The Philadelphia Flyers missed the playoffs eight times from their inaugural season in 1967-68 through the 2011-12 season. That’s eight times in the first 44 seasons of their existence, which works out to roughly 24 per cent of the time. That means it was almost a given the Flyers were going to enter the playoffs. And, more often than not, go deep before bowing out. The team missed the playoffs as many times as they ended up going to the Stanley Cup Final those first 44 seasons.
However, the 2011-12 season is now 15 years ago, and unfortunately those numbers have dwindled substantially in that time frame. Since then, Philadelphia has yet to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons. After missing in 2012-13, the Flyers see-sawed over eight consecutive seasons, alternating between getting in and missing out until 2019-20, the pandemic-shortened season that saw Flyers faithful watching playoff hockey in empty rinks elsewhere. Philadelphia defeated the Canadiens in the first round before bowing out to the Islanders in seven games. We all know what happened after that, from Chuck Fletcher eventually being replaced by Danny Briere. And the overhaul beginning.
Last year marked the first time since Covid that the team made the playoffs, and the first time since 2017-18 Flyers fans were treated to a home playoff game. While the enthusiasm and energy was most welcomed, Philadelphia is hoping to build on that. So, with that being the case, it’s time to see what the Flyers have done historically in the following scenario: how they’ve fared the season after making the playoffs after missing the playoffs for a year or more.
Of course, the 2012-13 through 2018-19 span will be touched on but not in depth as the Flyers were consistently inconsistent. And because they made the playoffs so often the first 44 seasons, there aren’t a horde of such scenarios in that span either. However, there are a few, so let’s look at them. We’ll do it in chronological order. And if history repeats itself, perhaps the Flyers have a much deeper run in them than anyone expects for 2026-27.
1967-68 to 1968-69
Obviously, it’s difficult to make the playoffs when you don’t exist as a franchise. However, once the National Hockey League expanded to 12 teams, doubling their original number, the Philadelphia Flyers became an entity. In their opening season, the club was one game under .500 (31-32-11) but made the playoffs in the West Division. The West was all six expansion clubs, while the East was the original six (New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, and Montreal). Philadelphia was essentially the best of a relatively mediocre bunch, winning the West Division and edging out the Kings by a point for the division crown. The playoffs saw Philadelphia edged out by St. Louis, but not before going seven games. And two of them going into double overtime. The Blues defeated Philadelphia 3-1 in the deciding game at the Spectrum, with Red Berenson scoring an empty-netter late in the third.
The Flyers took a step back the next year in the regular season. The 76-game regular season saw Philadelphia end up with 12 fewer points (20-35-21), good for third in the West, and losing in the opening round to the Blues yet again. This series wasn’t even close, as the Flyers were swept by the Blues, who outscored Philadelphia 17-3. So, while the team once again made the playoffs, their regular season didn’t see much momentum or carryover from the closely contested playoff series in their first year.
1971-72 to 1973-74
The Flyers were on the outside looking in during 1971-72, going 12 games under .500 with first-year head coach Fred Shero behind the bench. They were fifth in the now seven-team West Division (the California Golden Seals added to the mix), and missed the playoffs two of the last three seasons. However, in 1972-73, Philadelphia made a sizeable 19-point improvement over the 78-game schedule (37-30-11). And won their first playoff series ever over the Minnesota North Stars in six games. With just three rounds of playoff hockey, Philadelphia entered the semis against the Montreal Canadiens. After winning game one in overtime, the Canadiens slowly but surely put the Flyers away in five games on the road to another Stanley Cup.
After losing to the eventual Cup champs, Philadelphia entered 1973-74 with rather moderate expectations. However, Shero, Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, and others had different ideas. The Flyers showed another side to themselves, winning 50 of 78 games and ending up with a staggering 112 points (.718 points percentage) and first in their division. Philadelphia steamrolled over Atlanta in round one, then were tested by the Rangers in seven games before the Flyers won game seven 4-3, mirroring the series. Finally, in their first Stanley Cup final, Philadelphia got contributions from 10 different goal scorers over the six games against Boston, winning their first Cup at home in game six. It was their first of two consecutive championships, and put the franchise that was growing in stature on the map.
1993-94 to 1995-96
With Eric Lindros being the face of the future and the franchise, Philadelphia was still finding their way to competitiveness in the early ’90s. The team missed the playoffs in Lindros’ first two seasons, going 35-39-10 in 1993-94 and ending up sixth in the seven-team Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (known in 1992-93 as the Patrick Division in the Prince of Wales Conference). Lindros had no sophomore slump, earning 97 points in just 65 games, including 44 goals.
