Rod Brind’ Amour played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League, 9 of which were as a Philadelphia Flyer.  Brind’ Amour would actually play more longer with Carolina and arguably had more success there but he had better individual statistics with Philly.

A three time All Star as a Philadelphia Flyers, Ed Van Impe would probably tell you himself that he was not blessed with a lot of offensive skill or fancy moves but what he did have was a plethora of toughness and a determination to keep the puck from reaching the net at all cost.  Van Impe excelled at blocking shots and working the corners and stifling offensive rushes.  The member of the Broad Street Bullies would win back-to-back Stanley Cups in the 1970 and he as a top ten finisher twice in Defensive Point Shares.  Phiadelphia enshrined Van Impe into their franchise Hall of Fame in 1993.

Watson played in the National Hockey league for ten seasons and all of them were with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Scott Hartnell was a very popular and tenacious player over his National Hockey League career who would be named an All Star in 2012 when he was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.  It was when he was with Philly that his career was at its apex as he would have a pair of 30 Goal seasons there and was a large part of their deep playoff run in 2010.  He would also play for the Nashville Predators and the Columbus Blue Jackets in his career.

Tim Kerr went undrafted yet his tenacious play and the way he overcame injury after injury would earn him a permanent spot in the Philadelphia Flyers lineup.  Maybe spot isn’t the right word as slot might be more accurate as that is where he would find himself in front of the opponents’ net.

Mark Recchi had an interesting career in regards to his career with the Philadelphia Flyers and the other teams he played for.  The Right Wing would post his best individual seasons as a Flyer but he was a three time Stanley Cup Champion with three other teams (Pittsburgh in 1991, Carolina in 2006 and Boston in 2011). 

Ron Hextall made history in many ways.  First off he was the first grandson of a former NHLer to lace up in the league.  He was the first Goalie to score a Goal and not because he was credited with one but because his shot went into the net.  He was the first Goalie to accrue 100 Penalty Minutes in a season.  All of that is impressive enough but we haven’t even discussed that rookie season.

Simon Gagne would spend the majority of his National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers and he would score 535 of his career 601 Points with the team. 

Rick MacLeish spent the 1970’s with the Philadelphia Flyers where he parlayed his slick wrist shot and two way play to compliment the Broad Street Bullies.  Early in his career, he had a 50 Goal and 50 Assist season for an even 100 Point campaign, all of which were career highs.  While he was a little unique in having his best offensive season early in his career, he still maintained high production over his Flyers career with three more 90 Point seasons.

Third all-time in franchise history in Points (849) and Points per Game (1.07) was the offensive star for the Philadelphia Flyers throughout the 1980’s.  The Left Winger would have four seasons of 90 or more Points but was also adept at checking and the defensive aspect of the game.  He would go to four All Star Games, had a tenth place finish in Hart Trophy balloting in 1986 and was second overall in Playoff Scoring in 1987 when he took Philadelphia to the Stanley Cup and pushed the Edmonton Oilers to a seven game series.

Like John LeClair, Eric Desjardins arrived in Philadelphia after winning a Stanley Cup in 1993 with the Montreal Canadiens and he would anchor their defensive corps for years.

The Philadelphia Flyers are a celebrated franchise in the NHL, and if we are to state (and we are) that Claude Giroux is the best player they had in a decade (which is the 2010s), that means an awful lot.

John LeClair had already won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens before he arrived to Broad Street but when he was traded early in the 1994-95 season, the Habs probably had no idea what they really gave up, as LeClair would emerge as one of the elite power forwards of his time.

The First Nations star from Manitoba played for the California Golden Seals for a few seasons before he arrived in Philadelphia but arguably nobody foresaw what he would accomplish in the City of Brotherly Love.

When you are the son of Gordie Howe it can be expected that you are just “Gordie’s son”, but this was not the case for Mark Howe, a Hockey Hall of Famer in his own right and one hell of a blueliner.

This rank might be a little controversial based on a few factors.

Eric Lindros did not play more than 500 Games with the Flyers.

A member of the Philadelphia Flyers for all twelve seasons of his NHL career, Bill Barber provided scoring punch for the Broad Street Bullies and the years beyond.  Barber is the all-time leading Goal Scorer (420) for the Flyers and the six time All Star was also a three time post season All Star (one First Team and two Second Teams).  The Left Winger never had less than 20 Goals in a season and he was a 40 Goal scorer four times and had a 50 Goal campaign in the 1975-76 Season. 

There were basically two careers for Bernie Parent and the Philadelphia Flyers.

In terms of overall statistics, Bobby Clarke belongs at the top but it is not exactly a landslide.  However in terms of what embodies the Phiadelphia Flyers this wasn’t even close.

As we slowly work on the greatest 50 players of every major franchise of the big four of North American sports we will eventually look at how each of those teams honor those who played for them in the past. As such it is newsworthy to us that the Philadelphia Flyers retired the number 88 of Eric Lindros.

Lindros was drafted first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in 1991 and famously refused to report to the team. He sat out a year and was traded to the Flyers in a megadeal and he would immediately become the face of the franchise. A power forward in every sense of the word, Lindros’ imposing size was complimented with finesse skills. In the 1994-95 strike shortened season, Lindros was named the Hart Trophy winner while also earning First Team All Star Honors. The following season Lindros had a career high 115 Points and was named a Second Team All Star. In 1997, he led the Flyers to a Stanley Cup Final and was the playoffs leading scorer, though the team went down to defeat to the Detroit Red Wings.

As big and as powerful as Lindros was, his style of play made him injury prone and more specifically he began to get concussed often. He also suffered a collapsed lung, which was followed by a team edict for him to fly back to Philadelphia (this occurred in Nashville). He didn’t, and had he done so he would have likely died in the plane.

The injuries led to a public battle between Lindros and Flyers management, namely GM Bobby Clarke who questioned his star’s toughness. During the 2000-01 season, Lindros was cleared to return but refused to report and would sit out the remainder of the season. He would later be dealt to the New York Rangers but to say that the parting between the Flyers and Lindros was smooth would be an inaccurate one. Number 88 would play five more years in the NHL with New York, Toronto and the Dallas Stars before retiring.

Bridges were seemingly burned but Lindros would play in the Alumni Game at the 2012 Winter Classic at the request of GM, Paul Holmgren. Lindros would later be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016 and this was mostly due to his work as a Philadelphia Flyer.

As a Flyer, Lindros was a six time All Star and he scored 659 Points over 486 Games, an incredible 1.36 Points per Game Average.

Lindros becomes the sixth player to have his number retired by the Flyers. He joins Bernie Parent (1), Mark Howe (2), Barry Ashbee (4), Bobby Clarke (7) and Bill Barber (16).

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Eric Lindros for achieving this latest honor.