Philadelphia Flyers
Worst Flyers Trade Ever? Panthers Advance to Stanley Cup Final… Again
The Philadelphia Flyers, like every NHL team, have made plenty of terrible trades over the years. But there’s one Flyers trade that stands out from the rest–especially now. The one that sent Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to the Columbus Blue Jackets on June 22, 2012, in exchange for a 2012 second-round pick, a 2012 fourth-round pick, and a 2013 fourth-round pick.
That was chump change back then, and it’s chump change now. Bobrovsky, now 35 years old, is just four wins away from the ultimate prize after his Panthers eliminated the New York Rangers in six games on Saturday night, staking claim to a decisive 2-1 victory. The one-time Flyers star has cemented himself as one of the very best goalies of the modern era, among the likes of Carey Price, Henrik Lundqvist, Tuukka Rask, Pekka Rinne, Ryan Miller, Ben Bishop, and plenty of others.
And while the Flyers have made just one Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1997—the 2010 Finals loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games—Bobrovsky has made it to the game’s biggest stage twice in two seasons. Oh, and he’s since won a pair of Vezina Trophies to boot.
Flyers general manager Danny Briere was still playing for the Orange and Black when Bobrovsky started his NHL career, and he was around to witness the aftermath of Bobrovsky getting traded away for peanuts.
Lest we forget that one of those peanuts, the 2012 second-round pick, became former Flyers backup goalie Anthony Stolarz. Stolarz, who is now Bobrovsky’s backup with the Panthers, has very quietly carved out a nice career for himself after being jettisoned out of Philadelphia; the 30-year-old ranks 31st in all-time save percentage in the NHL amongst qualifying goaltenders.
Cam Talbot, who was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Stolarz in 2019, is 37th in all-time save percentage. The goaltending carousel only thundered onward, and amazingly, the Flyers emerged worse for wear every single time.
Bobrovsky, Talbot, and Stolarz have all moved on to greener pastures, and the Flyers have since restocked their prospect pipeline with a handful of talented goalies. Time will tell if Briere and Co. have learned from past mistakes that bedeviled the organization for years.
‘Cold-Blooded’ Matvei Michkov Becomes Hero, Defeats Connor Bedard in First NHL Meeting
Should Philadelphia Flyers Trade for Rising Star Wild Center?
Flyers Giving Struggling Morgan Frost One More Chance to Prove Himself
Core Flyers Players Named Top 10 NHL Trade Targets
Flyers Prospects, Core Players Rank Middle of the Pack Compared to NHL Peers
Bailey’s Daily: Flyers Injury Updates; Patrik Laine Returning?
NHL Update on Referee Mitch Dunning, Injured in Flyers vs. Avalanche
Emil Andrae Injury Status and Update Ahead of Flyers vs. Avalanche
What I Saw from Flyers Rookie Helge Grans in His NHL Debut
Flyers Top Defense Prospect Receives Big Opportunity Amid Injury Crisis
Are Flyers Playoff Contenders? We Examine in Latest Podcast
Flyers Podcast: Lots of Positives, But Ryan Ellis Was Mistreated
Will Flyers get a shot at drafting Shane Wright? Here are the intriguing prospects
Tyson Foerster injured on scary hit into end boards
Talbot was terrible for the Flyers, no question he needed to go, and Talbot’s situation was entirely different with respect to Bobrovsky, Lyon or Stolarz.
Talbot was not a spring chicken that the Flyer’s “gave up on” early in their career like Stolarz, Bobrovsky or Lyon (and Boucher, although they brought Boucher back later).
The problem was we traded Stolarz to Edmonton for Talbot. This was a silly and short-sighted trade.
This story needs to be told in conjunction with the Ilya Bryzgalov signing which is why Bob was traded.
When Philadelphia traded away “Bob” it was for the future of the Flyers goaltending.We acquired Bryzgalov for a mere 60 million,which after the buyout we are still paying this clown.Thank you Mr Holmgren.We lost Bob,and now Carter Hart.So many terrible deals made by ex GM’s to count, obviously put the Flyers in cap hell.New GM Danny Breire has to tighten a sinking ship,and it’s starting to look good at this time.
Holmgren did his best to destroy this franchise. He was a mediocre player, a bad coach & a horrible GM. And to top it off, he & Scott tore down Kate Smith too! It makes me want to puke when I see his name in the rafters.🤮
When the flyers had bob he couldn’t stop a beachball,who knew in 3-4 years he would be better.Colubus didn’t keep him either.If you look back at his flyers games,he actually made holes for the puck to go in.Props for like usual we get rid of a player n then he’s good.We always get the down hill on their career players.Thats Philly,were used to hand me downs.
I knew he was srill a good goalie, and when I told people that they laughed in my face.
Justin Williams for Danny Markov. Williams won three Cups. Markov was in Philly for one short playoff run.
Florida has a well-rounded team, a quality the Flyers have lacked since trading Bobrovsky in 2012. The Flyers lost the goaltending gamble with Bryzgalov, and poor management decisions have continued since then, making it hard to say this one is the worst.
This is a very good synopsis. What the writers here leave out is besides the goalie management problems here, defense has been as much or even worse. The same issue plagued most of our goalies over the last dozen or so years. They would have to bail out the defense which had breakdowns, but because of “team politics”, was rarely directed towards them as the culprit. The goalies ended up the “fall guys” not all the time, but enough for them not to want to stay. But as some other posters have already said, everyone had a different story. Stolarz blew out both his knees and was unavailable nearly 2 seasons of his AHL career. By the time he got his NHL chance with the Flyers, he had some catching up to do. Bob was here when he was young, and had lots of potential, and it went that way. He was brilliant at times while other times struggled. But he was a fall guy too, and he knew it and that’s why he wanted a new team. Talbot was just plain bad. How many teams have given him chances via ice time? Bryz was a mistake, in fact, the Coyotes d men said it publicly (they would get blamed). How did Holmgren miss information that was public? Those Coyote players disclosed it in interviews. I wondered whether Homer kept his ear to the ground (we have the answer now). Homer eventually “fixed” the problem bringing in Pronger, but it had too short of a shelf life. Stolarz bounced around the league, as has Pickard. But when they were here, did not perform up to the needed level. Some players take longer to develop. So a lot contributed to the problem, hard to pin it all on one thing.
The worst Flyers trade of all was Jan of 1971 trading Bernie Parent to Toronto. Only with the creation of the WHA did they get the all time do over and got Bernie back in 1973. No Bernie…..No two Cups.
The WHA also depleted the Bruins and allowed The Flyers to win in 1974. Bernie’s save on Hodge with a right kick save may be the best play of all. It occured with minutes left and The Flyer winning 1 to 0.
In 10 years if you’re still writing, you will be able to include Gauthier for Drysdale I’m afraid, I hope I am wrong!