1986–87 Philadelphia Flyers season

1986–87 Philadelphia Flyers
Wales Conference Champions
Patrick Division Champions
Division	1st Patrick
Conference	1st Wales
1986–87 record	46–26–8
Home record	29–9–2
Road record	17–17–6
Goals for	310 (4th)
Goals against	245 (2nd)
Team information
General Manager	Bob Clarke
Coach	Mike Keenan
Captain	Dave Poulin
Alternate captains	Mark Howe Brad Marsh
Arena	Spectrum
Average attendance	17,212
Minor league affiliations	Hershey Bears (AHL) Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Tim Kerr (58)
Assists	Dave Poulin (45)
Points	Tim Kerr (95)
Penalties in minutes	Rick Tocchet (288)
Plus/minus	Mark Howe (+57)
Wins	Ron Hextall (37)
Goals against average	Bob Froese (2.67)
<1985–86	1987–88>

The 1986–87 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers' 20th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers reached the Stanley Cup Finals but lost to the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.

Regular season

With the previous Spring's upset loss to the Rangers fresh on their minds, the Flyers got off to a 6–0–0 start to the season, and only lost road games to the Islanders and Penguins in an 8–2–0 October.

Goaltender Ron Hextall made his professional debut on opening night, October 9, and held Edmonton to one goal in a 2–1 victory, and only improved from there, being named NHL Rookie of the Month for October and November.

Things began to click for the club as a whole in November as Brad McCrimmon returned from his suspension over a contract dispute and the emergence of Hextall forced Bob Froese into a back-up role. In the first two months of the season, only the Penguins challenged the Flyers' grip on the top spot in the division, actually starting the year 7–0–0 and topping Philly on October 25 but fading by the end of November.

Brian Propp scored four goals in a 7–1 win over St. Louis on December 2, but three games later he was lost for two months after suffering a serious knee injury against the Oilers. Froese was dealt to the New York Rangers for Kjell Samuelsson on December 18 and later that same night routing the Islanders 9–4 which saw Poulin and Kerr record three-goal games. The record reached 25–7–2 on December 21 after a 7–6 comeback win over the Blues, but during the next game in Buffalo, Ilkka Sinisalo went down with a knee injury and the team lost four in a row on a holiday road trip (Sabres, Canucks, Oilers, Kings).

A seven-game unbeaten streak in January put the Flyers at 31–11–3, three points ahead of the Oilers for best record in the NHL, but injuries began to put a strain on the ranks. With Propp, Sinisalo, Mark Howe, and Ron Sutter all suffering through long-term problems, plus minor injuries cropping up, the team sputtered late, going 15–15–5 over the remainder of the schedule.

February 1 saw the Flyers routed 8–4 in Toronto, part of another four-game losing string before the break for Rendez-vous '87. Home defeats to the Rangers (6–1 on March 12), Kings (5–2 on March 19) and Detroit (5–1 on March 28) followed. An 9–5 home loss on the season's final day to the New York Islanders was no indication of the memorable playoff run to come.

Twice within a span of one week in late January, the Flyers engaged in bench-clearing brawls. The first came in a 3–1 loss to the Islanders at home on January 18 which cost head coach Keenan a one-game suspension. Oddly enough, the second occurred during the game Keenan was suspended for, a 4–3 setback to the Devils at the Meadowlands January 24. That fracas, which came after the final buzzer, saw Hextall pummel Devils goaltender Alain Chevrier among several other battles.

The Flyers captured a third-straight Patrick Division title and Hextall became the third Flyers goaltender to win the Vezina, joining Bernie Parent and Pelle Lindbergh.

Season standings

Patrick Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Philadelphia Flyers	80	46	26	8	310	245	100
Washington Capitals	80	38	32	10	285	278	86
New York Islanders	80	35	33	12	279	281	82
New York Rangers	80	34	38	8	307	323	76
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	30	38	12	297	290	72
New Jersey Devils	80	29	45	6	293	368	64

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 gained revenge on the New York Rangers by beating them in six games, as well as surviving a tough seven-game test from a gritty New York Islanders club. By the time the Flyers defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens in six to win the Wales Conference and return to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Flyers had again been decimated by injuries, including losing Tim Kerr for the remainder of the playoffs. As a result, the Flyers lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Edmonton Oilers in seven tough, hard-fought games. Hextall was voted playoff MVP, the second such time a Flyer won the Conn Smythe Trophy despite being on the losing team, the other being Reggie Leach in 1976.

