Philadelphia Flyers 2011 Offseason Caused Years of Misfortune – Hockey Writers – Flyers History

Following the 2010-11 season in which the Philadelphia Flyers had the third-best record in the NHL but lost in the second round of the playoffs, the team wanted to do big things that summer. And, to their credit, they did. Unfortunately, the moves they made set the franchise back, inadvertently bringing about the least successful season in team history. Let’s revisit the 2011 season, led by general manager (GM) Paul Holmgren.

Lack of Faith in Bobrovsky Affects Flyers

The first big mistake Holmgren and the Flyers made in the 2011 offseason was not trusting their young netminder, Sergei Bobrovsky. A standout in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), the undrafted free agent appeared in 54 contests in his 22-year NHL career. With a .915 save percentage (SV%), 2.59 goals-against average (GAA), 3.04 goals-against-average (GSAA), and 9.75 goals-save-above-expectation (GSAx), he’s actually been one of the go-to nets forward in hockey.

Bobrovsky saw a decline in April and the postseason, but being at 87 percent in GSAx at age 22 is no easy feat. He had a GSAx of 15.8 over his last three contests, so his standing here was clear—the Flyers had something. Instead of betting on the man between the pipes who went 28-13-8 (and started 21-6-3), they had a different plan. The Orange and Black decided to sign a replacement.

At the start of the season, the Flyers signed Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year, $51 million contract worth $5.67 million annually. The 30-year-old was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2009-10 and finished sixth in 2010-11, but his three-year GSAx was 3.62. Still, the thought here was simple: Bryzgalov needed to be the future of the franchise between the pipes. After two regular seasons, he was in the spotlight.

Related: The 7 Richest Flyers Contracts in Franchise History

Bryzgalov’s first campaign away from a stout Phoenix defense was respectable for a rookie, but not worth the money he was given. While he had a bad start to his campaign with a .891 SV%, 3.07 GAA, minus-17.1 GSAA, and minus-13.8 GSAx through Jan. 14, 2012, he improved a lot to get decent prices at the end of the season.

Bobrovsky regressed from his previous campaign overall, but had an elite .921 SV%, 2.42 GAA, 3.73 GSAA, and 7.39 GSAx during that same span as Bryzgalov. Bobrovsky’s numbers dipped as he watched his partner improve, but the promising netminder was clearly still in there somewhere.

In the postseason, Bryzgalov was not the best in Phoenix and continued that in Philadelphia. With a .887 SV% and poor advanced stats, it wasn’t a debut showing to be proud of. In the summer of 2012, the Flyers decided they had seen enough of Bobrovsky even though he still had one year left on his contract—he was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Doubling down like this was one of the worst decisions not only in franchise history, but one of the worst face-value moves in NHL history. Bryzgalov’s play declined further, leading to the final seven seasons of his contract being bought out in the 2013 offseason. As for Bobrovsky, he won the Vezina Trophy in 2012-13 as he essentially had a full-time role. Today, Bobrovsky appears to be a lock for the Hall of Fame, sitting on two Vezina Trophies and a Stanley Cup victory.

Richards & Carter Trades

This is where we find a strange confluence of ideas. While the Flyers clearly embraced the “win now” mentality by signing a veteran goaltender to a big contract, they traded two of their best players in the 2011 offseason for a group of young athletes. This clash of futures building while the Stanley Cup window is fading has gone about as well as you’d expect.

Mike Richards, then-captain of the Flyers, Rob Bordson, and Jeff Carter were handled by a combination of young and selected. Acquires Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, 2012 second round pick (traded), Jakub Voracek, 2011 first round pick (Sean Couturier), and 2011 third round pick (Nick Cousins) , Philadelphia is doing well in the face. . But, at the end of the day, they really didn’t.

The upside here is that the Flyers freed up a decent amount of money and acquired four players from the 2011-12 roster for their troubles, but also had a Stanley Cup window established. With defensemen Kimmo Timonen and Chris Pronger aged 36 and 37 respectively, Matt Carle on expiring deals, and a defensive unit with no great prospects in the program behind these three, this was a recipe for disaster.

While forwards Schenn, Simmonds, Voracek, and Couturier all went on to great NHL careers, it took a while for all of them to reach their primes. The Orange and Black thinned out their program significantly by trading away three of their top ice-time leaders from 2010-11, one of whom was a Selke Trophy candidate (Richards) and another coming off three consecutive 30-goal campaigns (Carter). There has been some speculation that off-ice concerns were the reason for the trade, but that doesn’t seem to justify them.

The Flyers were still one of the best teams in the league thanks to Claude Giroux’s MVP-caliber season in 2011-12, but the loss of Richards and Carter was felt. Giroux’s first-round hero streak against the Pittsburgh Penguins (14 points) was enough to snap a six-game winning streak. Philadelphia lost in five games to the New Jersey Devils in the next round. Pronger’s career-ending injury early in the campaign didn’t help matters, but it was essentially a one-man show mixed with some creativity from Danny Briere and Timonen himself.

The Flyers lost four key players from their previous team entering the 2012-13 campaign, namely Pronger, Carle, Jaromir Jagr, and James van Riemsdyk (traded for defenseman Luke Schenn). Briere was a shell of himself when the depth on both ends of the ice was so poor—the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006-07.

One has to think, if the Flyers had extended their Stanley Cup window, they might have won more than two playoff series since Richards and Carter left. Now, their primes only lasted a little longer (Richards had two good seasons left) but this trade completely changed the complexion of some of the best rosters in sports.

The End Effect of Flyers

By taking away what allowed the 2010-11 Flyers to be in a dogfight for the top record with eventual Stanley Cup finalist Vancouver Canucks for most of that season, the Orange and Black hurt themselves. Not only did their move lead to a quick drying of the competition window, but the decisions also didn’t help in the long run—the Flyers paid for Bryzgalov’s acquisition to this day. Perhaps Richards, Carter, and Bobrovsky could have given Philadelphia a better chance at a championship in 2011-12 and beyond, taking the weight off Giroux’s shoulders.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that players like Schenn (forward), Simmonds, Voracek, and Couturier were great in their prime, but it didn’t really matter. The Flyers already have no future, so those players wasted some of their prime years on low-quality playoff teams. Instead of enduring a minor rebuild around Giroux and Bobrovsky where players like Pronger, Timonen, Jagr, Carle, Briere, and others left, Philadelphia was stuck in the mud—bad enough to have a slim chance of contending for the Cup but good enough to never be. choose a high draft.

Following the trades of Richards, Carter, and finally Bobrovsky, the Flyers made little moves to try to compete. From 2012-13 to 2023-24, they accumulated half of their franchise’s total playoff misses (eight of 16). Actually, it took them 12 seasons to accomplish what they did in the last 44.

The Orange and Black’s current season is the darkest in history by a significant margin, and it’s largely thanks to the short-sighted offseason of 2011. I hope the team will learn from their failure after that. Holmgren used to make good moves as a GM—he (probably pressured by those around him) just had one, really unlucky summer.

Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick