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Gagne Retires, Hexy Talks Development, Camp Updates & More

September 16, 2015, 4:07 AM ET [266 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
GAGNE ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

Longtime Flyers fan favorite Simon Gagne announced his retirement as an active player on Tuesday, officially bringing to an end a career in which he spent 702 regular season games and 90 playoff games in a Flyers' uniform among the 822 regular season and 109 playoff games he played in his career.

As a Flyer, Gagne scored 264 regular season goals and 540 regular season points. In the postseason, he scored 32 goals and 47 points.

"I'm so much proud of wearing a jersey that, to me, the Flyers are always going to be my team," said Gagne. "Watching all the past stories with the Cups. The players -- Clarkie, Eric Lindros -- the reputation of the Flyers, and me being part of that is something [special]. You know, I did play for other teams and won a Cup with the [Los Angeles] Kings but the jersey I remember the most is always going to be the Flyers. They are the team that draft me and I stayed there 11 years."

During Gagne's Flyers career, he compiled an extensive list of accomplishments: a member of NHL All-Rookie team in 1999-2000, two-time winner of the Bobby Clarke Trophy as team MVP (2005-06 and 2006-07), Pelle Lindbergh Award winner as the team's most improved player of the 2000-01 season, two-time NHL All-Star Game selection (2000-01, 2006-07), two-time 40-goal scorer (2005-06 and 2006-07) on a line with Peter Forsberg and Mike Knuble, Olympic participant for Team Canada in 2002 (gold medal) and 2006, three-time Toyota Cup winner as the Flyers player with the most three-star selections in the 2001-02, 2005-06 and 2006-07, and an important member of the 2009-10 team that reached the Stanley Cup Final as well as the 1999-2000 and 2003-04 squads that fell one win short of the Finals.

In the playoffs, Gagne scored three of the biggest goals in the post-2000 history of the Flyers' franchise. In 2004, Gagne tallied the overtime goal in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final to force a seventh and deciding game against the Tampa Bay Lightining. In 2010, Gagne played through injury to score the overtime goal in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals that started the Flyers historic comeback from a three-games-to-zero deficit against the Boston Bruins. In Game 7, the Flyers trailed 3-0 in the first period only to storm back and win, 4-3. Gagne capped it with the series-winning goal scored with 7:08 remaining in the third period.



Gagne had bad luck with injuries for much of his Flyers career, especially with concussions, groin and shoulder issues. Some of his best playoff performances, in fact, came in games where he was questionable to play due to significant injuries.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall believes that Gagne's style of play -- a speed-oriented, two-way game built around puck possession, hockey sense and finesse -- would translate to an even better career had he been a young player in today's game.

"His numbers were great. Sometimes, the more distance you get from a player, the more you forget what a good player he was," said Hextall. "But Simon was a real impact player for us. He scored big goals, scored a lot of goals, good speed. If he was 20 years old now, we'd be real excited about him. If you look at his career, the way he transitioned his game and the way the game has changed, he might be even a more valuable player now. And he was a real valuable player for us then."

Gagne's late father, Pierre, played for the Quebec Junior Aces and was a tryout player at the first Flyers/Aces training camp in 1967 (NHL teams and their farm teams used to hold a combined camp, so Gagne was technically a Flyers tryout although his short-term goal was to earn a spot on the Aces and work his way up). After Pierre's hockey playing days ended, he became a police officer in Quebec City.

"I know Clarke was really close with my dad. When he was coming in town he was asking about my dad," Gagne recalled in Tuesday's conference call with reporters.

Pierre Gagne was particularly close with former Junior Aces teammate Simon Nolet, who went on to play for the Flyers' first Stanley Cup winning team and then, many years later, became a highly successful scout with the Quebec Nordiques and Flyers.

Simon Gagne grew up as a fan of the Nordiques and was a junior player for the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts, Led to believe the Montreal Canadiens would select him in the first round of the 1998 NHL Draft, Gagne was excited by the thought and then crestfallen when the Habs bypassed him and the Colorado Avalanche -- who had three picks in the first round -- opted for three other players.

