A lot of traditions have come and gone for the Flyers over the years, but one more recent one has been a banner hit.
That’d be the Player of the Game Helmet, awarded to the game MVP after each Flyers win, with the previous winner choosing the next to don the retro lid. The tradition started after some intense team building before the season and stuck around, succeeding the Rick Flair robe of a year ago.
🔶 The #FlyersAwards are back! 🔶
Cast your vote and tell us who had the Best Player of the Game Helmet Photo this season.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) May 20, 2019
Much like the “Woo” robe, the POG helmet took on a life of its own during the season, and provided us with some of the more ridiculously candid shots of the Flyers we’ve seen in a long time.
Who could forget Robert Hagg’s (likely) lone chance to don the helmet? Hard to unsee Radko Gudas in full-on Dad mode with his moment with the lid. Then there’s captain Claude Giroux’s “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED” moment. But perhaps the best was for Wayne Simmonds in his last game as a Flyer after the Stadium Series comeback against the Penguins, taking the helmet from Jakub Voracek in an emotional scene for the longtime teammates.
It’s really a shame the Flyers didn’t win more, thus giving us more memorable and light moments, but the one’s we do have are really quite the content.
The contenders are Hagg, Simmonds, Gudas, Giroux, Nolan Patrick, and Michael Raffl. Flip through the Flyers’ instagram post below and then hit the poll so we can see some early results before the Flyers reveal the winner on Friday.
On their official site, the team is kicking off their annual #FlyersAwards with the POG Helmet Photo this week, then Best Highlight, Best Celly, and Best GIF. They’ll load the contenders on Monday and have voting take place through Friday before awarding a winner.
Best POG Helmet photo of the year
| Robert “Hits Leader” Hagg | 27 |
| Claude Giroux | 5 |
| Radko Gudas | 23 |
| Wayne Simmonds | 135 |
| Nolan Patrick | 33 |
| Michael Raffl | 28 |
