2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers season



The 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers season is the Flyers' 43rd season in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Off-season
The Flyers began preparing for the season by signing controversial goalie Ray Emery to a contract worth about $1.5 million dollars. Longtime defenseman Derian Hatcher also retired at the beginning of the offseason (after missing all of last season due to knee surgery), replacing Eric Desjardins as the team's player development coach. Desjardins stepped down due to personal business interests. The Flyers also hihttp://www.philly.com/red Jeff Reese as their new goalie coach, replacing Reggie Lemelin. They also promoted former Phantoms coach John Paddock to assistant general manager.

At the Entry Draft, the Flyers made a blockbuster trade for Anaheim Ducks' defenceman Chris Pronger, sending their first-round picks in 2009 and 2010 in exchange. They quickly signed Pronger to a seven year contract extension that is worth about $34 million.

On July 15, the NHL announced that the Flyers would visit Fenway Park to play in the 2010 Winter Classic against the Boston Bruins. The game will be played on New Year's Day.

To prepare for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics, Chris Pronger, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Simon Gagne were invited by Hockey Canada to compete for a spot on Canada's national hockey team.

Regular season
The 2009-10 season started for the Flyers with the successful return of Ray Emery to the NHL, shutting out the Carolina Hurricanes. However, what followed was inconsistent play of the entire team throughout October though a successful record could be maintained. The last game in October started a five game winning streak. However, this effort would be largely in vain as a road trip to the west coast and ensuing games at the end of the month saw the Flyers lose six of seven games. After being shut out by the Atlanta Thrashers and Vancouver Canucks in consecutive games, General Manager Paul Holmgren relieved head coach John Stevens from his duties and hired Peter Laviolette in his stead.

The change behind the bench however only showed little immediate impact. The very first game for Laviolette saw his team being dominated by the Washington Capitals and Daniel Carcillo punching out Matt Bradley for which Carcillo would be suspended for four games. Up until Christmas break the team showed little improvement with a 2-7-1 stretch from Laviolettes installation on December 4 to December 21.

The team was also marred with injures up until that point. Simon Gagné had to have hernia surgery and was sidelined for two months. Blair Betts suffered a separated shoulder in early October and reinjured the shoulder a few games after his return in mid-november. Danny Brière suffered a tweaked groin and the flu. The team also played hurt a lot. James van Riemsdyk suffered an injury to his pinky finger after being hit with a puck but did not miss any games for it. Ian Laperriere on the other hand was hit in the mouth with the puck on November 27 and would lose seven teeth but only miss one period of play. Defenceman Kimmo Timonen also suffered a broken toe.

The worst injury however was to goaltender Ray Emery who suffered an abdominal tear and went out of the line-up in early December. A short return came in late January but Emery reinjured and had to undergo hip-surgery ending his season in early March. After continuing the slump with Boucher in net, the Flyers picked up Michael Leighton from waivers who had fallen out of favor with the Carolina Hurricanes with a GAA above 4 and a SV% below .850. However, Leighton would turn his season around with the Flyers with an 8-0-1 record in 10 consecutive starts after he had been picked up. His season too would end early with a 16-5-2 record after suffering a high ankle sprain in a game against Nashville on March 16.

An early season highlight was November 16 when Dave Schultz was inducted in the Flyers Hall of Fame. Another honor was given to James van Riemsdyk who was awarded Rookie of the Month for November 2009 by the NHL. Throughout December five Flyers were selected for the roster of their home country in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Mike Richards and Chris Pronger were picked for Canada and Kimmo Timonen was selected for Finland while Oskars Bartulis and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen were chosen by Latvia and Norway respectively, though Tollefsen would be traded before the Olympics begin. Jeff Carter was later considered by Team Canada to join the squad in the event that Ryan Getzlaf is unable to play. However, Getzlaf did participate in the tournament and Carter did not. Richards and Pronger would earn gold medals with Canada while Timonen gained a bronze medal with Finland.

The Flyers also played the in the 2010 Winter Classic in Fenway Park against the Boston Bruins. Though they held the lead up until the last 3 minutes of the game, they would ultimately lose in overtime to a goal that had been contested by the Flyers as it appeared that the Bruins had too many men on the ice..

