There once was a great, but spiteful head coach who opined to one of his former players:
“For six years, I taughtcha how to skate, I taughtcha how to score, I taughtcha how to go for the “W”. You could have been one of the greats! An’ now look at yourself. You’re not even a has-been. You’re a never-was.”
Well, since this off-season has been pretty slow, we’ve taken to amusing ourselves in other ways. The recent “Name that Former Flyer” in the Fly By is just another way for me to reminisce about past players.
So that got us thinking: Who were the greatest “never-was” players for the Flyers? Yes, this idea is pretty stupid, but it’s fun. Maybe you’ve never heard of these guys before, maybe you have, but when will you ever hear these names again? Probably never.
The criteria for this group is pretty simple: 1) Must have played at least 1 game for the Flyers, but no more than 30; and 2) Have made their NHL debut in the Orange and Black. That’s it. We’ve come up with 20 (well, 19) players who fit this description from the past 20 years to form the “Bombay Blues“.
Honorable Mentions – Len Barrie (C), Jeremy Duchesne (G), Kyle Greentree (LW), Martin Houle (G), Jon Kalinski (LW), Boyd Kane (LW), Neil Little (G), David Printz (D), Jared Ross (C), David Sloane (D), and John Stevens (D)
Each player is linked to their hockeydb.com player page, which was the source of record.
Forward Line 1:
LW – Guillaume Lefebvre (2001-’03, 17 games, 0 points)
C – Petr Hubacek (2000-’01, 6 games, 1 goal)
RW – Tomas Divisek (2000-’02, 5 games, 1 goal)
Forward Line 2:
LW – Vaclav Pletka (2001-’02, 1 game, 0 points)
C – Nate Raduns (2008-’09, 1 game, 0 points)
RW – Kirby Law (2000-’04, 9 games, 1 assist)
Forward Line 3:
LW – Mike Maneluk (1998-’00, 14 games, 8 points)
C – Kimbi Daniels (1990-’92, 27 games, 3 points)
RW – Mark Greig* (1998-’03, 30 games, 12 points)
Forward Line 4:
LW – Paul Healey (1996-’98, 6 games, 0 points)
C – Ian MacNeil (2002-’03, 2 games, 0 points)
RW – Jesse Boulerice (2001-’08, 8 games, 0 points)
Defense Pair 1:
Jussi Timonen (2006-’07, 14 games, 4 points)
Bruno St. Jacques (2001-’03, 13 games, 0 points)
Defense Pair 2:
Darren Rumble (1990-’97, 18 games, 1 goal)
Lars Jonsson (2006-’07, 8 games, 2 points)
Defense Pair 3:
Aris Brimanis (1993-’97, 21 games, 3 points)
Nate Guenin (2006-’09, 12 games, 2 points)
Goalies:
Maxime Ouellet (2000-’01, 2 games, .889 S%)
Jean-Marc Pelletier (1998-’99, 1 game, .828 S%)
There you have it. The Flyers’ all-time “never-was” list. Unfortunately, Stefan Ruzicka had too many games played. He also was too successful; 17 points in 55 games.
Have any others to add to the list? Any you actually miss – like Bruno St. Jacques? Have some fun.
*Mark Greig made his NHL debut 8 years prior to joining the Flyers, even playing in 95 games before playing 30 games for the Flyers across 4 years. I don’t care. He gets the one exemption, not only because he spent three years in the IHL before the Flyers gave him a chance. And besides, it’s Mark Greig.
