The one and only "lesson" the Flyers -- and Flyers' fans and critics alike -- can learn from the Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup victory this year is one of the value of patience.

The Kings did not arrive at the Cup overnight. It was a long process of assembling a nucleus of players and putting the right pieces around them.

Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were valuable pieces of the puzzle but not the central parts. The Flyers would NOT have come any closer to winning the Stanley Cup this season if Richards and Carter were still here.

More important now that the 2011-12 season is over, the pieces that were brought in from the two trades -- four good young starting forwards, a draft pick traded to bolster the starting defense corps plus another draft pick used on a prospect with NHL upside -- have put the Flyers in a better position for a potential future Cup run.

I will also hasten to add that Jonathan Quick's Conn Smythe Trophy run was only possible both because he had a superior team defense around him (which in no way implies the goalie himself did not play magnificent hockey) and because the Kings remained patient with him despite past playoff struggles.

Despite strong regular season play, Quick had a real rough time in the 2010 Playoffs and had bloated numbers -- although he did not play that badly -- last year as well. There had to be some temptation for the Kings to shop Quick and give highly-touted Jonathan Bernier (their first-round pick in the 2006 Entry Draft) a more extended opportunity to win the starting job.

But the Kings patiently stuck with their roster-building plan, stuck with Quick as their starter, muddled through an often difficult 2011-12 regular season and got rewarded with the NHL's ultimate prize.

That is the REAL lesson the Flyers can learn from here. They made good strides over the last year. Now they need to continue to build the right combination of youth and experience, including improvements on team defense (not merely bringing in a big-name defenseman).

What we saw from the team in March until Ilya Bryzgalov's foot injury was all of the elements -- offense, team defense, and excellent goaltending -- that it takes to play hockey into June. Now the Flyers need to make the adjustments it takes to be able to sustain that level of play.

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Ian Laperriere made his retirement official yesterday in a conference call with the local media. The Flyers asked me if I would write a career retrospective on Lappy for the team's official site, and it was my honor to oblige.

Although I was not in favor of the decision to fire Joe Paterson as the head coach of the Phantoms, I would be very happy for Laperriere if he gets a shot at the job or at least an assistant coach role. In yesterday's conference call, Laperriere indicated that he is interested in pursuing coaching opportunities.

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Defenseman Ricard Blidstrand, a Flyers seventh-round pick in 2010, did not receive an entry-level contract from the team prior to the June 1 deadline. The decision was not unexpected, as Blidstrand has not developed into a dominant player at the WHL level.

For many low-round draftees, this means the end of the line of their ambitions for a pro career. Thankfully for Blidstrand, that is not the case.

The Stockholm native has signed a contract with Allsvenskan (top Swedish minor league) team Västerås for next season.

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Thirty-three years ago today, the Flyers lost enforcer Dave Hoyda to the Winnipeg Jets in the 1979 NHL Expansion Draft.

Originally a 3rd round pick (No. 53 overall) of the Flyers in the 1977 Draft, the 6-foot-1, 207 pound Edmonton native was one of the better pound-for-pound fighters in club history. Barry Melrose once ranked Hoyda among the most underrated enforcers of the 1970s and 1980s. Hoyda had some hockey ability, too, but rarely got the chance to show it.

Although his Flyers' career was rather brief -- two seasons -- Hoyda was one of the more entertaining young players on the Flyers during the transitional period at the end of the Fred Shero era and beginning of the McCammon/Quinn years.

The video clip below shows Hoyda fighting the Boston Bruins' John Wensink to a rather spirited draw in the first period of a 4-4 tie at the Boston Garden on Feb. 28, 1978.




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