I love this post, because it is correct.

Scott Hartnell was on 3 of the best lines the Flyers had in the past 10 years. That's no accident.

The Flyers divesting of BSchenn was good for both the Flyers and BSchenn. He'll get a shot to play center (probably) and we can move on from his expectations (which were outsized).
- johndewar

Hartnell was a nice player here and he was complimentary to a line. He did a lot of the dirty work and could produce offensively. It's an overstatement to say that Giroux went downhill due to losing Hartnell. Giroux and Voracek were the catalysts to that line when it was together, not Hartnell.

I agree with MJL. Hartnell was awesome and i do miss him but he wasn't THE GUY by any means.

Hartnell was a nice player here and he was complimentary to a line. He did a lot of the dirty work and could produce offensively. It's an overstatement to say that Giroux went downhill due to losing Hartnell. Giroux and Voracek were the catalysts to that line when it was together, not Hartnell.
- MJL

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that.

I didn't want say that G went downhill because of losing Hartnell. Sorry if it came out that way.

I just wanted to point out that Hartnell was probably more important than folks think in his time with the Flyers. I was one of those people that understood why he was let go, even if I didn't enjoy the return.

Hartnell was a nice player here and he was complimentary to a line. He did a lot of the dirty work and could produce offensively. It's an overstatement to say that Giroux went downhill due to losing Hartnell. Giroux and Voracek were the catalysts to that line when it was together, not Hartnell.
- MJL

Agreed. Giroux and Voracek are still good for about 65 points a season since he left. No player in the NHL puts up those numbers on another players back. I do believe that a player, not named Hartnell, but having some of the similar playing characteristics could help them reach higher again.

Ok, because I'm stuck at work this morning and bored, lets try something different. Here is a list of the top 5 players to ever play for the Flyers by position. These are not necessarily how I'd rank them in a best Flyers of all time list, but instead it's simply the best player at each position no matter if they played only 1 season as a Flyer or a dozen.

Here goes:

GOAL
1. Bernie Parent (2nd stint with the team)
2. Pelle Lindbergh
3. Ron Hextall (1st stint with the team)
4. Roman Cechmanek
5. Pete Peeters (1st stint with the team)

DEFENSE
1. Mark Howe
2. Chris Pronger
3. Eric Desjardins
4. Kimmo Timonen
5. Bob Dailey
Honorable mentions: Ed Van Impe, Jimmy Watson

LEFT WING
1. Bill Barber
2. John Leclair
3. Brian Propp
4. Simon Gagne
5. Ross Lonsberry
Honorable mentions: Pelle Eklund, Murray Craven, Scott Hartnell

CENTER
1. Bobby Clarke
2. Eric Lindros
3. Peter Forsberg
4. Rick Macleish
5. Claude Giroux
Honorable mentions: Rod Brind'amour, Danny Briere

RIGHT WING
1. Tim Kerr
2. Mark Recchi
3. Reggie Leach
4. Rick Tocchet
5. Michael Renberg (1st stint with the team)
Honorable mention: Jake Voracek