Another controversy struck over a shorthanded goal by Simon Gagne in a 7-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 7. The goal had not been given and also after video review was not awarded, though video evidence shows the puck in the net. However, this angle had not been sent to the video review in Toronto by the FSN Pittsburgh broadcasting team and the call could no longer be overturned after the puck had been dropped. An internal investigation by FSN Pittsburgh as well as an investigation by the NHL followed and a producer was suspended.

For the first time since 1993 the Flyers stayed put during the 2010 NHL trade deadline period with no trades. With only minor changes throughout the season the team finished almost entirely unchanged from the way it started the season in terms of players. Only the waiver acquisition of Michael Leighton, the season-ending injury to Emery and the trade of Ole-Kristian Tollefsen for Ville Leino showed significant impact to the roster besides usual promotions and demotions from or to the Flyers AHL affiliate Adirondack Phantoms.

Another key injury would knock Jeff Carter out for 5 games as a fracture in his left foot would halt his streak of consecutive games played at 286. He would return for the last two games of the season.

The Flyers season would come to an end in a dramatic fashion. While wins over the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs kept the playoff hopes alive, it would ultimately come down to a home-and-home series with the New York Rangers to end the season. The Rangers were desperately trying to clinch a playoff spot themselves and would need to win both games to do so. The Flyers would lose the first game of that series at Madison Square Garden 4-3, though it was a hard fought battle for both teams. This would set up a "Win and you're in" situation for the second game at the Wachovia Center with the winner advancing to the playoffs and the loser being eliminated. Jody Shelley scored early for the Rangers but New York could not extend that lead. The Flyers put continuous pressure on the Rangers with Henrik Lundqvist playing a stellar game to keep the Flyers off the board until Matt Carle put a rebound behind him halfway through the third period tying the game 1-1. Neither team would score again until the shootout in which a goal by Claude Giroux would force Olli Jokinen to score to keep the Rangers playoff hopes alive. However, Brian Boucher would make the crucial save and with that clinching the playoff spot for the Flyers and ending the Rangers' season.

Post-season
The Flyers drew their division rival New Jersey Devils for the opening round of the playoffs as the Devils clinched second place in the conference by defeating the Buffalo Sabres in their final game of the season. Buffalo would have been the Flyers' opponents, had the Sabres managed to keep the Devils without a point from that game. The Flyers won five of six games against the Devils during the regular season. The Devils managed to secure the 2nd seed going into the playoffs, thus guaranteeing them the home ice advantage in the first round against the Flyers.

Eastern Conference Quarter Finals vs. New Jersey Devils
As the season series promised, the Flyers matched up well with the Devils and took game one in a 2-1 decision at Prudential Center. The Flyers had shut out the Devils until there were only 3 minutes left in the game but could hold on to the lead to finish out the game. An equally hard fought game was the second in the series which the Devils took in a 5-3 victory. With a split in New Jersey, the Flyers returned confidently to Philadelphia.

Game 3 saw an unlikely hero in Daniel Carcillo who scored the 3-2 game winner 3:35 into overtime giving him his 2nd point of the night in 7:11 of ice-time. He assisted on a goal by Mike Richards in the 2nd period. Game 4 at Wachovia Center saw the Flyers win the game 4-1 on a 3 point night by Jeff Carter who played with a screw inserted in his broken foot. However, that win would proof costly as Carter broke his other foot on the play for his 2nd goal and Simon Gagne suffered a broken big toe in his right foot as well.

This would set up situation similar to 2000 Eastern Conference finals in which the Flyers on the strong play of Brian Boucher took a 3-1 series lead over the Devils, only to see it melt away and lose in 7 games. However, history would not repeat itself. Boucher would earn his first playoff shutout in 10 years in a 3-0 decision in game 5, eliminating the Devils. This was the third consecutive time the Devils would exit the playoffs in the first round. Claude Giroux contributed to all three goals, assisting Danny Briere on a goal in the first period and scoring twice himself in the second. That win saw another injury though, as Ian Laperriere was hit in the face by a slapshot in a situation reminiscent of an incident earlier in the season which cost him seven teeth. Laperriere was hit above the right eye and suffered a large gash across his eyebrow which reportedly required 50-70 stitches.

The series was influence strongly by the play of Mike Richards who had four multi-point games in this series that lasted 5 games. However, the series was also marred with a large amount of obstruction penalties called. In five games there were 72 minor penalties and 3 game misconducts handed out for a total of 174 penalty minutes between both teams.

