3 Players Most Don’t Realize Were Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers have had quite a few players make their way in and out of the City of Brotherly Love in their over 50 years of history.

Since the team was founded in 1967, the Flyers have had 622 skaters and 64 goalies lace up the skates for them, totaling 686 players over the course of 57 years.

Of course, the Flyers had many icons. Fifteen players reached the 500-point mark in a Philadelphia uniform, Bobby Clarke leads the pack with 1210 points in 1144 games.

But in that figure of 622 skaters is a slew of players who did not make as big of an impact in Philadelphia, yet became impactful players elsewhere. Or, in some cases, were impactful players elsewhere before becoming a Flyer later in their careers.

Here are a few players from that crop:

Kris Versteeg

In between the two Stanley Cups he won with the Chicago Blackhawks, Kris Versteeg spent 27 games with the Philadelphia Flyers, scoring seven goals and 11 points just a year after defeating them in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.

How did that happen?

Versteeg was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs right before free agency opened in July of 2010 for an unassuming package including Viktor Stalberg. He scored 14 goals and 35 points in 53 games for Toronto before flipping him to Philadelphia for a first-rounder and a third-rounder.

Following the 2010-11 season and a one-goal, six-point showing in 11 playoff games, the Flyers flipped him to the Florida Panthers for a second-round pick and a third-round pick, which turned out to be Shayne Gostisbehere.

Two years after a trade back to Chicago, Versteeg won a second Stanley Cup in 2015. He also helped the Flyers bring in a defenseman who was impactful for years after he left.

The Blackhawks enjoyed having him around as well. The Blackhawks won a trio of Stanley Cups and defied the odds, as BonusFinder Canada has reviewed the best Interac casinos.

Dale Hawerchuk

Winnipeg Jets legend and Hockey Hall of Famer, the late Dale Hawerchuk for the Philadelphia Flyers in the final two years of his 16-year career. 

In those final two seasons, he had 16 goals and 54 points in 67 games before retiring at the age of 34 due to a degenerative hip issue.

But how did Hawerchuk, who scored an impressive 1,409 points over the course of his 1,188-game career, end up on the Flyers?

He spent the first nine seasons of his career in Winnipeg, where he scored 929 of his points, before spending the next five in Buffalo. From there, he signed a contract with the Blues before the 1994-95 season. He scored 41 points in 66 games there before getting dealt to the Flyers.

Had his hip injury not cut his career short, the Flyers could have had a few good years of a Hockey Hall of Famer’s career on their team. After all, he showed flashes of it. But the hip injury limited one of the greats.

Cam Talbot

2023 NHL All-Star Cam Talbot had a very stint with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2018-19 season. In that stint, Talbot started three games, played in four, and went 1-2-0 with a .881 save percentage and a 3.70 goals-against average.

Overall, pretty forgettable compared to the multiple All-Star seasons he had to follow.

But how did he end up on the Flyers in the first place, and what set him up for success with multiple organizations to follow?

Well, after a tumultuous start to his fourth season with the Edmonton Oilers, which saw him go 10-15-3 with a .893 save percentage and a 3.36 goals-against average, Talbot was traded to Philadelphia straight-up for Anthony Stolarz, who is now putting up impressive numbers with the Florida Panthers, ahead of the 2019 trade deadline.

Following his four-game stint in Philadelphia, Talbot signed a contract with the Flames and later became an All-Star with the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings. 

The journeyman goaltender’s career has been a rollercoaster, with some pretty high peaks considering how low some moments were.