MELTZER'S MUSINGS: JUNE 16, 2015
1) When longtime Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen officially announced his intention to attempt a comeback this season, he said his motivation before his impending retirement was to go out with his skates on rather than his shoes. He did just that.
The five-time Barry Ashbee Trophy winner, five-time Olympian and five-time NHL All-Star Game selection (four-time participant) finished his career in the best way possible: He dressed for the clinching game of the Stanley Cup Final and lifted hockey's most coveted prize with his family on hand.
Timonen has said that he plans to talk to Flyers general manager Ron Hextall this summer about a job in the organization. He will go down in the annals as on of the top three or four defensemen in the annals of Flyers history and one if its most universally respected quiet leaders.
2) With the completion of the Stanley Cup Final, the placement of the 2015 Draft picks the Flyers received from the Timonen trade to the Chicago Blackhawks and the Braydon Coburn trade to the Tampa Bay Lightning are now clear. The Flyers will get the 29th overall from Tampa and the 61st overall pick from Chicago. The full rundown of Flyers' current picks are as follows:
1st round - Flyers (7th overall), Tampa Bay (29th, Braydon Coburn trade) 2nd round - Chicago (61st overall, Kimmo Timonen trade) 3rd round - San Jose (70th overall, Tye McGinn trade), Tampa Bay (90th, Coburn trade) 4th round - Flyers (98th overall), Columbus (99th overall, Scott Hartnell trade) 5th round - Flyers (128th overall) 6th round - Flyers (158th overall) 7th round - Flyers (188th overall)
3) Twenty-five years ago today, the NHL Entry Draft was held in Vancouver. Although most remembered for the Flyers making a safe pick with the selection of Mike Ricci fourth overall -- rather than Jaromir Jagr, who went fifth to the Pittsburgh Penguins -- the 1990 Draft proved to be a very fruitful one for the Flyers. Nine different Flyers picks that year went on to play in the NHL, and several became long-term starters on the team:
Mike Ricci (1/4) Chris Simon (2/25) Mikael Renberg (2/40) Terran Sandwith (2/42) Bill Armstrong (3/46) Chris Therien (3/47) Al Kinisky (3/52) Dan Kordic (5/88) Vyacheslav Butsayev (6/109) Patrik Englund (8/151) Toni Porkka (9/172) Greg Hanson (10/193) Tommy Söderström (11/214) Billy Lund (12/235)
In addition to the bumper crop of future homegrown talents drafted by the Flyers, the 1990 Draft yielded a host of players drafted by other teams who later went to play for the Flyers with varying degrees of impact during their Philadelphia tenures: Petr Nedved (1/2), Keith Primeau (1/3), Jagr (1/5), Derian Hatcher (1/8), John Slaney (1/9), Mark Greig (1/15), Karl Dykhuis (1/16), Shawn Antoski (1/18), Geoff Sanderson (2/36), Stew Malgunas (4/66), Alexei Zhamnov (4/77), Gilbert Dionne (4/81), Gino Odjick (5/86), Andrei Kovalenko (8/148), Jaroslav Modry (9/179), Valeri Zelepukin (11/221), and Todd Hlushko (12/240).
No NHL Draft before or since has yielded as many players who wore a Flyers uniform at some point of their career.
4) Two Flyers Alumni celebrate June 16th birthdays: still-active forward Dainius Zubrus (1978) and tough defenseman Chris McAllister (1975). For other notable June 16th events in Flyers history, visit the Flyers Alumni Association official website.