The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the National Hockey League's (NHL) Eastern Conference. The Flyers were founded in 1967 as one of six expansion teams, increasing the size of the NHL at that time to 12 teams.[1]
Since the franchise was established, the team has had 18 team captains,[2] including Bobby Clarke, who led the Flyers to two Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. Clarke served the longest single stint, 7 seasons, as Flyers team captain and 9 seasons total while Eric Lindros and Dave Poulin each served 6 seasons as team captain. Chris Pronger is the current team captain.
In the NHL, each team may select a captain. Along with the two alternate captains, they have the "privilege of discussing with the referee any questions relating to interpretation of rules which may arise during the progress of a game".[3][4] Captains are required to wear the letter "C" on their uniform for identification, which is 3 inches (7.6 cm) high.[3]
Contents |
| * | Stanley Cup (SC) winner (as Flyers team captain), Flyers Hall of Famer (FHOF) or Hockey Hall of Famer (HHOF) |
| # | Number of team captains |
| Replaced during the season | |
| Traded during the season, no replacement named |
| # | Captain | Position | Seasons | Reason for end of captaincy | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lou Angotti | Center | 1 (1967–68) | Traded to the St. Louis Blues on June 11, 1968.[5] | |
| 2 | Ed Van Impe* | Defense | 5 (1968–73) | Stepped aside in favor of Clarke in January 1973.[6] | FHOF 1993 |
| 3 | Bobby Clarke* | Center | 7 (1973–79) | Became a playing assistant coach prior to the 1979–80 season and could not be team captain due to NHL rules.[7] | SC 1974 SC 1975 HHOF 1987 FHOF 1988 |
| 4 | Mel Bridgman | Center | 2 (1979–81) | Head coach Pat Quinn replaced him with Barber prior to the 1981–82 season.[8] | |
| 5 | Bill Barber* | Left wing | 2 (1981–82) | Clarke, no longer a playing assistant coach, reassumed the captaincy from him in December 1982.[7][9] | FHOF 1989 HHOF 1990 |
| 6 | Bobby Clarke* | Center | 2 (1982–84) | Retired to become the team's general manager on May 15, 1984.[7] | HHOF 1987 FHOF 1988 |
| 7 | Dave Poulin* | Center | 6 (1984–89) | Stripped of captaincy in December 1989.[10][11] | FHOF 2004 |
| 8 | Ron Sutter | Center | 2 (1989–91) | Traded to the St. Louis Blues on September 22, 1991.[12] | |
| 9 | Rick Tocchet | Right wing | 1 (1991–92) | Traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on February 19, 1992.[13] | |
| – | No captain | – | 1 (1992–93) | ||
| 10 | Kevin Dineen | Right wing | 1 (1993–94) | Stepped aside in favor of Lindros on September 6, 1994.[14] | |
| 11 | Eric Lindros | Center | 6 (1994–2000) | General manager Bob Clarke stripped him of the captaincy on March 27, 2000 after he criticized the team's medical staff.[15] | |
| 12 | Eric Desjardins | Defense | 3 (2000–01) | Resigned captaincy on October 23, 2001.[16] | |
| 13 | Keith Primeau | Center | 4 (2001–06) | Retired due to post-concussion syndrome on September 14, 2006.[17] | |
| 14 | Derian Hatcher | Defense | 1 (2006) | He was captain on an interim basis from January 29, 2006[18] through September 2006.[19] | [A] |
| 15 | Peter Forsberg | Center | 1 (2006–07) | Traded to the Nashville Predators on February 15, 2007.[20] | |
| 16 | Jason Smith | Defense | 1 (2007–08) | Signed with the Ottawa Senators on July 8, 2008.[21] | |
| 17 | Mike Richards | Center | 3 (2008–11) | Traded to the Los Angeles Kings on June 23, 2011.[22] | |
| 18 | Chris Pronger | Defense | 1 (2011–present) |
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