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FLYERS TOP 25 in 25: SCOTT HARTNELL
A nine-time 20-plus goal scorer in the National Hockey League, fan favorite left winger Scott Hartnell hit the mark five times in seven years with the Flyers, including seasons of 37 (2011-12) and 30 (2008-09) goals. He topped the 100 penalty minute mark (with a high of 159 in 2007-08) in all but the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season.
Along with close friend Kimmo Timonen, the Flyers acquired Hartnell from the Nashville Predators on June 18, 2007 in exchange for returning Nashville's own 2007 first-round draft pick that the Flyers originally acquired as part of the trade that sent Peter Forsberg to Nashville several months earlier. The Flyers then signed both Hartnell and Timonen to six-year contracts.
Over the course of his seven seasons in Philadelphia, Hartnell was part of three different line combinations that achieved considerable success together. During his 30-goal season of 2008-09, Hartnell mostly played on a line with Jeff Carter and Joffrey Lupul. In the 2010 playoffs, Hartnell was placed with Danny Briere and Ville Leino in a trio that scored at a torrid pace (including eight goals and 17 points for Hartnell) after it was put together. The line remained intact for the 2010-11 season. In 2011-12, Hartnell enjoyed his career year on a line with Claude Giroux and the legendary Jaromir Jagr.
Hartnell became an NHL All-Star Game selection for the first time in 2011-12. That season, Hartnell racked up 37 goals (16 on the power play) and 67 points as a member of the Flyers' top line and primary power play unit. Many of his goals were scored from a preferred shooting shot just inside the left hash marks. Hartnell posted eight points in 11 games during the 2012 playoffs.
A crowd favorite who was also well-liked by his teammates. Hartnell was selected by his teammates as the 2011-12 winner of the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Award as the team's most improved player. He earned the Philadelphia media's 2012-13 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award and previously earned the 2008-09 Gene Hart Memorial Award from the Flyers Fan Club.
Hartnell was injured for most of the shortened 2012-13 season, dressing in just 32 of 48 games. He had his fifth and final 20-goal season as a Flyer (seventh time in the NHL) in 2013-14. After the season, the Flyers traded Hartnell to the Columbus Blue Jackets, reacquiring forward R.J. Umberger. Although the deal had salary cap benefits for the Flyers in the long term, the Blue Jackets got the better of the trade from a hockey standpoint.
Hartnell spent the next three seasons in Columbus, scoring 28 and 23 goals his first two seasons. Clashing occasionally with tyrannical head coach John Tortorella, Hartnell was moved down in the lineup and periodically scratched from the lineup during the latter portion of his tenure with the Blue Jackets. His output in 2016-17 dropped to 13 goals in 78 games.
After the season, Columbus bought out the remainder of the six-year contract Hartnell had originally signed with the Flyers in the summer of 2012. He will carry a $1.5 million hit against the Blue Jackets' cap through the 2020-21 season. An unrestricted free agent, the left winger signed a contract to return to his original team, the Nashville Predators, and to be reunited with his former Flyers head coach, Peter Laviolette.
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QUICK HITS: AUGUST 22, 2017
1) The Växjö Lakers, featuring Flyers defense prospect Linus Högberg, won the preseason TPS Cup tournament in Finland, defeating Lukko Rauma by a 6-4 score in the final game on Sunday.
2) Today in Flyers History: Aug. 22. On this day in 1974, recently retired Flyers defenseman Barry Ashbee was hired as an assistant coach. On this day in 1985, Bill Barber officially announced his retirement as an active player (after missing the entire 1984-85 season due to chronic knee problems). Barber became a Flyers assistant coach, joining Paul Holmgren and the late E.J. McGuire on head coach Mike Keenan's staff. Barber filled a vacancy left by the departure of Ted Sator, who had become the New York Rangers' head coach.
3) Aug. 22 Flyers Alumni birthdays: Mitch Lamoureux (1962), Bruno St. Jacques (1980), and Brayden Schenn (1991).
4) Group tickets to the 2017 Flyers Wives Carnival are now available for groups of 10 or more. Groups are eligible to receive a discount tickets and a variety of different ticket packages. The 2017 Flyers Wives Carnival will take place at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday, Nov. 19. For more information, click here.
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