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	Tim Kerr	27	RW	75	58	37	95	38	57	12	8	5	13	3	2
25	Peter Zezel	21	C	71	33	39	72	21	71	25	3	10	13	6	10
20	Dave Poulin	28	C	75	25	45	70	47	53	15	3	3	6	1	14
26	Brian Propp	27	LW	53	31	36	67	39	45	26	12	16	28	11	10
2	Mark Howe	31	D	69	15	43	58	57	37	26	2	10	12	14	4
9	Pelle Eklund	23	C	72	14	41	55	−2	2	26	7	20	27	11	2
22	Rick Tocchet	22	RW	69	21	28	49	16	288	26	11	10	21	7	72
32	Murray Craven	22	LW	77	19	30	49	1	38	12	3	1	4	−4	9
3	Doug Crossman	26	D	78	9	31	40	18	29	26	4	14	18	0	31
10	Brad McCrimmon	27	D	71	10	29	39	45	52	26	3	5	8	9	30
24	Derrick Smith	22	LW	71	11	21	32	−4	34	26	6	4	10	3	26
19	Scott Mellanby	20	RW	71	11	21	32	8	94	24	5	5	10	7	46
23	Ilkka Sinisalo	28	LW	42	10	21	31	14	8	18	5	1	6	−6	4
14	Ron Sutter	23	C	39	10	17	27	10	69	16	1	7	8	−3	12
18	Lindsay Carson	26	LW	71	11	15	26	−2	141	24	3	5	8	3	22
15	J. J. Daigneault	21	D	77	6	16	22	12	56	9	1	0	1	−1	0
8	Brad Marsh	28	D	77	2	9	11	9	124	26	3	4	7	2	16
21	Dave Brown	24	RW	62	7	3	10	−7	274	26	1	2	3	1	59
28	Kjell Samuelsson	28	D	46	1	6	7	−9	86	26	0	4	4	4	25
27	Ron Hextall	22	G	66	0	6	6	N/A	104	26	0	1	1	N/A	43
11	Glen Seabrooke	19	C	10	1	4	5	2	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
17	Ed Hospodar	27	D	45	2	2	4	−8	136	5	0	0	0	0	2
7	Brian Dobbin	20	RW	12	2	1	3	2	14	—	—	—	—	—	—
29	Daryl Stanley	24	D	33	1	2	3	6	76	13	0	0	0	−3	9
42	Don Nachbaur	28	C	23	0	2	2	1	87	7	1	1	2	2	15
28, 36	Al Hill	31	LW	7	0	2	2	1	4	9	2	1	3	2	0
41	John Stevens	20	D	6	0	2	2	0	14	—	—	—	—	—	—
37	Mark Freer	18	C	1	0	1	1	1	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
33	Glenn Resch	38	G	17	0	0	0	N/A	0	2	0	0	0	N/A	0
5	Kerry Huffman	19	D	9	0	0	0	5	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
34	Craig Berube	21	LW	7	0	0	0	2	57	5	0	0	0	0	17
35	Bob Froese	28	G	3	0	0	0	N/A	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
37	Tim Tookey	26	C	2	0	0	0	0	0	10	1	3	4	1	2
36	Kevin McCarthy	29	D	2	0	0	0	−1	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
5	Steve Smith	23	D	2	0	0	0	−2	6	—	—	—	—	—	—
44	Mike Stothers	24	D	2	0	0	0	0	4	2	0	0	0	1	7
36	Ray Allison	27	RW	2	0	0	0	−2	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
6	Jeff Chychrun	20	D	1	0	0	0	0	4	—	—	—	—	—	—
40	Greg Smyth	20	D	1	0	0	0	−2	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
34	Jere Gillis	30	LW	1	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—

Goaltenders

• = 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	GP	W	L	T	SO	GA	SV%	GAA	MIN	GP	W	L	SO	GA	SV%	GAA	MIN
27	Ron Hextall	22	66	37	21	6	1	190	.902	3.00	3799	26	15	11	2	71	.908	2.77	1540
33	Glenn Resch	38	17	6	5	2	0	42	.904	2.91	867	2	0	0	0	1	.917	1.67	36
35	Bob Froese	28	3	3	0	0	0	8	.909	2.67	180	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Awards and records

