In professional sports as a whole, it’s pretty common for former players to retire and get a job with an organization they once played for. Giving a guy who was a loyal soldier for the team a job that secures his future not only adds a unique perspective on a dressing room level, but also shows that the organization takes care of those who are apart of it even once their playing careers are over.
The Flyers may have taken that mantra a little too far.
A whopping 15 former Flyers currently work for the team, and that number would rise even further if you included the alumni employed by AHL and ECHL affiliates in the tally, but then the list would have to be expanded to like 15, because there would be so, so many different ex-Flyers to choose from.
Let’s start with an honorable mention before we get into the top 5.
Honorable Mention: Bob Kelly
Bob “Hound Dog” Kelly was a bruising winger who typified the Broad Street Bullies’ play style during the team’s heyday in the 1970’s.
Kelly was on the roster for both of the Flyers’ two Stanley Cup wins in 1974 and 1975, including a 1975 playoff run where he posted a hilarious 44 PIMs in just 16 playoff games. Bob played 10 years with the Flyers, and was a staple in some of the team’s most dominant rosters providing grit along with some sneaky depth scoring. In his last four years as a Flyer, Kelly broke the 30 point mark every season, including a 76-77 campaign where he scored 22 goals and ended the year with 46 points.
He probably hasn’t bought his own drink in Philadelphia since game six of the 1975 Stanley Cup final, where he scored the first goal in a 2-0 win over the Sabres that clinched the Flyers second consecutive Stanley Cup.
Nowadays, Kelly is now the Flyers Ambassador for Hockey (according to his very funny LinkedIn), he visits schools, acts as a liaison for the team in the community, and generally just seems to be a good guy to be around. He wasn’t the flashiest player or the most skilled, but he was a winner and will be apart of Flyers history forever.
Number 5: Paul Holmgren
A name that will be all too familiar to Flyers fandom, “Homer” is probably best known nowadays for his tenure as General Manager from 2006 until 2014, but he’s also served as assistant coach, head coach, assistant general manager, team president, director of pro scouting, and director of player personnel.
All with the Flyers. Needless to say, he has been very busy since his retirement in 1984.
But his time as an actual player is usually glossed over; kind of understandable given that he has literally done every other job available to him since then. But Holmgren was more than just an enforcer in his time with the Flyers. Sure, he did amass 1600 PIMs during his time in Philly, but he also had a bit of a scoring touch as well. He scored a career-high 30 goals in 1979, part of a three year stretch from 1979 to 1981 where he put up 155 points in 208 games.
He was also a sneakily great playoff performer during his time with the Flyers. Holmgren posted 50 points in 67 playoff games in Philadelphia, good for a tie for 16th in Flyers all-time playoff scoring, even with Mike Richards, and above names like Gagne, Renberg, and Recchi.
Overall, “Homer” was a quality depth piece who was tough as nails, but also a lot more offensively skilled than he probably gets credit for.
Number 4: Daniel Briere
Probably the most obvious inclusion on this list, Danny Briere may have played fewer games than the other players that’ll be mentioned here, but few Flyers have made as big of an impact when it matters most. While his 283 points in 364 regular season games were all well and good, where Briere really shined was in April.
The Flyers’ current general manager was a different player in the playoffs, and is one of, if not the best, playoff performer in Philadelphia Flyers history. He put up 72 points in 68 playoff games, with 37 goals that included 9 game winners, and always elevated his play regardless of how his regular season went. It was always automatic.
His 1.05 playoff points per game is the third best in franchise history among players who have played more than 40 games, behind only Eric Lindros and (surprisingly) Ken Linseman. If you bump the qualifier up to 60 games, Briere stands at the top. During the Flyers’ run to the Stanley Cup final in 2009-10, he went absolutely nuclear, putting up 30 points in just 23 games, and scoring clutch goals in basically every series and in every situation.
If you only counted that one playoff run, Briere would still have more playoff points as a Flyer than Jeff Carter, Jakub Voracek, and Sean Couturier. A playoff assassin in every sense, and a personal favorite.
