was hot-headed to say the least. While earning a suspension for hacking Kent Nilsson in Game 4 of the 1987 final, he also took Chris Chelios to task in 1989 for his dirty hit on Brian Propp which knocked the forward out of the playoffs. He was one of the better Flyers goaltenders. As the Flyers’ general manager, well….
Mark Howe
Meanwhile, one of the more underrated Flyers in history was defenseman Mark Howe. Howe nearly died in a freak incident during a game as a member of the Hartford Whalers. The goal nets then had a spike-like middle portion at their bottom, and when Howe ran into it, the net lifted, driving that knife-like portion into his body, nearly killing him. He survived, and thrived as a member of the Flyers. He scored 82 of his 480 regular season points in 1985-86 and had six straight years of 15 or more goals from 1982-83 through to 1987-88. Howe was the Flyers stud defenseman in the ’80s, Between his NHL career and his days in the World Hockey Association, Howe (the son of legendary Gordie) had 405 goals and 841 assists for 1246 points between both leagues.
I: Gary Inness
Not much to see here folks. As odd as it seems given a franchise nearing its sixtieth anniversary, Gary Innes is the only Flyer with a surname beginning with “I.” As a result, he is also the worst Flyer in this category. Nonetheless, Innes played two games for Philadelphia in goal in 1975-76, and another half dozen tilt the following season. He managed to get an assist while having a .919 save percentage in his two cups of coffee with the Flyers.
J: Kim Johnsson
An eleventh round pick (yes, they had that many rounds back then) in 1994, Johnsson was a piece of the New York Rangers package they shipped to the Flyers for Eric Lindros in the summer of 2001. Johnsson averaged close to 40 points a season his first three years in Philadelphia, and was a very good, dependable defenseman during his relatively brief stay with the Flyers. Over 291 games, Johnsson averaged roughly half-a-point per game (147 points including 40 goals). He played one season for the club following the 2004 lockout, but ended up with just 47 games.
K: Tim Kerr and Travis Konecny
If you were to look up “garbage goal” in the NHL dictionary, Tim Kerr would be the epitome of that definition. Big, burly, talented, and nearly impossible to move from the front of the net, Kerr generated an incredible four-year output. Twice he scored 54 goals, twice his scored 58 goals. Even more remarkable was in 1983-84, only nine of his goals came on the power play. The following three yars, Kerr became prolific in either deflections or getting to the front of the net and finding the rebound or loose puck. He would score 21, 34, and 26 power play goals in the following three seasons.
After surgeries on his shoulders cost him much of 1987-88, he rebounded with 48 goals in 1988-89 in just 69 games. It was his last great year, as more shoulder issues and time slowed him down, ending his career with stops with the Rangers and Whalers before retiring. He finished with 363 goals as a Flyer and 287 assists for 650 points in 601 games.
Travis Konecny
Although the antithesis in terms of size when it comes to Kerr, Travis Konecny has fared quite well in his career with the Flyers. He might also be another lifer given the length of his contract. Konecny, drafted in the first round of the 2015 draft, had a career high 76 points in 2024-25, but generally has been between 60 to 70 points for most of his time with the Flyers. He has only hit 30 goals twice, and had 24 goals on four different occasions. Many fans are hoping his best days are still yet to come with the Flyers having a taste of playoff success last year. As of now Konecny has 544 points (including 225 goals) in 723 regular season games.
L: John LeClair, Eric Lindros, Pelle Lindbergh, Reggie Leach
John LeClair wasn’t doing a heck of a lot with Montreal despite scoring 19 goals in each of two seasons. However, the Flyers saw the size and rawness in his game and acquired him (and Eric Desjardins) in a trade with Montreal that saw the Canadiens land Mark Recchi. Many thought Montreal fleeced Philadelphia at the time. But LeClair became a core piece of the Legion of Doom alongside Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg. In 37 games with the Flyers after the trade in February 1995, LeClair had 25 goals and 49 points. He would score 50-plus goals the next three seasons and registered 97 points in 1995-96 and 1996-97. LeClair nearly averaged a point each game, with 643 points (333 of which were goals) in 649 games. As part of the Legion of Doom, he simply overpowered opponents night after night.
Eric Lindros
Speaking of Lindros, the superstar arrived in Philadelphia under some controversy. Quebec’s Michel Aubut traded Lindros to two different teams, leading to an arbiter to decide who would be award Lindros. Larry Bertuzzi sided with Philadelphia, and the Flyers sent a large package of players (including Ron Hextall, Mike Ricci, and Peter Forsberg) for Lindros. The Flyers didn’t soar immediately, but Lindros was delivering the goods, scoring 41 goals in his rookie year. In 1995, he won the Hart Trophy, following that up with 115 points in 1995-96. Despite some acrimony with the front office, Lindros carried on with 79 points in just 52 games in 1996-97, leading the Flyers to the Cup final before the Red Wings swept them. That was the high point for Lindros, who had one 90-plus point season his last four years with Philadelphia.
In 2018, the Flyers retired #88, mending whatever hard feelings there were between the player and the organization over the years.
Pelle Lindbergh
Prior to Ron Hextall, Swedish netminder Pelle Lindbergh was sensational in his brief time with the Flyers. The .887 save percentage might seem low, but given how freewheeling the league was with the Oilers running wild, that was a very strong number for the era. Lindbergh earned the Flyers at least a point in 102 of his 152 regular season games for Philadelphia, and looked to be turning a corner into the team’s perennial starter for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, in 1986, Lindbergh was killed in a car accident after crashing his Porsche while intoxicated. He was kept on life support for two days before his family agreed to let him go peacefully. He was just 26. In 2025, a documentary based on Lindbergh’s life was released entitled The Swede of Philadelphia.
Reggie Leach
Known as the “Riverton Rifle,” winger Reggie Leach had a two-year stint with Boston to start his career, then a trying three years with the California Golden Seals. However, a May 1974 trade to Philadelphia changed everything. And everything clicked for the sniper. In 1974-75, Leach netted 45 goals before scoring 61 the following season, including a rather ridiculous 19 tallies in 16 playoff games. Although having a few so-so years by his standards, he hit the 50-goal mark again in 1979-80, scoring nine times in that year’s playoffs. In 94 playoff games, Leach had 47 goals. He had 306 goals over his regular season career with Philadelphia, and was one of the more formidable snipers of his era.
