Spectrum Memories: When Legion of Doom dominance became a Hab-it

Courtesy of the NY Times

By Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

When the Philadelphia Flyers raised the curtain on their 29th season in the NHL and their last in the Spectrum, 30 years ago tonight in Montreal, the hockey gods and schedule-makers couldn’t have provided an opponent more ripe for the plundering.

The Montreal Canadiens missed the playoffs during the previous, lockout-shortened season, the first time they hit the links immediately following the completion of their regular-season schedule since 1970. Head coach Jacques Demers’ hot seat became even hotter as the club had backslid three seasons in a row from a Stanley Cup title, to a first-round elimination, to sixth place in their division.

The Flyers, meanwhile, were looking to prove their own five-year climb out of hockey’s also-rans that culminated in a surprise run to the Eastern Conference Finals, was no fluke. First-year head coach Terry Murray had previously reached the third playoff round five years earlier as bench boss with the Washington Capitals. 

Since the landmark trade 240 days earlier which netted John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne in exchange for Mark Recchi, the Flyers simply owned the Habs. Won three straight games to finish the season series 3-0-1, outscoring their Gallic foes by an 18-6 count. 

Adding insult to injury, only 16 days after the deal, LeClair ran roughshod over his former club with a hat trick in a 7-0 shellacking that stands today as the largest margin of victory for the Orange and Black in the hockey Mecca. 

After compiling 25 goals in 37 games after the deal (equivalent to 55 goals over a full 82-game schedule) then adding five more scores in 15 playoff tilts, Johnny Vermont charged into the new season fresh from inking a $7.5 million, 5-year contract and amidst plenty of press speculating how the Legion of Doom would fare for a whole season. 

Team captain Eric Lindros entered his fourth NHL season as the reigning Hart Trophy winner, robbed of a scoring title due to finishing 2 goals shy of Pittsburgh’s Jaromir Jagr and losing the league-mandated tiebreaker. 

In June, after being handed the award by Canadian writer Scott Young, father of the godfather of grunge Neil Young, the 22-year-old burst into tears. He told millions across North America “Thanks to the fans of Philadelphia who supported us when we weren’t so good. We’re getting better, and we’re gonna do it!”

Big E cried all the way to the bank after the Hart honor triggered a clause in his contract which raised his yearly salary by a whopping $600,000 as reported by Jay Greenberg in Full Spectrum. 

“When we’ve got the best player in the league, he’s worth it, don’t you think?” Greenberg reported then-Flyers owner Ed Snider responding to questions that the extension to Number 88 could have his wallet weeping.

Desjardins also reaped the windfall with a new $6 million pact over 4 years as did third-year sensation Mikael Renberg ($6.4 over 4 seasons).

“I think this group of guys wants to stay together,” Clarke noted. “And we want to keep them together.”

Finances secure, the game was essentially over before 15 minutes elapsed from puck drop. Four different Flyers punctured future Hall of Famer Patrick Roy, including Lindros, LeClair and two guys needing to secure regular roster spots in Patrik Juhlin and Rob DiMaio. Philly won the fights, too, during the 7-1 rout.

It wasn’t just the glow of a brand new season for the players.

The familiar voice you hear on the local Channel 17 broadcast in the above video is Jim Jackson. With the retirement of Gene Hart following the last of the club’s broadcasts during the Eastern Conference semifinals the previous May, the torch was passed and Jackson was promoted from the radio booth to the TV side. The pairing with former Flyer Gary Dornhoefer as color commentator would last the next 10 seasons, interrupted only by the washed-out 2004-05 campaign.

"You can't be unhappy with 28 years," Hart mused as he continued his role with the organization as a team ambassador.

In all, eight different players tied to the Flyers organization the year before lit the lamp (including Brent Fedyk, Rod Brind’Amour, Renberg for the visiteurs and Recchi for Montreal). Roy was pulled less than 23 minutes in after yielding 5 goals on 15 shots, lowering his career regular-season mark vs. Philly to 1-10-7.

The rout foreshadowed the sharp and dramatic inverse relationship to success between the two franchises during the latter half of the 1990s. 