Finally, the Flyers selected Gagne 22nd overall. It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to him. He loved playing for the team and also fell in love with the Flyers fanbase and the city of Philadelphia.

"I remember riding to the rink, it was my first playoff game," Gagne recalled to Jay Greenberg in 2014. "Coming to the rink in Philly, it was like a big party outside. Lots of people. There was music. The fans was like, already ready like the game is starting in five minutes but we've got another two and a half hours before the puck drops. Just to realize, wow, what a city! What a city to play for, you know, in playoff hockey. To me, there's nothing like that."

Of all of the star teammates and skilled linemates with whom he played during his career, Gagne enjoyed his strongest chemistry with Forsberg and Knuble. He and Forsberg in particular immediately clicked on the ice.

"Definitely the best line I ever played on. If you look at the numbers, the numbers don’t lie," Gagne said in Tuesday's conference call. " I think at that point when I got the call in the summer from Clarke told me ‘I’ve got some news for you, I just signed you a centerman, it’s Peter Forsberg and you’re going to play with him.’ At that point I knew that my career was going to change. I had a good season before that, but I had a different role.

"At that point I knew that I was going to be a top left winger playing with a player like that. I knew that I was just going to have to show up to camp in good shape and in good mind and it clicked right away. Sometimes you could play with the best player in the world and it doesn't click. This is almost like it was meant to be and it was a perfect mix for that line. The other thing too, not only on the ice but off the ice those two guys are good friends of mine now. They are always going to be really close to my heart.”



Gagne grew so fond of playing for the Flyers that he was heartbroken both times he left the organization, In the summer of 2010, he reluctantly waived a no-trade clause and enabled the organization to make a trade with Tampa Bay that was entirely driven by salary cap necessity.

After injury-riddled stints with the Lightning and Kings (with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2012), Gagne returned to the Flyers during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. Although no longer the same caliber of player he was earlier in his career, Gagne played reasonably well in his second stint. An unrestricted free agent that summer, he only wanted to play for the Flyers. Believing then-GM Paul Holmgren reneged on promises to re-sign him once the team figured out its salary cap management plan for the 2013-14 season, Gagne's once-strong relationship with Holmgren suffered for a time.

"You can understand at times when you’re getting older that hockey is a business," Gagne said. "I think there will be more and more of that when you see it just when it happened to me it was almost the start of it. Now I understand that it’s going to happen a lot more. It was a tough day. I’m not going to lie to you, it was definitely a bad memory with the Flyers that I would like to forget, but it’s there."

Gagne sat out the entire 2013-14 season, although there was some interest from NHL teams. He later said that it took him some time to rediscover the drive it takes for a player -- especially for one approaching his mid-30s with a lengthy injury history -- to prepare himself both mentally and physically to play.

Believing he had rekindled the fire, Gagne accepted a tryout invitation from the Boston Bruins for their 2014-15 training camp. Accepting a fourth-line role, Gagne dressed in 23 games for the Bruins (three goals, one assist). However, his heart grew heavy for personal reasons.

The prognosis for liver cancer-stricken Pierre Gagne, 68, became grim. Simon, who enjoyed a very close relationship with his dad ("For my brother and me, he was our idol and our best friend," Gagne said in a French-language interview with Le Journal de Montreal), could no longer focus on hockey. All he wanted at this point was to be by his father's side until the end. Gagne took a leave of absence from the team. He elected not to return after Pierre passed away on Christmas Day.

"If I got back to the last game I played in Boston, I don’t know exactly the day, but I know it was early December. I knew in my mind that it was going to be my last game. I knew it was my last game with the Boston Bruins, but pretty much the end of my career at that point," Gagne said on Tuesday.

"Knowing what was ahead with my father, talking to the doctor, they were pretty much sure that there was nothing to do at the end and it was just a question of time; maybe a month or two for my dad to pass away. So that was tough to swallow and at that time I knew that if I was going to go back here and stay with my father the rest of the time to missing two months after missing a year before that was pretty much impossible to do to go back and play for Boston again.