Eastern Conference Semi Finals vs. Boston Bruins
The Flyers would meet the Boston Bruins in the next round who had dispatched the Buffalo Sabres in six games. The Bruins were noted in that series for being perfect on the penalty kill, negating all 19 chances the Sabres had in that series. However, due to the Flyers having started on the first day of the playoffs and due to beating the Devils in a quick fashion, the Flyers had more than a week off. While this would proof some opportunity for their injured players to heal, the Flyers were already notorious for not responding well to long rests during the regular season. This would also show in the series as well as the Flyers gave up the first goal less than three minutes into the first game and leave the first period down 2-0. However, the Flyers would rally and tie the game at 4-4 in the 2nd half of the 3rd period on goals by Richards and Briere. This however would only set up the heroics of Marc Savard, who had returned from missing several weeks with a concussion.

Game 2 was a similar story. The Bruins caught the early lead 5:12 into the game and while the Flyers were able to catch up twice, they could not take the lead and a goal by Milan Lucic with less than 3 minutes to go in the game would spell victory for the Bruins. In the third game the Flyers were finally able to take a lead with Arron Asham scoring only 2:32. The lead would not last long though as Blake Wheeler and Miroslav Satan would answer in quick succession, 1:34 apart and less than two minutes after Asham's goal, to take the lead. The Flyers were unable to score again and with a lackluster 3rd period by Philadelphia the game ended in a 4-1 Bruins victory.

The Flyers were now on the brink of elimination down three games to none. However, on the upside, Simon Gagne returned for game 4 which turned into a bizarre mirror version of the first game of the series. While the Flyers were able to take a big 3-1 lead, they saw it melt away on a few strange goals. The Flyers would retake the lead again but Mark Recchi would tie it with 20 seconds left in the game. However, the returned Gagne would put an end to it scoring at 14:40 in overtime to keep the Flyers alive and send the series back to Boston. There the Flyers would dominate shutting out the Bruins for a 4-0 victory to climb back into the series. However, the shutout was not held by a single goalie as Brian Boucher would go down with injuries in both of his knees after Flyers defenseman Ryan Parent and Bruins forward Miroslav Satan fell on top of him. This would call Michael Leighton back into action who had only just returned at that very game from a high-ankle sprain that had sidelined him since mid March.

Leighton's heroics would continue in Game six after making 14 saves in game 5 to preserve the shutout Boucher had started. He would keep the Bruins off the scoreboard for 59 minutes until Milan Lucic scored and make 30 saves total. However, at that point the Flyers would hold on to a 2-1 lead to send the series to a deciding game 7 at TD Garden.

Game 7 would play out very much like the series itself. The Bruins would jump to a 3-0 lead in the first period. Two of the goals came on the power play due to infractions for high-sticking on Scott Hartnell and Daniel Briere respectively. This would prompt coach Peter Laviolette to use up his timeout to rally the team. Shortly after, James van Riemsdyk, who had not registered a goal in the playoffs until that point, scored to make it 3-1. The 2nd period was all Flyers as Hartnell and Briere would redeem themselves by scoring a goal each to tie the game up at 3-3. Overall, the game was relatively low on penalties with only six minors being called total, but the last one of those, a bench penalty for Too Many Men, would come to haunt Boston as Simon Gagne put the puck in the net for a 4-3 Flyers lead. The Flyers would be able to hold on to it and become only the third team in NHL history, the fourth team in the big four american professional sports leagues, to return from an 0-3 deficit of games to win that playoff series.

Skaters
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Goaltenders
Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Against; GAA= Goals Against Average; SA= Shots Against; SV= Saves; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO= Shutouts

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Flyers. Stats reflect time with the Flyers only.

‡Traded mid-season

Transactions
The Flyers have been involved in the following transactions before and during the 2009–10 season.

Draft Picks
Philadelphia's picks at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, Quebec.

Farm teams
The Flyers' AHL affiliate team is now the Adirondack Phantoms in Glens Falls, New York for the 2009-10 season. The Phantoms relocated from Philadelphia due to the demolition of the Wachovia Spectrum.
 * American Hockey League - Adirondack Phantoms (Standings)


 * ECHL - Kalamazoo Wings (Standings)


 * International Hockey League - Quad City Mallards