1984–85 Philadelphia Flyers season

The 1984–85 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers' 18th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers reached the Stanley Cup Finals but lost in five games to the Edmonton Oilers.

Off-season

Bob Clarke's first move as general manager was hiring Mike Keenan as head coach.^[2] Second-year player Dave Poulin was named team captain.^[3]

Regular season

On October 18 they tied a franchise record for most goals in one game, after a 13–2 rout of the Vancouver Canucks at the Spectrum. They recorded another 10-plus goal contest on March 10 against Pittsburgh, crushing the Penguins 11–4. In addition, the team snapped the Edmonton Oilers' then NHL record 12–0–3 unbeaten streak to start the year with a 7–5 win on November 11. Four days later, they paid tribute to the recently retired Bobby Clarke on Bobby Clarke Night with a 6–1 win over the Hartford Whalers.

Although the club got off to a hot 16–4–4 start, they faltered in December, losing four straight games and five of six prior to Christmas. With the team's slate of games thin throughout January, the Washington Capitals surged to the top of the Patrick Division although the Flyers kept winning consistently.

After trailing the division-leading Capitals by 11 points in early February, the Flyers clinched the division title on March 28 and finished 12 points ahead of Washington, reeling off an incredible 24–4–0 record after February 9. The game that kicked off the stretch, on February 9 at the Capital Centre, saw Tim Kerr score four goals but Brian Propp won it, 5-4, with two seconds remaining in regulation. The club set a franchise record with 11 straight wins from March 5–24.

One season before the President's Trophy was created to reward the NHL club with the most points, the Flyers finished the season with 113, four ahead of eventual Cup champion Edmonton. They also recorded their second-highest single-season goal total (tied with 1975–76, and two fewer than the previous season) and allowed the third-fewest goals behind Washington and Buffalo.

Twice during the season two players recorded hat tricks in the same game. Propp and Ilkka Sinisalo turned the trick in the Vancouver rout, while Poulin and Kerr teamed up for six goals in a wild 9–6 win over Washington on March 7.

Goaltender Pelle Lindbergh, who led the league with 40 wins, won the Vezina Trophy.

Season standings

^[4]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Playoffs

The Flyers rolled through the playoffs by sweeping the New York Rangers in three games, defeating the New York Islanders in five, and beating the Quebec Nordiques in six to return to the Stanley Cup Finals. Though they defeated the defending champion Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 by a score of 4–1 at home, Edmonton won the next four games and the series.

Schedule and results

Regular season

Playoffs

Player statistics

Skaters

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left Wing; RW = Right Wing
• = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Flyers only.
• = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Flyers only.

				Regular season						Playoffs
No.	Player	Age	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
12	Kerr, TimTim Kerr	25	RW	74	54	44	98	29	57	12	10	4	14	7	13
26	Propp, BrianBrian Propp	25	LW	76	43	54	97	46	43	19	8	10	18	2	6
20	Poulin, DaveDave Poulin	26	C	73	30	44	74	43	59	11	3	5	8	−1	6
23	Sinisalo, IlkkaIlkka Sinisalo	26	RW	70	36	37	73	32	16	19	6	1	7	−1	0
32	Craven, MurrayMurray Craven	20	LW	80	26	35	61	45	30	19	4	6	10	6	11
25	Zezel, PeterPeter Zezel	19	C	65	15	46	61	22	26	19	1	8	9	−5	28
2	Howe, MarkMark Howe	29	D	73	18	39	57	51	31	19	3	8	11	11	6
14	Sutter, RonRon Sutter	21	C	73	16	29	45	13	94	19	4	8	12	−1	28
10	McCrimmon, BradBrad McCrimmon	25	D	66	8	35	43	52	81	11	2	1	3	5	15
18	Carson, LindsayLindsay Carson	24	C	77	20	19	39	0	123	17	0	3	3	0	24
24	Smith, DerrickDerrick Smith	20	LW	77	17	22	39	28	31	19	2	5	7	3	16
22	Tocchet, RickRick Tocchet	20	RW	75	14	25	39	6	181	19	3	4	7	−1	72
27	Eriksson, ThomasThomas Eriksson	25	D	72	10	29	39	24	36	9	0	0	0	−1	6
3	Crossman, DougDoug Crossman	24	D	80	4	33	37	31	65	19	4	6	10	−3	38
11 !11, 36	Hachborn, LenLen Hachborn	23	C	40	5	17	22	16	23	4	0	3	3	0	0
8	Marsh, BradBrad Marsh	26	D	77	2	18	20	42	91	19	0	6	6	1	65
9	Dvorak, MiroslavMiroslav Dvorak	33	D	47	3	14	17	12	4	13	0	1	1	−1	4
19 !19, 42	Bergen, ToddTodd Bergen	21	C	14	11	5	16	9	4	17	4	9	13	7	8
15	Sutter, RichRich Sutter	21	LW	56	6	10	16	0	89	11	3	0	3	−2	10
21	Brown, DaveDave Brown	22	RW	57	3	6	9	−3	165	11	0	0	0	−1	59
6	Young, TimTim Young	29	C	20	2	6	8	2	12	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-99 !—	-1 !—
17	Hospodar, EdEd Hospodar	25	D	50	3	4	7	7	130	18	1	1	2	4	69
29	Cochrane, GlenGlen Cochrane	27	D	18	0	3	3	−4	100	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-99 !—	-1 !—
19	Allison, RayRay Allison	25	RW	11	1	1	2	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	2
34	Fitzpatrick, RossRoss Fitzpatrick	24	C	5	1	0	1	−3	0	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-99 !—	-1 !—
35	Froese, BobBob Froese	26	G	17	0	1	1	-98 !N/A	2	4	0	0	0	-98 !N/A	2
34	Guay, PaulPaul Guay	21	RW	2	0	1	1	2	0	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-99 !—	-1 !—
31	Lindbergh, PellePelle Lindbergh	25	G	65	0	0	0	-98 !N/A	4	18	0	1	1	-98 !N/A	0
06 !6, 28	Paterson, JoeJoe Paterson	24	LW	6	0	0	0	−1	31	17	3	4	7	−2	70
5	Smith, SteveSteve Smith	21	D	2	0	0	0	2	7	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-99 !—	-1 !—
44	Stothers, MikeMike Stothers	22	D	1	0	0	0	−1	0	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-99 !—	-1 !—
30 !30, 33	Jensen, DarrenDarren Jensen	24	G	1	0	0	0	-98 !N/A	0	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-1 !—	-99 !—	-1 !—