"I knew doing that was pretty much the end of it. At the same time, I was okay with the decision and that was the right move to do. I was really happy that I was able to stay right to the end with my father and that was something I will remember the rest of my life.”

It is often during people's darkest times that they realize what truly matters in life. Whatever rift was created by the circumstances of Gagne's second departure from the Flyers was healed while Simon was in the throes of grieving for his father.

"Time heals and what happened with my dad last year and what the Flyers did after that I had a good talk with Paul Holmgren. There are definitely more important things in life than hockey and that was one of them that you realize hockey is a business and it’s nothing against Paul Holmgren. I’m always going to be a Flyer for the rest of my life and I want to be a part of that future,” said Gagne.

"I had many calls from people from the organization. Holmgren was there to call me and left me a message. At the time of the flowers, at one point I was almost going to call them back and say ‘that’s enough’ there were so many flowers. Just showed the class of the organization. ...Everyone from the organization, to the people working the building and stuff like that just brought me so many memories that even that day [of finding out there would be no contract offer for 2013-14] was not big enough to erase all those good memories."

On a much happier note, Gagne also realized during the 2013-14 seasons and again after leaving the Bruins that his greatest joy in life comes from his family and that having more time with his wife and children meant more to him at this point in his life than being an NHL player. At some point, Gagne would like to get involved in the NHL realm again but the sheer amount of preparation and travel involved in being a player is no longer for him.

"I have three kids now, the last one is 4 months old. Three kids is definitely taking a lot of time," Gagne said. "My son started to play hockey two years ago so I’ll jump in and try to help him on that. Just be around them a little bit more. That’s going to be my main focus for the next couple months."

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HEXTALL SHARES THOUGHTS ON ROOKIE TOURNAMENTS, CONDITIONING


Flyers general manager Ron Hextall spoke with the media for approximately 15 minutes on Tuesday, covering a wide array of topics pertaining both to the ongoing rookie camp at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ, as well as answering followup questions from a recent media availability session about the team's outlook heading into the start of NHL camp on Friday under first-year head coach Dave Hakstol.

This year, 27 of the 30 teams in the NHL are participating either in various round-robin prospect tournaments or two-game, head-to-head Rookie Games with another team. The only three organizations that are not involved in some fashion are the Flyers, New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche.

The Flyers traditionally played a "Rookies Game" against the Washington Capitals. This year, however, the Capitals opted instead to send their prospects to a four-team tournament in Estero, FL. The tourney also involved the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators.

Hextall said that he would be interested in getting back to the Flyers doing a one-game or possibly two-match Rookie Game in the future. However, do not look for the Flyers to start participating in Traverse City or any of the other multi-team tourneys. The Flyers GM feels the time spent in training camp is more valuable.

"It’s something that I’ve thought a lot about over the years. I don’t see us going back into a tournament. I like a game or two. I think there’s valuable things that you can teach your kids during a rookie camp: the testing, some of the systems, some of the expectations, and you lose a lot of that in a rookie tournament," said Hextall.

"There’s certainly value in a rookie tournament, but for me, there’s more value in testing and other lessons that they can learn. That’s the direction certainly in the near future we’re going to stay in. I like a game or two, a rookie game or two. I think in a perfect world you have a few days plus a game or two, but if we don’t know our players going into rookie camp, if we have to evaluate them, we’re probably not doing our jobs. For some people it’s the right thing and for us, at this point, it’s not. We’re going to stick to where we are. Washington moved into one, that’s why we don’t have a game this year. In a perfect world, we would have had a game."

On the first day of training camp, the Flyers performed extensive on-ice and off-ice testing of their prospects. Hextall said that, as a rule of thumb, somewhat older players who have been through at least one previous NHL camp tend to have better results in successive years.

"The guys I know went through it last year were a lot better this year. I think part of it is the way you train. It was a hard test," said Hextall.

"Eight 20-whatever-second -- the 22 to 24-second test -- it was hard, and I think guys were better prepared this year than last year. Really, you think about shifts. The whole idea of it is, one-part work, three parts rest. It’s like a shift. So there's a method to the madness. It’s demanding. Overall, without comparing them, just visually and seeing some of the times, I think they were better than last year. It looks like our group is in good shape, but I have to look closer at it. It’s a hard test and guys worked hard to get to where they were.”