The Flyers went on to win four straight to start the year and ended October with a 7-1-3 mark. The Canadiens scored just 4 goals in their first 5 games – all losses – while the skid finally torched Demers for good. The hiring of former Habs legend Mario Tremblay out of the broadcast booth led to a sudden 12-2-0 turnaround, but his abrasive personality caused some trouble a bit later on with Roy.

When the Flyers returned for their last Forum go-round 9 days before Christmas, the visitors rudely wore out their welcome, but this time with the Legion taking a back seat. Two narrow home victories -- 3-2 on Feb. 1 marred by an ugly incident involving Marc Bureau and Petr Svoboda and another 3-2 score during the final regular-season contest at the Spectrum in April -- meant a clean 4-0-0 season sweep vs. Montreal for the first time in franchise history. 

The Habs did not beat the Flyers again until October 26, 1996 at the spanking new Molson (now Bell) Centre and did not win in Philadelphia until well after the Orange and Black's new building was long-since christened, in January 1998.

Flyers hire of Tocchet a calculated gamble on nostalgia, but shows lack of long-term vision

Photo courtesy of the Toronto Star

By Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

On Friday morning, the Philadelphia Flyers welcomed another former player into a position of influence over hockey decisions, naming Rick Tocchet the club’s 25th head coach.

Tocchet arrived fresh from his escape of the Canucks, where he won the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top bench boss in 2024 before circumstances with the organization grew sour enough that he disengaged.

Tocchet, who was selected in the sixth round of the 1983 draft, made his Flyers debut in October, 1984 and played 621 games here in two stints until retiring in 2002. He posted 232 of his career 440 goals in orange and black along with racking up a franchise-best 1,815 penalty minutes.

But general manager Danny Briere and the rest of the Flyers front office is apparently looking at Tocchet as a kinder, gentler hand while continuing to embrace the familiar.

The 61-year-old, who worked with such talents at previous coaching stops like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Phil Kessel, Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, gets his chance to work his magic for the club that took a chance on him as a scrappy 19-year-old out of Scarborough, Ontario.

With his hiring two days prior, Tocchet became the sixth former player to step up to the bench here. He follows Paul Holmgren, Bill Barber, Terry Murray, John Stevens and Craig Berube unto the breech. He’s only the second (after Murray, who came up through the ranks with the Washington Capitals) not to first ply his trade in assistantships or head slots somewhere in the Flyers organization.

But it’s still a familiar and friendly face in a familiar place, after a decidedly unfamiliar and unfriendly face in John Tortorella was summarily dismissed in March.

The connection with “past is prologue” as CEO of Comcast Dan Hilferty put it less than 2 years ago came into sharp focus when you consider on his May 16 public introduction, Tocchet had a hand in two memorable playoff moments coming up on five-and-zero anniversaries:

In 2000, 25 years ago, Tocchet’s two-goal effort helped the Flyers beat the Devils, 4-3, to even their Eastern Conference Finals series at a game apiece;

And in 1985, 40 years ago, his deflection score off a Mark Howe point drive in the first period was the opener (and eventual GWG) in a 3-0 series clinching win over Quebec in a Game 6 of the Wales Conference Finals.

So, let’s count. That’s former Flyers John LeClair, Patrick Sharp, Keith Jones, Danny Briere and Rick Tocchet holding sway over decision-making in Philadelphia. With an as-yet-undetermined number of other ex-Flyers who could fill two assistant coaching spots, now that Brad Shaw confirmed he would not return. 

In the National Hockey League, it’s a fact of life: coaches are hired to be fired. These relationships are not long-term, hardly analogous to the real world and never remain lovey-dovey, even if the commitment is strong from the start. 

And when one situation sours, there’s always another which offers a promise of renewal.

Call it the Coaches Carousel, Retread Roulette, The Old Boys Club, call it exclusive, call it unstable, call it whatever you want; but recognize that situations often change from one season to the next, personnel changes from one season to the next, injuries and discontent can change the on-ice chemistry on any given roster, so the sands quickly slip through the hourglass. 

Add in the fact that, when coaches reach the level where they are considered for NHL jobs, their vision and philosophy has been finely tuned and is set in stone. The conditions which make a candidate a great fit on Day One often make a bad fit by Day One Thousand.

Here’s the Flyers’ quandary.

In Friday’s press conference, the question was never asked, nor did Danny Briere offer a response, as to what Tocchet’s long-term role as head coach would be.

