Ben Holmstrom leaves the ice after a morning skate the day of the AHL Outdoor Classic in January. 
Photo by Tim McManus

Holmstrom’s loss a serious one. So now what?

After covering the Phantoms for three years, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how they go about their business. But the organization surprised me Thursday by issuing a statement addressing Ben Holmstrom’s knee injury and upcoming surgery. I can’t speak for the Philadelphia years, but that’s an unprecedented step since the move to Glens Falls in 2009. I can’t recall the team making any official comment on injuries, and there have been a few significant ones. Johan Backlund, the team’s 2009-10 MVP, missed large chunks of time. Krys Kolanos — don’t laugh, he was a big AHL deal …

Thanks to the Philadelphia Flyers

The Sixth Day of Claudemas: Six natural hat tricks

Here we are in December with little to do in this tough lockout time. What’s a blog to do? Well, it looks like a 12 Days of Christmas-themed series of posts is the way to go. But, we realize that all of you hockey fans aren’t into Christmas, so we’ve named it after the man nicknamed Orange Jesus and called it Claudemas. On the sixth day of Claudemas, Flyers Faithful gave to me…six natural hat tricks by the great Tim Kerr! Who’s the greatest goal scorer in Flyers history? Numbers will tell you it’s Bill Barber, who still holds the …

Petr Sykora

New Life for Silver Foxes

It is tough to find things to like about the lockout. With no hockey to be played, players are left to go as hard (or as soft) as they please in order to maintain an NHL physique. However, this lack of games can actually be a silver lining to some of the more resilient silver foxes of the National Hockey League – if play were to resume. This gives the Flyers some options to fill out the roster in free agency that they might not have considered if the full season were still intact. So what might those choices be? …

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Then and Now: Jon Sim

Jon Sim became a member of the Philadelphia Flyers’ organization during the 2004-2005 season, when he became a member of the Philadelphia Phantoms in exchange for Peter White. After he played in 10 games alongside Keith Ballard, Kiel McLeod, and Fredrik Sjostrom for the Utah Grizzlies in their final season in the American Hockey League, Sim joined the 2005 Calder Cup winners for the final 63 regular season games of the title year. He recorded the second-most points for the Phantoms with 35 goals and 26 assists for 61 points, four shy of R.J. Umberger’s total. The difference was Umberger …

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Homer’s Do’s and Doh’s Final: Carter Trade v. Gagne Trade

Paul Holmgren became the interim General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers on October 22, 2006. That interim title was removed only weeks later on November 11. Holmgren was able to take a team that finished last in the National Hockey League, and rebuild it to make a deep run all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals the very next season. Yes, some of Holmgren’s moves have been amazing, but he’s also a guy who has gotten this organization into some hot water with the salary cap and was forced to make deals that were head scratchers to say the least. If you enjoyed …