Number 3: John LeClair
LeClair, now a special advisor to hockey ops, was consistently good in pretty much every season he played in Philadelphia. The winger from Vermont arrived in 1995 in a trade with Montreal, joining forces with Mikael Renberg and Eric Lindros to form the “Legion of Doom”. For three years, the trio would become one of the most dominant lines in hockey, with LeClair finding a new level and elevating his play significantly.
He would go on to become a 5x All Star in Philadelphia, reaching the Stanley Cup final in 1996-97, and tallying 90-plus points three times as a Flyer. At just under a point per game with 594 in 612 games, LeClair proved to be the perfect compliment to Lindros and Renberg, doing the dirty work with his 6 foot 3 frame and freeing up space for his linemates to thrive.
LeClair holds the record for game-winning goals as a Flyer with 61. He’s also 5th in goals, 8th in points, and third in goals per game. He was the quintessential power forward, and stood out as elite at a time where they thrived throughout the league.
He has his name in every corner of the Flyer’s record book, and was a major contributor to some of the most memorable seasons in team history. His four year peak from 1995-96 to 1998-99 rivals any other player from that era. During that time frame LeClair outscored (granted close to retirement), Wayne Gretzky.
Number 2: Bill Barber
You could’ve wrote this list in 1993 and the top two entries would’ve still been exactly the same. There’s a chance that in another 10 years, Bill Barber will still be inhabiting this exact same spot.
Barber was drafted 7th overall by the Flyers in 1972, immediately entering the league and placing second in Calder Trophy voting with 64 points in 69 games as a 20 year old. He never looked back from there.
Barber went on to have a remarkably consistent and durable career, never once finishing a season with under 50 points throughout his entire 12 year career that spent entirely in Philadelphia. He was a lynchpin on the top line of the teams who won Stanley Cups in 1975 and 1976, scoring 30-plus goals in 9 of his 12 seasons. This impressive level of production lead him to the top of the Flyers all-time goal scoring leaderboard with 420 (nice), and he has continued to be woven into the fabric of the Flyers organization since his retirement in 1984.
Barber, like Holmgren, immediately got into coaching following his playing career, becoming the Flyers assistant coach in 1985, a position he held until 1988, when he left to become head coach of the Flyers AHL affiliate. After leading the Phantoms to their first Calder Cup in 1998, Barber was named head coach of the Flyers in December of 2000, and went on an absolute heater to end the year, going 31-13 and winning his first Jack Adams award despite only coaching 54 games.
After a stint as Tampa Bay’s director of player personnel from 2002-2008, Barber returned home to Philadelphia and became a scouting consultant, the role he holds to this day.
Number 1: Bobby Clarke
The last two spots on this list are really just formalities, and if you’re reading this, chances are you’re pretty aware of how amazing Bobby Clarke truly was as a Flyer.
But just in case, here are his accolades anyways: 2x Stanley Cup winner, 3x Hart Trophy winner, 1972-73 Pearson Award winner, 4x All-Star, 1982-83 Selke, 1971-72 Masterson Trophy, franchise leader in points, assists, and games played, Hall of Famer, and a member of the NHL’s 100 greatest players.
Clarke was the face of Philadelphia hockey, the image of him winking while holding the Cup with approximately 7 less teeth than a normal adult male is iconic, and he is a legend in every sense.
A type 1 diabetic, Clarke overcame the odds in a time where there it was much harder to manage the disease, and still managed to only miss 56 games throughout his entire 15 year career. That is just a testament to his commitment and willingness to sacrifice his body for the good of his team. You would be hard pressed to find a better captain than the Flin Flon, Manitoba native.
In both Stanley Cup winning seasons, Clarke led the league in assists with 89, and he was a point per game player for eight years. In retirement, he became the Flyers general manager, and despite some mixed results, he did manage to get the team back to the Cup final three times within 13 years, and they put together a very good regular season record.
He continues to be be behind the scenes to this day as a senior advisor, alongside his former teammates Holmgren and Barber.
