Philly detractors can go ahead and spread their hate, blah blah blah. Never mind that their teams were mostly defeated in the first round: ‘Hawks, Bruins and Pens. Canucks just decided to choke earlier this year. Don’t hold your breath with the Rangers neither, they aren’t due for another three decades if current trends hold.
Anyway, Philly making it to the second round was gravy in my opinion. Why? Last Summer the GM totally blew up the team’s core by trading team captain Richards and his buddy Carter. Everybody figured Holmgren would only ditch one them, let the other player take it as a warning to shape up. Instead the team was rebuilt around a new set of younger players. Getting this far exceeded expectations and continues Philly’s strong tradition; in their 45 years of existence, they’ve missed the playoffs just eight times. Pretty impressive compared to the “venerable” Chicago Blackhawks.
As for the Kings, I would credit their success indirectly to Philly because they have at least three ex-Flyers on the team: Richards (traded to them last Summer), Carter (had to go through the awful Bluejackets first) and Gagne.
Wooooo! Phoenix!!!!!!