These ain't Clarkie's Flyers

As a huge hockey fan living in the Philadelphia area, the 2006-2007 NHL season was about the worst sporting experience of my life. Things got so bad, I would scower the national sports websites for their power rankings; praying that the Flyers would rise out of the last spot. On a couple occasions it did. And those were the best moments of the season. In case you missed it, the Flyers had the worst season in their franchise history, finishing with a league low 22-48-12 record for 56 points - 11 points worse than the next worse team. A couple weeks into the season, Bob Clarke resigned as GM and Ken Hitchcock got fired after the team achieved just one win in that time. You can't tell from the results of the rest of the season, but that was the moment when things took a turn for the better. Not exactly a sharp "youie," but a turn none the less. Paul Holmgren became the new GM and within a couple months began undoing the mistakes Clarke made coming out of the lockout. Like a gravitron, Holmgren began sending slow, ineffective players every which way in an attempt to evolve into a quick post-lockout team: Freddy Meyer to the Islanders for Alexi Zhitnik (who in turn was later traded to Atlanta for young, quick, big defenseman Braydon Coburn), Kyle Calder to Chicago for another young defenseman Lasse Kukkonen. Then the big move came: Peter Forsberg was traded to Nashville for a 1st round pick in the 2007 entry draft, Scottie Upshall, and Ryan Parent when it became apparent that the Flyers season was over and Peter could not give any assurance that he would play beyond the season due to injuries. The next day, the Flyers acquired Martin Biron from Buffalo for a second round pick in the 2007 draft in a deal that not only served to provide a solid goaltender, but also, we would soon find out, as a bargaining chip in acquiring top free agent center, and former roommate of Biron's, Daniel Briere.
Holmgren's genius didn't show through though until shortly after the Nashville Predator's season ended in the first round of the playoffs (about four months after the Flyer's ended). Realizing that the Predators were in dire financial straits, "Homer" sent a first round pick (the one he received in the Forsberg trade from the same Predators) to Nashville for the rights to soon-to-be unrestricted free agents Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell. Holmgen quickly negotiated 6-year deals for both players.
That brings us to the draft where the Flyers still had the number two overall pick, which they "earned" for their performance the preceding season. With the pick they chose big boy, James vanRiemsdyk. Shortly following the draft the Flyers entered free agency where they signed Briere, as previously mentioned, to an heavily front-loaded eight year deal. Holmgren then capped off (at least so far) the rebuilding offseason by trading much-maligned defenseman Joni Pitkanen to Edmonton, along with Geoff Sanderson and a third round pick in the 2009 draft, for Jason Smith and Joffrey Lupul.
So in less than a year as GM, Paul Holmgren, at least on paper, has simultaneously erased the damage Bob Clarke did after the lockout as well as built a team that looks to have a deadly mix of youth and veteran leadership (three of the new players are former captains), size, speed, skill, and grit. It's now up to coach John Stevens to throw all these puzzle pieces on the table and fit them together into a complete team. Judging by the way the team progressed late in the year, despite a lack of tools, and played very competitive under the first year coach, Stevens seems to be up for the challenge. And if he is, we may witness one of the most drastic turnarounds of any team in the history of sports.