1) Part 2 of Flyers Daily's three-part series of interviews of Flyers' scouts will debut today. Jason Myrtetus speaks with Flyers western Canada-based amateur scout (and Flyers and Phantoms alum player) Mark Greig. In addition to the normal intrigue surrounding the NHL Draft, the 2020 Draft is a particularly special and nerve-racking time for "Greiger" because his own son, Brandon Wheat Kings center Ridly Greig, is expected to be a first-round pick at some point in theut latter half of Tuesday's 31 selections. On Friday, Myrtetus spoke with Flyers Sweden-based scout Joakim Grundberg. Tomorrow, he will interview Flyers U.S. based amateur scout Nick Pryor. To access the podcasts, click here to listen.
2) Over the weekend, I completed two large-scale Draft-related projects for the Flyers' official website. The first is a Draft inventory of each and every selection the Flyers have made from 2015 to 2019, as well as free agent prospects (Phil Myers in 2015 and Egor Zamula in 2018) signed a few months after going unselected in their first Draft-eligible year. What became of each pick? What is their current and future outlook? Who is still unsigned to an entry-level contract and how much longer do the Flyers' hold their rights? Which draftees have left the organization, and what are their current whereabouts?
Among players from earlier NHL Draft classes, there are 10 who have spent their entire careers in the Flyers' organization (note: this designation excludes James van Riemsdyk, selected by the Flyers with the second overall pick of the 2007 Draft, and now in his second stint in the organization after returning from the Toronto Maple Leafs via free agency in the summer of 2018).
The pre-2015 list is as follows: Claude Giroux (2006 1st round, 22nd overall), Sean Couturier (2011 1st round, 8th overall), Scott Laughton (2012 1st round, 20th overall), Shayne Gostisbehere (2012 3rd round, 78th overall), Samuel Morin (2013 1st round, 11th overall), Robert Hà¤gg (2013 2nd round, 41st overall), Travis Sanheim (2014 1st round, 17th overall), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (2014 2nd round, 48th overall), Mark Friedman (2014 3rd round, 86th overall), and Oskar Lindblom (2014 5th round, 138th overall).
3) Also on the Flyers site is my 2020 mock draft of the first round. Remember, it's a role-playing guessing game, not a prediction. Since the article was published yesterday, and many have already seen it, it's not too much of a spoiler to say that my mock had one of the three German players who could potentially be first-rounders this year as the Flyers' pick at the No. 23 spot. Two of the others were off the board by that point in my mock Draft. I also had Ridly Greig off the board before Philly selected.
Correction: I spotted a typo this morning when re-reading the mock draft. It should say that John-Jason Peterka is a viable candidate for anywhere from the mid-to-late FIRST round. I wrote "third" round. He will be long since off the board by then!
4) Current Flyers center Nate Thompson, an impending unrestricted free agent, celebrates his 36th birthday today.
5) Today in Flyers History: Oct. 5 edition
* 1993: The Flyers traded rugged defenseman Terry Carkner to the Detroit Red Wings for offensive-minded defenseman Yves Racine and a 1994 fourth-round pick (center Sabastien Vallee). Racine posted 52 points in 67 games for the Flyers in 2003-04 but was a defensive liability on a club that was not lacking for offense --6th in team GPG and had five players with 70-plus points including defenseman Garry Galley -- but was atrocious defensively and had the 4th-worst GAA in the NHL. Before the next season, returning GM Bob Clarke shipped Racine to Montreal in exchange for the speedy and more well-rounded (but less offensively inclined) Kevin Haller.
* 1998: The Flyers traded fourth-line center Daniel Lacroix to the Edmonton Oilers for middle-six left winger Valeri Zelepukin. Formerly a fast-rising standout for the New Jersey Devils, Zelepukin had not been the same caliber of offensive player anymore since suffering a serious eye injury during the lockout shortened 1994-95 season. He was, however, still a pretty good two-way forward and chipped in a combined 27 (16 and 11) goals over his two seasons with the Flyers. He often played with Rod Brind'Amour and Mikael Renberg as his linemates in his first Philadelphia season and Daymond Langkow was frequently his center in the second year.
6) Former NHL role player and high-scoring Philadelphia Firebirds standout during their NAHL years Gord "Roadhog" Brooks passed away suddenly on Oct. 1 at the age of 70. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, their son and three daughters, 10 grandchildren, one great-granddaughter, his elderly mother named Batty, his three still-living siblings (a brother named Paul is deceased) , and a host of nephews, nieces and cousins.