Recently, the Boston Bruins suffered some embarrassment when all three of their 2015 first-round picks failed their fitness tests at rookie camp. Hextall noted that it is far from unusual for young players to get a rude awakening about how high the conditioning bar is set in the NHL. That is why the Flyers development coaches and trainers try to make the expectations clear from the time of the players' first summer Development Camp and then expect steady progress thereafter.

"There was a big deal made of the Boston thing, and obviously you're not thrilled about it. But if you look at our situation, when young guys come in it's a learning process. Is it acceptable? Not really.But on the other hand, you understand that when kids come into a development camp, we try to set the expectations there," said Hextall.

"That's part of the whole deal. We tell them, 'When you come to training camp, this is what you are going to do and these are our expectations.' But you also have to understand that an 18-year-old player probably isn't as strong as a 22-year-old. Is he going to do as well? Probably not. Above all, we're looking for progress.

"When you look at young kids, you look at two, three, four rundowns. We are looking for things to go in the right direction. Number one, they're growing and they're putting weight on. They're working hard, they're in the gym. They're learning to train the proper way. So we're looking for guys to get better but we want the guys here to be better in September than they were in July. It's a real teaching moment there at Development Camp.

"Do we expect our guys to come in and meet expectations? Yes, but it's also a good teaching moment. You don't accept it [if they don't meet the testing expectations] but your development guys are here for a reason. These kids are here to learn.

"Are you surprised if some young kids don't pass a test? Well, you're not thrilled but everybody is different. You can't even take two players the same age, because when you are 18, Player X might be more mature physically than Player Y. Are there different expectations? Well, I think there are different capabilities for every player. A kid that comes in at 18 and he's 175 pounds and another one who is 205, the expectation will be a little higher for the player who is more developed.

"There's a lot of teaching and a lot of lessons. From our standpoint, yes, we're looking for a kid to do well but we also want him to think about, "OK, I need to do this, this and this better." The next year at Development Camp, you'd better be better or else our development guys are going to be hard on you."

The Flyers prospects are getting their first chance to work on ice with Hakstol. With the Flyers' coach having come from an extensive collegiate and USHL coaching background, teaching young players and pushing them to improve is an area of coaching with which Hakstol is deeply familiar.

Said Hextall, "I think it’s an age group that he’s obviously familiar pretty with, so I think that certainly gives him a leg up. But I think from the time Dave and I first started talking, there’s a lot of similarities in the way we think in terms that he wants players to get better every day _ and work hard every day.

"Find ways to get better as individuals and as a team. He’s always thinking about development and making people better and making the team better. I think some of those attributes help, for sure, and obviously some of the other things he has to learn as we go on here.”

On Tuesday, the Flyers rookies engaged in various competition-based drills that arise in game situations. For instance, players raced for loose pucks with someone in hot pursuit. Forwards battled defensemen in one-on-one rushes and tried to get off shots on net. Players tried to work their way out of the corner with the puck while being bumped and jostled for position. Defensemen tried to get the puck cleanly to their partner by passing it around the wall.

Notably, the Flyers paired 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim with 2015 first-round selection Ivan Provorov. Meanwhile, hulking 2013 first-round pick Samuel Morin continued to work with smallish offensive-minded defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere on what may well be a precursor to a pairing new Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon will use in Lehigh Valley to start the season.

Provorov, who dominated most of his one-on-one matchups against the forwards, said afterwards that he enjoyed the drills. Having some practice time and two preseason games with the WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings before coming to Philadelphia helped him arrive feeling like any off-season rust was gone.

"I liked it. It was a lot of battle drills. It was good to compete against guys," said Provorov. "All the players are really good here, all the forwards, so taking away time and space, I use my stick, skating ability… and play physical when I can. I thought I did good against all the guys.

"It was good to skate with the [Wheat Kings] on Thursday and then play two games. All summer I kind of skating by myself and it was good to get some ice time with the team."