We heard online ad nauseam about how ex-teammates such as Chris Therien (Flyers of the early 2000s, former players like Sidney Crosby (Penguins in 2016-17) and recent charges such as Travis Sanheim (Canada, 4 Nations) all lauded Tocchet as a “great communicator,” with Briere and Tocchet himself offering his credentials at the presser as a “teacher.”

Well, great.

That gets us through the first couple years.

But when you consider that no Flyers head coach has lasted as long as four whole seasons since Mike Keenan – and that was 37 years ago – and given the naturally short leash inherent in any NHL head gig, where does that leave the organization long term? 

Whether it’s Tocchet or any other coach under consideration for the job, the hope with rebuilds are that the players develop properly, the coach is able to grow with the roster and the club progressed from an afterthought to a serious contender. 

That’s the positive spin.

The downside is that, over the course of 3 to 4 seasons, players may not develop properly, the coach may wear out his welcome and the whole thing collapses sooner than anticipated. Then, the hockey braintrust is back to square one. The process is hardly ever linear.

From the perspective of the ever hopeful, the faith and belief is that Briere got it right. But from the view of the perpetually disappointed, it’s another turn in the spin cycle with the stains of the past still visible.

And Tocchet has certainly been subject to the soap-and-rinse as much as any other head coach thrown continually in the washer.

Hired and fired as an assistant in Colorado.

Hired and removed (unceremoniously) as an assistant in Phoenix.

Hired as an assistant in Tampa, promoted to head coach of that slo-mo train wreck, then fired.

Hired in Pittsburgh but left amicably to be head man in Phoenix, then fired.’

Hired out of the broadcast booth to Vancouver, then parting ways within 2 seasons.

Charlie O’Connor over at PHLY Sports floated his theory that Tocchet’s selection was motivated by a need to take all the good Tortorella offered while leaving out all the bad parts, i.e. the things that drove players crazy, might have driven others not to come here as free agents, those things which directly led to his firing. 

If Charlie’s analysis holds any water – and G-d help him, he’s got a degree from the University of Pennsylvania and  *still* chose to make a living in sports media – all the Flyers have done is to hire Dr. Jekyll and excised Mr. Hyde. You’re still getting the guy willing to experiment on himself, without the gruesome outcome of those experiments. 

On the bright side, however, that theory tracks with what I believe to be Hilferty’s and the hockey ops’ focus: to goose interest, whether it be veteran free agents or season-ticket holders – many of whom due to the dearness of the professional league ticket are in Tocchet’s age range and remember his impact as a player.

Still, as a matter of practicality, suppose Tocchet is evaluated after three seasons and is found lacking?

Or blown out in the middle of a future campaign when injuries prove detrimental to the team’s record?

Briere and the Flyers braintrust would be forced to endure yet another round of deep digging and hand wringing and hopes and fears and the fate of the franchise teetering on the precipice to make another head coaching decision, with fans again seething at another fine mess. Why not make your intentions clear at the start? 

Wouldn’t have taken much for Briere, or Hilferty or Keith Jones other than to say: “we have full faith in Rick to guide this team through the rebuild and beyond, to recapture the glory of the franchise.”

There. Expectations set. 

Even if the contract, as reported by multiple sources, is in the range of $25 million for 5 years, a public statement cements a mandate to be in control at least that long. 

“Bridge” coaches are few and far between in the NHL, those who are tasked at the start with taking over a young team and remain in place by enjoying a sustained run atop the standings. Joel Quenneville is one. Jon Cooper another. Stevens ended up being another but his rocket ride endured a steep parabolic climb before it cratered prematurely.

The Flyers need a guy like this. Right here, right now. And we didn't get a definitive answer either way.

History tells us Tocchet will most likely be punching his ticket elsewhere and updating his contacts and change-of-address forms before new terms are discussed. 

Since Keenan, only Ken Hitchcock came close to hitting the four-full-season mark, with his tenure submarined by the cancelled season and then a radical shift to a youthful core which undermined his communication structure.

If Tocchet bucks the trend, great. It’s a badly-needed win on this regime’s ledger and a cause for celebration for the fanbase.

If he doesn’t, well…at least we can dig up YouTube clips of that time he beat up Bob Probert.