Awards

League awards and honors

Award or honor	Recipient	Notes	Ref
Conn Smythe Trophy	Ron Hextall
Frank Selke Trophy	Dave Poulin
NHL All-Rookie Team	Ron Hextall (Goaltender)
NHL First All-Star Team	Ron Hextall (Goaltender)
	Mark Howe (Defense)
NHL Player of the Month	Ron Hextall (October)
NHL Player of the Week	Peter Zezel (January 12)
NHL Rookie of the Month	Ron Hextall (October)
	Ron Hextall (November)
NHL Second All-Star Team	Tim Kerr (Right Wing)
Selected to Rendez-vous '87	Ron Hextall	Did not play
	Mark Howe	Voted starting Defenseman but did not play
	Tim Kerr	Did not play
	Dave Poulin	Played both games
Vezina Trophy	Ron Hextall

Team awards

Award	Recipient
Barry Ashbee Trophy	Mark Howe
Bobby Clarke Trophy	Ron Hextall
Class Guy Award	Glenn Resch

Records

•   *  NHL record
•  **  Tied for NHL record

Individual single season records

Record	Total	Player
Games played, playoffs	26**	Dave Brown Doug Crossman Pelle Eklund Ron Hextall Mark Howe Brad Marsh Brad McCrimmon Brian Propp Kjell Samuelsson Derrick Smith Rick Tocchet
Games played by a goaltender, playoffs	26**	Ron Hextall
Assists, playoffs	20	Pelle Eklund
Points by a defenseman, playoffs	18	Doug Crossman (tied by Chris Pronger in 2009–10)
Shots on goal, playoffs	104	Brian Propp
Wins, playoffs	15	Ron Hextall
Losses, playoffs	11	Ron Hextall
Minutes played by a goaltender, playoffs	1540	Ron Hextall
Shots against, playoffs	768	Ron Hextall
Goals against, playoffs	71	Ron Hextall

Team single season records

Record	Total
Shorthanded goals	22
Games played, playoffs	26**
Wins, playoffs	15
Wins on road, playoffs	8
Losses, playoffs	11**
Losses at home, playoffs	6
Goals for, playoffs	85
Goals against, playoffs	73
Penalties in minutes, playoffs	714

Individual regular season single game records

Record	Player	Total	Date and opponent
Goals	Tim Kerr Brian Propp	4	November 20, 1986 vs. Chicago Blackhawks December 2, 1986 vs. St. Louis Blues (tied 14 times)
Powerplay goals	Tim Kerr	4	November 20, 1986 vs. Chicago Blackhawks (tied three times)

Individual post season single game records

Record	Player	Total	Date and opponent
Assists	Brian Propp	4	May 26, 1987 vs. Edmonton Oilers (tied five times)

Team regular season single game records

Record	Total	Date and opponent
Fastest two goals	7 seconds apart	December 2, 1986 vs. St. Louis Blues (goals scored by Dave Brown and Brian Propp) (tied December 27, 1988 vs. Washington Capitals)
Fastest two shorthanded goals	26 seconds apart	November 6, 1986 at New Jersey Devils (goals scored by Murray Craven and Mark Howe)

Team post season single game records

Record	Total	Date and opponent
Goals, one period	5	April 9, 1987 vs. New York Rangers (tied four times)

Transactions

The Flyers were involved in the following transactions from May 25, 1986, the day after the deciding game of the 1986 Stanley Cup Finals, through May 31, 1987, the day of the deciding game of the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Date	Details		Ref
June 6, 1986	To Philadelphia Flyers J.J. Daigneault 2nd-round pick in 1986 5th-round pick in 1987	To Vancouver Canucks Dave Richter Rich Sutter Vancouver's 3rd-round pick in 1986
June 21, 1986	To Philadelphia Flyers 2nd-round pick in 1987	To Quebec Nordiques 2nd-round pick in 1986
June 21, 1986	To Philadelphia Flyers Mike Murray	To New York Islanders 5th-round pick in 1986
October 30, 1986	To Philadelphia Flyers Dominic Campedelli	To Montreal Canadiens Andre Villeneuve
December 18, 1986	To Philadelphia Flyers Kjell Samuelsson 2nd-round pick in 1989	To New York Rangers Bob Froese
March 9, 1987	To Philadelphia Flyers Jeff Brubaker	To Edmonton Oilers Dominic Campedelli

