Philadelphia Flyers: Reflections on the Craziest Day in the Team's History

Some may question the validity of the article’s title. After all, we had the Eric Lindros trades (both coming and going), the Russian Red Army game, not to mention winning two Stanley Cups.

I can sense a top five-list coming at any moment.

However, in terms of the timing, given the caliber of players and the complete unexpectedness of the event, the trading of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards within an hour of each other has no equal.

On that mind-boggling Thursday afternoon when Flyers GM Paul Holmgren decided to jettison his two most recognizable and well-regarded forwards, I finally understood what Charles Dickens meant in the opening of A Tale of Two Cities.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…"

I have never hidden my dislike for Jeff Carter’s play. Yes, he is a great scorer, but I feel he is too soft and one-dimensional to garner star status. And I’m not just referring to hitting, although I would have expected more from a player listed at 6’3”, 200 pounds. At his size he should be tough on the puck and difficult to play against defensively.

I was not upset that he was traded.

Then I heard the news that Mike Richards had also been discarded. As opposed to Carter, Richards is exactly what I look for in a hockey player. He plays beyond his size and talent level, plus he does all of the little things that do not show up on a stat sheet. He was my favorite Flyer, and I was extremely upset to see him go.

So there I stood, relieved that I wouldn’t have to spend the next 11 years watching Carter skate up and down the ice like he is wearing a back brace and hugely disappointed that a heart-and-soul guy like Richards was not allowed more time to succeed.

It was like the old joke about having mixed emotions watching your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your brand new Porsche.

Carter’s departure had been rumored for months, but the Richards’ deal was a real shocker. The Flyers had enough salary cap room to sign goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov by trading Carter alone and considering that the team will most likely only save around $1 million on the salary cap by moving Richards, his departure was clearly not done purely for financial reasons.

Now I could hypothesize the reason Richards was moved. We have all heard that he wasn’t good in the locker room and had disagreements with his head coach and saw that he wasn’t savvy with the media. It could be easily surmised that he would have been a distraction for the team after his best friend was traded.

Perhaps it was a combination of all of those factors; however, I will leave that for the pundits to debate since I have no first-hand knowledge of the situation. 

And now that I’ve had time to reflect on the trade, I’m actually happy for Richards. He no longer has the weight of an entire franchise on his shoulders and he will not be forced to interact with the spiteful and demanding Philadelphia media simply because someone decided put a “C” on his chest.

Richards can be himself and will join a solid team in the Los Angeles Kings that are better today simply by adding him to their roster. However, the real question is if the Flyers are better today with him gone.

It’s possible that the Richards trade proves to be good for both teams. Brayden Schenn could end up being great replacement at center and Wayne Simmonds could fulfill the promise that he has displayed at times in LA.

However, the Flyers are also a team whose top two defensemen are on the down side of their career, so one would believe a reloading of this nature would occur after giving it a shot with a veteran goaltender and a playoff-proven center.

And while it may not have been possible to sign Bryzgalov and keep both Carter and Richards while still keeping your defense intact, surely Richards could have been useful for the simple fact that you know what you are getting.

There are now so many questions for the Flyers at forward. Will Danny Briere stay healthy? Will Claude Giroux be able to sustain his production if he is the opponent’s main focus? Will James van Riemsdyk pick up where he left off in the playoffs or regress to his early 2010 form? Will Ville Leino, if re-signed, bounce back from a miserable second half of the regular season and playoffs? Will Kris Versteeg play like he did for the Blackhawks?

That’s a lot of questions without even mentioning the unknown quantities that the Flyers received in the trades who are likely to be on the team. And no matter what you think of Richards off the ice, the fact is that he was the Flyers' most consistent forward on the ice over the last four years, and he will be very difficult to replace.

That being said, another thing that will need to be replaced is the target of blame for the team’s shortcomings now that Richards and the self-inflicted revolving door at the goaltender position are no longer an issue.

That means the pressure is not only on Bryzgalov, but on the newly anointed leader Chris Pronger, system-oriented head coach Peter Laviolette and, of course, the trigger man himself, Paul Holmgren.

So I guess we will see if a franchise goaltender, a veteran captain, an upbeat locker room and a good rapport with the media are truly the cure for 36 years of futility.