Is This the Lowest Point in Philadelphia Flyers History?

If you haven’t been paying attention to the Flyers lately, we don’t blame you. To say things haven’t been well with the Flyers is an understatement, they have been historically bad.

 

And it’s only gotten worse

 

 

. . . and worse

 

 

. . . and worse

 

 

While the Flyers are beloved in Philadelphia they are admittedly fourth in the pecking order of sports relevance in the city. In order for them to have a chance to be discussed on local sports talk radio is for the team to look like legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. Nowadays however, they are dangerously close to letting the Union leapfrog them as the fourth biggest professional team in Philadelphia.

The headline of this article asks the question of whether or not that this 13 game losing streak is the low point in franchise history. Even during the early struggles of the late 1960s, they were still building a foundation that led to two Stanley Cup winners in the mid-1970s. While the Flyers haven’t won a cup since, the franchise almost always remained competitive under the leadership of founder Ed Snider.

Since Snider’s passing in 2016, Comcast Spectacor (no, not the evil organization from the James Bond movies Spectre) have run the team and at best the Flyers have been inconsistent. For every hot streak and exciting playoff run comes a disappointing stretch and no playoffs at all. It wasn’t that long ago that the Flyers were in Game 7 of the semi-finals during the bizarre bubble season, now that run feels like ages ago.

Coaches, general managers and players have come and gone over the past five years and probably the most impressive accomplishment the Flyers made in recent memory is creating a mascot that became a national sensation as soon as he was first introduced. Of course, Gritty’s success is more credit to the business and marketing side of the Flyers organization, not the people in charge of the on-ice product. As lovable as Gritty is, he’s also a symbol for Comcast Spectacor’s focus on making a profit than making the team itself better. With the team not being a contender nor having a megastar on ice, Gritty is their only source of high income.

While we like to think Mr. Snider would enjoy Gritty’s company, one of the reasons he didn’t have a long-term Flyers mascot in his lifetime was because he was all about winning. Even as the Cup drought continued, it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

Amidst this losing and sadness, the guy we need to feel the saddest for is Claude Giroux. While Giroux has naturally received his fair share of criticism over the years as the Captain (still nowhere near as much as an Eagles quarterback or Sixers all-stars), he’s still the best player the team has had over the past decade and is linked to the legendary 2010 team. His great Flyers career ends not with raising a cup, but with a whimper either with a mid-season trade or a free agent signing in the offseason.

All of the Flyers good players are on the trading block now, including Giroux. Even Carter Hart could be destroyed by the Flyers losing and dysfunction since the young goalie has to take too many shots per game while the offense scores very little. There could come a time when the organization decides to blow it all up and even trade him. Instead of becoming the Flyers best goalie in a generation, Hart could show off his true potential somewhere else.

In other words, it’s hard to imagine things getting any lower for the Flyers, but it’s still possible. When you reach a point of hoping a Connor McDavid, Alexander Ovechkin or Eric Lindros type of prospect is coming up in the NHL draft and praying the ping pongs bounce your way, that’s when things become torturous. The Flyers should know, they share the same building with the Sixers. And just because you suffered in Hell for an extended period of time doesn’t mean paradise is on the other side, it could be even worse.

Looking at the Flyers bleak situation right now, it is probably just best to focus on the Eagles offseason and the Sixers for now. And that’s probably why the Flyers are at an all-time low point: They’re hardly worth discussing and paying attention to.

By Mike McCarrick | January 29, 2022
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