Goaltenders

Awards and records

Awards

Records

•    NHL record
•    Tied for NHL record

Individual

Franchise player records set during the 1984–85 season

Record	Type	Total	Player	Date(s)	Opponent	Ref
Goals scored	Period	3[lower-alpha 2]	Tim Kerr	10/25/1984	St. Louis Blues	[16]
Goals scored	Game	4[lower-alpha 3]	Tim Kerr	10/25/1984	St. Louis Blues	[17]
				1/17/1985	Detroit Red Wings
				2/9/1985	Washington Capitals
Shorthanded goals	Season	7[lower-alpha 4]	Brian Propp	—	—	[18]
Hat tricks	Season	5	Tim Kerr	—	—	[17]
Fastest three goals scored by one player, playoffs	Game	3:24	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Fastest four goals scored by one player, playoffs	Game	8:16	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Goals scored, playoffs	Period	4	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Powerplay goals scored, playoffs	Period	3	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Assists, playoffs	Period	3[lower-alpha 5]	Peter Zezel	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Points, playoffs	Period	4	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Powerplay goals scored, playoffs	Game	3	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Points by a rookie, playoffs	Game	4[lower-alpha 6]	Peter Zezel	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Assists, playoffs	Period	3[lower-alpha 5]	Tim Kerr	4/21/1985	New York Islanders	[19]
Powerplay goals scored by a defenseman, playoffs	Season	3[lower-alpha 7]	Doug Crossman	—	—	[20]

Team

Transactions

The Flyers were involved in the following transactions from May 20, 1984, the day after the deciding game of the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals, through May 30, 1985, the day of the deciding game of the 1985 Stanley Cup Finals.^[25]

Trades

Signings

Free agency

The following players were signed by the Flyers via free agency.

Re-signed

The following players were re-signed by the Flyers.

NHL Waiver Draft

The 1984 NHL Waiver Draft was held on October 9, 1984.^[40] Each NHL team placed 16 skaters and 2 goaltenders on a protected list from which the other teams could not select.^[40] First-year professional players were exempt.^[40] The Flyers were not involved in any selections during the draft.^[40]

The Flyers left the following players unprotected:^[41] goaltender Gil Hudon and skaters Don Nachbaur and Brian Tutt.

Departures

The following players left the team via free agency, release, or retirement. Players who were under contract and left the team during the season are marked with an asterisk (*).

Draft picks

Philadelphia's picks at the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, which was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, on June 9, 1984.^[43] The Flyers selection of Petr Rucka in the eleventh-round, 226th overall, was voided since Rucka had already been selected by the Calgary Flames in the tenth-round.^[44]

Players drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1984 and their NHL career regular season statistics

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team (league)	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	W	L	T	GAA	Notes
2	22	Smyth, GregGreg Smyth	Defense	Canada	London Knights (OHL)	229	4	16	20	783	& —	& —	& —	& —	[lower-alpha 13]
2	27	Mellanby, ScottScott Mellanby	Right Wing	Canada	Henry Carr Secondary School (Toronto)	1431	364	476	840	2479	& —	& —	& —	& —	[lower-alpha 14]
2	37	Chychrun, JeffJeff Chychrun	Defense	Canada	Kingston Canadians (OHL)	262	3	22	25	744	& —	& —	& —	& —
3	43	McLay, DaveDave McLay	Forward	Canada	Kelowna Wings (WHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	[lower-alpha 13]
3	47	Stevens, JohnJohn Stevens	Defense	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHL)	53	0.1 !0	10	10	48	& —	& —	& —	& —	[lower-alpha 15]
4	79	Hanson, DavidDavid Hanson	Center	United States	Grand Forks High School (N. Dakota)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
5	100	Dobbin, BrianBrian Dobbin	Right Wing	Canada	London Knights (OHL)	63	7	8	15	61	& —	& —	& —	& —
6	121	Dzikowski, JohnJohn Dzikowski	Center	Canada	Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
7	142	Allen, TomTom Allen	Defense	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
8	163	Vitale, LukeLuke Vitale	Forward	Canada	Henry Carr Secondary School (Toronto)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
9	184	Powers, BillyBilly Powers	Forward	United States	Matignon High School (Mass.)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
10	204	Fersovich, DarynDaryn Fersovich	Forward	Canada	St. Albert Saints (AJHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
12	245	Bakos, JurajJuraj Bakos	Defense	Slovakia	HC Kosice (Czech)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —

Farm teams

The Flyers were affiliated with the Hershey Bears of the AHL^[45][46] and the Kalamazoo Wings of the IHL.^[47]

Notes

References

General

• hockeyDB.com: Roster and player statistics · Results and Schedule
• hockey-reference.com: Roster and Statistics · Schedule and Results
• Flyers History: Season Overview · Game Scores & Results · Playoff Results

Specific