Signings

Free agency

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

Date	Player	Previous team (league)	Contract details	Notes	Ref
June 12, 1986	Ed Hospodar	Minnesota North Stars	1 year	Option for second year
June 30, 1986	Mitch Lamoureux	Pittsburgh Penguins
October 1986	Jere Gillis	Vancouver Canucks
October 7, 1986	Mark Freer	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
October 7, 1986	Mike MacWilliam	New Westminster Bruins (WHL)

Re-signed

The following players were re-signed by the Flyers.

Date	Player	Contract details	Ref
June 1, 1986	Glenn Resch	1 year, $225,000
August 18, 1986	Steve Smith
October 21, 1986	Ron Hextall	multi-year extension
October 29, 1986	Brad McCrimmon	1 year

Draft picks

The Flyers signed the following of their draft picks.

Date	Player	Previous team (league)	Draft	Contract details	Ref
October 8, 1986	Kerry Huffman	Guelph Platers (OHL)	1986 1st-round pick	multi-year

NHL Waiver Draft

The 1986 NHL Waiver Draft was held on October 6, 1986. Each NHL team placed 17 skaters and 2 goaltenders on a protected list from which the other teams could not select. First-year professional players were exempt. The Flyers were not involved in any selections during the draft.

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 (*).

Date	Player	New team (league)	Via	Notes	Ref
June 12, 1986	Thomas Eriksson	Djurgardens IF (SHL)	Free agency	Retired from NHL
July 23, 1986	Carl Mokosak	Pittsburgh Penguins	Free agency
N/A	Bo Berglund	AIK IF (Sweden Division 1)	Free agency

Draft picks

Philadelphia's picks at the 1986 NHL Entry Draft, which was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec on June 21, 1986.

Players drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1986 and their NHL career regular season statistics

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team (league)	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	W	L	T	GAA	Notes
1	20	Kerry Huffman	Defense	Canada	Guelph Platers (OHL)	401	37	108	145	361	& —	& —	& —	& —
2	23	Jukka Seppo	Center	Finland	Vasa Sport (Mestis)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
2	28	Kent Hawley	Center	Canada	Ottawa 67's (OHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
4	83	Mark Bar	Defense	Canada	Peterborough Petes (OHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
6	125	Steve Scheifele	Right Wing	United States	Stratford Cullitons (OPJHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
7	146	Sami Wahlsten	Forward	Finland	TPS Turku (SM-liiga)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
8	167	Murray Baron	Defense	Canada	Vernon Lakers (BCJHL)	988	35	94	129	1309	& —	& —	& —	& —
9	184	Blaine Rude	Forward	United States	Fergus Falls High School (N. Dakota)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
10	209	Shaun Sabol	Defense	United States	St. Paul Vulcans (USHL)	2	0	0	0	0	& —	& —	& —	& —
11	230	Brett Lawrence	Right Wing	United States	Rochester Junior Americans	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
12	251	Dan Stephano	Goaltender	United States	Northwood School (N.Y.)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —

Draft notes

• ^a The Flyers traded Paul Guay and their fourth-round pick, 83rd overall, to the Los Angeles Kings for Steve Seguin and the Kings' second-round pick, 23rd overall, on October 11, 1985.
• ^b The Flyers traded Rich Sutter, Dave Richter, and Vancouver's third-round pick, 49th overall, to the Vancouver Canucks for J. J. Daigneault, the Canucks' second-round pick, 28th overall, and the Canucks' 1987 fifth-round pick on June 6, 1986.
• The Flyers traded their second-round pick, 41st overall, to the Quebec Nordiques for the Nordiques' 1987 second-round pick on June 21, 1986.
• The Flyers traded their third-round pick, 62nd overall, to the New Jersey Devils for Chico Resch on March 11, 1986.
• ^c The Flyers reacquired their fourth-round pick, 83rd overall, from the Los Angeles Kings for Joe Paterson on December 18, 1985.
• The Flyers traded their fifth-round pick, 104th overall, to the New York Islanders for Mike Murray on June 21, 1986.

Farm teams

The Flyers were affiliated with the Hershey Bears of the AHL and the Kalamazoo Wings of the IHL.

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