In 1994-95, Bobby Clarke returned to the helm as president and general manager of the Flyers. Terry Murray was head coach, and the season was an abbreviated 48-game season due to a lockout. Philadelphia went 28-16-4 in the shortened campaign, with the team winning the Atlantic. Lindros had hit another gear with the Legion of Doom evolving that season with John LeClair coming over from Montreal and Mikael Renberg fleshing out the trio. The Flyers rolled through the Sabres and the Rangers, losing one game through the opening two rounds. Unfortunately, the Flyers ran into a juggernaut in Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey’s trap bent at times against the Legion of Doom, but eventually held firm, defeating the Flyers in six games. They swept Detroit in the final and won the Cup.
Looking like they were heading in the right direction in 1995-96, Philadelphia registered their first 45-win season since 1986-87 when they ended up losing to the Oilers in the fourth round. Going 45-24-13 for 103 points, the Flyers once again topped the Atlantic Division. The top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Flyers faced Tampa in round one and eliminated the Lightning in six games. Unfortunately, they couldn’t beat the other Florida club as the Panthers defeated Philadelphia in six. However, they looked to be trending in the right direction. It never resulted in a Cup, but it did end up seeing the Flyers reach the finals before losing to Detroit in four straight in 1996-97.
2006-07 to 2008-09
The start of the 2006-07 season began messy. Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock was fired just eight games into the season, as Philadelphia fell flat out of the gate at 1-6-1. John Stevens was put in charge, but the team didn’t fare much better, going 22-48-12 in a rather forgettable, horrible season that saw them win a combined four games in December and January. Outside of pups like Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, Peter Forsberg might have been the lone bright spot that year, but his trade to Nashville for Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen after the season was the first of a few turning points. That same summer, Philadelphia signed Danny Briere while acquiring defenseman Jason Smith and forward Joffrey Lupul from the OIlers.
In 2007-08, the Flyers went 42-29-11, good enough for 95 points but positioning themselves fourth in the Atlantic. Philadelphia defeated the Capitals in a thrilling seven-game series thanks to Lupul’s overtime heroics on the road in the final game. The Flyers then upset the Canadiens in five games which set up a semi-final matchup against the Penguins. Philadelphia lost to Pittsburgh in five games with Timonen out of the lineup most of the series while Braydon Coburn was injured in Game 2, depleting the Flyers blueline immensely against Sidney Crosby and company.
The following season Philadelphia, once again under Stevens, won 44 games, earning 99 points which put them third in the Atlantic. Unfortunately, the Penguins were their first-round opponent. And things went just as poorly as they did the previous year in the playoffs as the Pens eliminated Philadelphia in six games. The series was notable as Philadelphia took a 3-0 lead in Game 6 before Dan Carcillo fought Max Talbot. The rather needless fight energized the Penguins who scored five straight and sent the Flyers packing.
2012-13 to 2018-19
As much as the Penguins foiled Philadelphia the previous decade, the Penguins helped Philadelphia somewhat in 2015-16 when the Flyers defeated a rather star-free Pens lineup 3-1 to clinch the eight seed. However, the team during this stretch never truly materialized into anything other than a bubble playoff team. Whether it was the questionable draft years which saw Sam Morin and Robert Hagg taken ahead of better players, or believing the team was closer to contention then they truly were, Philadelphia rarely built on any momentum during these years. The one constant was often in January or February of each year, hearing Claude Giroux predict the club was going to get to the playoffs. Over this stretch, he was right half the time. And wrong the other half.
Although there was some hope with the likes of Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, and Travis Sanheim looking like they could develop into something special, this era of the Flyers was epitomized perfectly in 2017. Philadelphia lucked out in the draft lottery, moving up to the second spot and looking like they’d land a great piece of their future. They picked Nolan Patrick, whose career was marred by injuries and not nearly living up to any expectations. The following three picks? Miro Heiskanen to Dallas, Cale Makar to Colorado and Elias Pettersson to Vancouver. Any one of those three subsequent picks could’ve drastically altered Philadelphia’s future (and Giroux’s chances at a deep playoff run).
As this era proved, the rather mushy middle didn’t do much to push the needle forward or backward regarding the team’s direction. They looked stuck, spinning their wheels and slowly but surely sinking. That might end up being the case with this current version of the Flyers. However, given how Briere has built the foundation and looks to have made many right moves, it seems unlikely the next five to seven years will see the club in and out like they were most of the 2010s.
Stats courtesy of Hockeydb.com, ESPN.com, and Hockey-reference.com.
