5. Chris Pronger’s career is likely over, his brother confirms
January 11: Sean Pronger, Chris’ brother, said in an interview on Deadspin that the Flyers defenseman would likely never play again. We knew by this point that Pronger’s NHL career was likely over, but this sort of confirmation from somebody close to Chris was still pretty big news.
4. Chris Pronger injury: Flyers defenseman says he’s lost his ‘sixth sense’
March 6: Pronger all-but confirmed the same news in a March interview with Sportsnet, and one quote was particularly scary.
“What’s happened was I had 30-year-old eyes. I got hit and the doctor told me I had 60-year-old eyes. I don’t have very good peripheral vision. That so-called sixth sense? I used to really have a good one. Now, I couldn’t feel anybody comin’ around a corner. My kids scare me all the time. That used to be what I was known for: knowing where everybody was; having a feel for who was around me. Now I don’t have that.”
3. Vincent Lecavalier deal with Flyers isn’t typical Paul Holmgren insanity
July 2: The Flyers signed free agent Vincent Lecavalier to a five-year contract over the summer, and a lot of people jumped to the easy conclusion: Paul Holmgren is crazy, signing an old, washed up forward to that kind of deal. We disagreed, and wrote about how this was a good deal for the Flyers.
2. Simon Gagne to re-sign with Flyers, make forward corps look fantastic (Update: Or not)
July 5: Philadelphia friggin’ loves Simon Gagne, and when news broke this summer that he’d re-sign with the Flyers, everybody was excited. He’d be the perfect fit as a third-line winger and he’d likely get to retire with the orange and black.
Well, not so fast. Despite how much sense the deal seemed to make, Gagne never wound up signing here, and Paul Holmgren went on to say that he wasn’t interested in signing any free agent to fill the hole on the third line — Gagne included. As it turned out, nobody won the job in training camp and the Flyers traded Max Talbot for Steve Downie on Halloween to fill the spot.
1. Sidney Crosby in a Flyers jersey is as horrifying as you’d expect
April 1: Ugh. No, not an April Fools joke.
