Is This the Greatest Flyers Trade of All Time?
As Flyers fans anxiously await the return of NHL Hockey while the entire sports world is on hold due to the CORVID-19 outbreak.
Let’s take a look back at one of the greatest trades in Philadelphia Flyers’ history and how it changed the franchise for the better.
That trade, of course, is the one where the Flyers acquired John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne for Mark Recchi and a pick from the Montreal Canadiens.
How It All Came to Be
In the winter of 1995, the Flyers were fighting for their playoff lives. Their shiny new toy, 21-year-old, 6’4” center Eric Lindros was already a dominant force in the league, having scored 41 goals and 75 points as a rookie, following it up with 44 goals and 97 points in his sophomore season. However, that was bittersweet as the Flyers failed to make the playoffs in both those seasons. Then Flyers GM Bobby Clarke could not, NO, would not be denied again. He absolutely needed to give the fans of Philadelphia a playoff run.
Unfortunately for Clarke, the Flyers system was bare at the time due in large part to all the assets they traded away in order to acquire Lindros. So, with that, Clarke needed to hit a home run on a blockbuster trade involving NHL ready players. Clarke knew that in order to turn things around, he needed to improve his defense badly and he needed to find another big forward who could keep up and play with Lindros.
The Trade
On February 9th, 1995, Clarke and the Flyers got their chance to do just that. The Montreal Canadiens, who were just 2 years removed from winning the Stanley Cup, were struggling mightily. They wanted a star player. The two clubs agreed to a trade that saw the Flyers acquire wingers John LeClair and Gilbert Dionne and defenseman Eric Desjardins in exchange for winger Mark Recchi and a 3rd round pick (#74 – Martin Hohenberger). At first glance, it looked like the Canadiens had gotten the better of the Flyers.
After all, Mark Recchi was coming off back to back seasons of 123 and 107 points respectively. But Clarke acquired 3 players who were extremely important pieces in the Canadiens cup run just two seasons prior. However, at the time, it seemed as though the Flyers had finally gotten their number 1 defenseman, along with 2 throw-ins, for a highly productive and popular player in Recchi. This was the exact moment the Flyers turned things around and became a hockey powerhouse.
The Spoils
Eric Desjardins went on to play 11 seasons for the Flyers as their number 1 defenseman and had multiple seasons of over 45 points. His career stats as a Flyer are very impressive scoring 396 points in 738 games all the while being a plus (+) 143 player. Desjardins played important minutes on both the powerplay and penalty kill while averaging 24:34 minutes of ice time.
Paired mostly with Chris Therein throughout his career, the duo formed a truly great defensive pairing for the Flyers. In 2015, Eric Desjardins was rightfully inducted in the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame.
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John LeClair who prior to arriving in Philadelphia, had a career-best of 19 goals and 44 points with the Canadiens and was considered by many experts as a “throw-in” in this trade. But boy was they wrong! LeClair became the cornerstone of this trade and one-third of the famous “Legion of Doom” line, alongside Flyers greats Mikael Renberg and Eric Lindros. LeClair went on to score 50 or more goals in each of the following 3 seasons after arriving and had 2 more seasons of over 40 goals. In his 10 seasons as a Flyer, LeClair scored 643 points in 649 games, including 333 goals and was a whopping plus (+) 197 player. In 2014, John LeClair was also inducted in the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame and is truly one of the great players to ever wear a Flyers uniform.
Gilbert Dionne, the little brother of Hockey legend Marcel Dionne, quickly found himself in Flyers head coach Terry Murray’s doghouse, and only ever played 20 games for the Flyers.
On the flip side, Mark Recchi never really found his footing in Montreal. His best season as a Canadiens saw him score 80 points in 82 games. While some Habs fans absolutely loved Recchi, management never seemed to really accept Recchi as a star player. As a result, during his 4th season as a Montreal Canadien, Recchi was traded back to Philly where he played the next 5 seasons, including a season of 91 points. Hohenberger never really amounted to anything in the NHL.
As a direct result of this trade, the Flyers went on to the 3rd round of the playoffs in that first season (1995) and an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals just 2 seasons later. Looking back, it was Clarke and the Flyers who “Fleeced” Habs GM Serge Savard in this trade and set the tone for years to come. The Flyers made the playoffs in 16 of the following 17 seasons. It paved the way for some incredible hockey in Philly and left the Flyers fans excited about hockey again. They flocked to the arena wanting to see the L.O.D and the newest revival of the Broad Street Bullies.
There have been many good ones over the years, but there is no denying that this trade will go down in history as one of the greatest trades of all time, in any sport, in the city of Brotherly Love.
Featured Image: The Philadelphia Inquirer
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