2008 Woodie Awards
The orange and black are back
Shane Evans
Issue date: 10/13/06 Section: Sports
It was a long and painful off season for the Philadelphia Flyers.
The 2005-06 season didn't go the way they had planned, and an early exit in the first round of the playoffs was evidence of that.
Before last season began, the Flyers were predicted by many to capture their third Stanley Cup title and their first since 1975, an agonizing stretch of 31 years. They signed arguably the best player in the world, Peter Forsberg before the season. The defense was revamped with the addition of bruising back-liners Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje. It was all in place for a rise to the pinnacle of the National Hockey League.
What happened instead, was a monumental collapse.
Granted, the Flyers played well. Extremely well in fact during the first quarter of the season. They ranked #1 in the league during that span. But as the year wore on, the traditionally bigger team was slowed by a staggering 388 man games to injury and by the "new NHL system" which hardly suited the slow-footed Flyers. Not even "Peter the Great" could save the Flyers from first round futility.
Going against a much younger, much faster and arguably less-talented Buffalo Sabres team, the Flyers looked terribly over-matched and slow as the fresh-legged New Yorkers ran circles around them in six games to take the series.
That kind of failure doesn't fly in Philadelphia. Especially with the hockey-crazed Ed Snider as the owner of the team since it's inception in 1967.
In the off-season, the Flyers made a host of changes to improve their team, and help it acclimatize to the new system the NHL had adopted following the lockout of 2004-05 season.
Gone are the slow feet of ancient defender Eric Dejardins, centers Keith Primeau and Michael Handzus, and in is the quickness of Kyle Calder, Randy Robitaille Geoff Sanderson.
With those three swift additions, and the emergence of their young nucleus of rookies from last season, centers Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and R.J. Umberger and defensemen Freddy Meyer, the Flyers have drastically changed their team from what they were a year ago at this point.
The 2005-06 season didn't go the way they had planned, and an early exit in the first round of the playoffs was evidence of that.
Before last season began, the Flyers were predicted by many to capture their third Stanley Cup title and their first since 1975, an agonizing stretch of 31 years. They signed arguably the best player in the world, Peter Forsberg before the season. The defense was revamped with the addition of bruising back-liners Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje. It was all in place for a rise to the pinnacle of the National Hockey League.
What happened instead, was a monumental collapse.
Granted, the Flyers played well. Extremely well in fact during the first quarter of the season. They ranked #1 in the league during that span. But as the year wore on, the traditionally bigger team was slowed by a staggering 388 man games to injury and by the "new NHL system" which hardly suited the slow-footed Flyers. Not even "Peter the Great" could save the Flyers from first round futility.
Going against a much younger, much faster and arguably less-talented Buffalo Sabres team, the Flyers looked terribly over-matched and slow as the fresh-legged New Yorkers ran circles around them in six games to take the series.
That kind of failure doesn't fly in Philadelphia. Especially with the hockey-crazed Ed Snider as the owner of the team since it's inception in 1967.
In the off-season, the Flyers made a host of changes to improve their team, and help it acclimatize to the new system the NHL had adopted following the lockout of 2004-05 season.
Gone are the slow feet of ancient defender Eric Dejardins, centers Keith Primeau and Michael Handzus, and in is the quickness of Kyle Calder, Randy Robitaille Geoff Sanderson.
With those three swift additions, and the emergence of their young nucleus of rookies from last season, centers Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and R.J. Umberger and defensemen Freddy Meyer, the Flyers have drastically changed their team from what they were a year ago at this point.
Be the first to comment on this story