Brooks, who played 70 NHL games for the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals, was a piece of my childhood when he starred for the Lockhart Cup winning Philadelphia Firebirds in the NAHL (two steps below the NHL, one step below the AHL). With the Flyers coming off back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, it was tough -- and expensive -- to get Flyers' tickets at the perpetually sold-out Spectrum. There was, however, another game in town: the Firebirds, who played their home games at the now-defunct Civic Center adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania campus.
I saw many a Firebirds game, usually with my mother taking me and sometimes with a friend, in that ramshackle arena and loved the team nearly as much as I loved the Flyers. A host of Firebirds players with familiar surnames -- MacLeish (Dale, brother of Rick), Schultz (Ray, brother of Dave), Barber (John, brother of Bill), and Clarke (Mike, no relation to Bobby) -- donned Firebirds jerseys at one time or another during their NAHL days.
Led by colorful head coach Greg Pilling, a true hockey "beauty", the Firebirds won the NAHL championship, called the Lockhart Cup, in 1975-76. My five-year-old self took a green magic marker to my white Mylec street hockey helmet -- and thought it looked pretty good (it didn't) --while the Firebirds were playing the Johnstown Jets in the semifinals on their way to taking out the Beauce Jaros in the Lockhart Cup Finals. Supposedly, the long-forgotten Lockhart Cup nice resides on Greg Pilling's porch as a plant-holder.
There were higher-scoring players on the Firebirds than Brooks during the championship year's regular season, especially pint-sized center Bob Collyard (himself a former St. Louis Blues player) and French Canadian forward Michel Plante (a teammate of Bernie Parent and Andre Lacroix and Derek Sanderson during the one-year one of the WHA's Philadelphia Blazers). Nonetheless, it was Gordie Brooks who was my favorite Firebird during both their NAHL and subsequent AHL years.
I think Brooks became my favorite because seemed to score at every single game I attended, and he had a ridiculous run during the 1976 Lockhart Cup playoffs: 15 goals and 32 points in 16 games (no, I didn't remember the stats offhand -- I looked those up). The next year, he potted 64 regular season goals and 124 points.
How badly I wanted the Flyers to purchase his contract and add him to the NHL roster! How much did my 6-to-8-year-old self not understand the difference between scoring 60-plus goals in the minors or flirting with 100 points in the AHL and being capable of doing the same against the best players in the world.
Nicknamed "Roadhog" for the way he drove, especially behind the wheel of a team bus, Brooks stayed with the Firebirds after the NAHL went out of business and the Firebirds, who were owned by the same people that owned the Mrs. Paul's fishsticks company, were absorbed into the American Hockey League. He was even still with the team when the Firebirds relocated to Syracuse in 1979; the last remaining player from the Lockhart Cup team.
From an NHL standpoint, the Firebirds had more notable players than Brooks at both the NAHL and AHL levels, most notably future longtime NHL backup goalie Reggie Lemelin (who also later served for many years as the Flyers' goalie coach). Future Flyers broadcaster Steve Coates was with the AHL version of the Firebirds, and future United States Hockey Hall of Famer Paul Stewart (who has become a personal friend and a family friend over the years) also spent part of a season with the AHL version of the Firebirds.
Side note: One of my favorite blogs that Stewy ever did here at HockeyBuzz, which also was used in his autobiography, is the story of his stint with the Firebirds and his revenge on the penny-pinching owners for not paying on his behalf a fight-related fine he incurred from the AHL (in that era, it was pretty standard practice for teams to pay such fines for their players). Stewy claims he would rip the seal off one box of Mrs. Paul's fish products every team he walked into a grocery store until he was satisfied many years later that they'd indirectly paid his AHL fine.
We entitled the chapter "Me and Mrs. Paul"; a play on the fish-stick company, the Firebirds, and the title of a famous song ("Me and Mrs. Jones") by famed Philadelphian soul singer Billy Paul.
At any rate (apologies, Stewy and Coatesy), Brooks still remained my favorite Firebird through the rest of the team's existence. After Syracuse, he played until the mid-1980s and was still a high-scoring minor leaguer until near the end. To this day, when I hear the song "The Hustle" by Van McCoy, whether on the radio or at a wedding or whatever, I think first of Gordie Brooks and the Firebirds of the mid-70s coming out to that song during pregame warmups. When I celebrated my 35th birthday, my wife got me a Gordie Brooks Firebirds jersey from Mitchell & Ness. To this day, it remains one of my favorites in my collection.
I have been fortunate enough in my life to get to meet most of my childhood hockey heroes in the context of my work. I'd have loved to meet or interview Gordie Brooks, but never had that opportunity. Rest in peace, Roadhog.