In the future, the Flyers envision the possibility of Provorov and Sanheim potentially rising up together to become the team's top pairing. Although Provorov said he never tries to think too far ahead, he relishes the chance to work with a partner as skilled as the speedy Sanheim.

In the meantime, Gostisbehere is now fully recovered from the partially torn anterior cruciate ligament that cost him most of his rookie pro season in 2014-15. Adding 15 pounds of muscle, going from 170 to 185 pounds and trimming his body fat percentage in the process, Gostisbehere feels like he is in better shape to stand up to the rigors of the pro season. Any fears that the speed-oriented player's skating might be adversely affected by the ACL tear were put to rest when he performed about the same in his skating tests in camp this year as he did a year ago.

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QUICK HITS: SEPTEMBER 16

* All of the Flyers veteran players skated in the morning at the Skate Zone and then left for the annual fundraising golf event in Pine Hill, NJ, for the benefit of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. This year, Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds were the honorary co-chairmen.

* Hextall said that, while it not an absolute certainty at this point, it does not look like there will be any free agent players coming to camp on a professional try-out (PTO) arrangement. Last week, the GM said he had feelers out to a few players of interest.

* Hextall said things have been quiet of late in terms of trade discussions with other GMs, as it typical right before the start of NHL camps. General managers leaguewide are mostly focused on evaluating their team in camp before they consider moves prior to setting their opening-night rosters.

* Looking back at his own first training camp with the Flyers during his playing days, retired goaltender Hextall said that there is a night-and-day difference between the way teams 30 years ago and those of today approached rookie preparations. Back in the 1980s, prospects were simply left to fend for themselves with no advice or instruction about what they needed to do to get ready.

"When some of us old guys talk about it, we used to come in to camp and we didn't know what to expect. It was our first real exposure to pro hockey and the expectations. After four days, most of us were so stiff, we couldn't even walk. We really didn't understand what we had to do to get prepared. Nowadays, things have changed," Hextall said.

* The Flyers Alumni's recent Faceoff Against Cancer fundraising event in Aston, PA, raised approximately $88,000 to go directly to selected Delaware Valley cancer patients and their families. Last year, each of the recipients received approximately $13,000 apiece after all funds were raised from the event plus private and sponsor donations.

* The Swedish Hockey League (SHL) regular season gets underway today. On Thursday, Brynäs IF Gävle will open its season with a home game against the Malmö Redhawks. Flyers 2014 fifth-round pick Oskar Lindblom, who tallied three preseason goals for BIF, is expected to start the season skating the left wing of the club's top line. Flyers 2015 third-round pick Felix Sandström is expected to pull down double duty as BIF's backup goaltender to veteran Bernhard Starkbaum while also getting playing time starting for the Brynäs J20 team as the schedule and logistics permit. The J20 team has a home game on Wednesday against their counterparts from AIK Stockholm.

* Through the first four games of the 2015-16 MHL regular season, Flyers 2015 fourth-round pick Mikhail Vorobyov has three assists (all on opening night) for Tolpar Ufa. He has won 62.5 percent of his faceoffs (25-for-40) thus far despite a tough game on draws in Tolpar's 3-1 win over Mamonty Yugry on Monday. Tolpar returns to action on Saturday with a road match against Belye Medvedi.

* Flyers 2015 seventh-round pick Ivan Fedotov earned the win in goal for MHL team Reaktor Nizhnekamsk in a 4-3 win over Omskie Yastreby on Sunday. In two starts to date, he is 1-1-0 with a 4.70 GAA and .806 save percentage. The unsightly numbers are owed to getting shelled in his team's 7-1 opening game loss. Reaktor returns to action on Saturday with a road game against Tyumensky Legion.

* Czech Extraliga: Flyers 2015 fifth-round pick David Kase does not have a point through two regular season games. The 18-year-old has skated on Pirati Chomutov's fourth line in both games to date. On Sunday, Kase skated 7:21 of ice time in a 2-1 win over BK Mlada Boleslav. The Pirates host HC Pardubice on Friday.
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