Shortly after the Flyers Alumni Game at the Winter Classic, I asked Joe Watson if he thought his brother, five-time NHL All-Star selection Jimmy Watson, would finally earn his long-overdue enshrinement into the Flyers Hall of Fame.
"He will," said the elder Watson brother. "Very soon."
Hopefully, very soon means the 2012-13 season. I have never understood why Jimmy, who still resides locally and remains an honored member of the Flyers Alumni, has had to wait so long. Although injuries prematurely ended his NHL career at age 30, he remains arguably the best purely homegrown defenseman in a franchise that has not drafted and developed too many of its own blueliners who had longevity and success in the orange and black.
The only thing I can think of to explain Watson's interminable wait is:
1) He didn't put up big offensive numbers and was neither flashy nor a regular fighter. It was much more his peers in the NHL and his coaches who fully appreciated his talents more than the average fan. Let's be honest: Dave Schultz Night had more marquee value and nostalgia than Jimmy Watson Night, although the latter played here longer and was the better hockey player.
2) Passage of time. Once the organization got through honoring many of the Broad Street Bully era players, Watson's career was long since over. With the exception of Schultz in 2009, the organization has moved on over the last 15 years or so to enshrining the Keenan era players. They are almost out of viable 80s candidates by this point.
The Flyers have not had any Hall of Fame inductions since Schultz's ceremony in November 2009. This past season, the club finally retired Mark Howe's number and the Alumni Game at the Winter Classic was a giant family reunion of sorts.
Come next season, though, I think it's time for another Hall of Fame induction. My proposal is this: Why not unofficially close out the Broad Street Bully and Keenan era inductions in one fell swoop and have a dual induction of Jimmy Watson and the late Brad McCrimmon early in the 2012-13 season?
McCrimmon, who perished last September in the plane crash that killed the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, was the team's premier shutdown defenseman of the 1980s. Yes, he only spent five seasons with the Flyers but the late Barry Ashbee and Schultz were only active players on the Flyers for four seasons. McCrimmon was acquired via trade with Boston in the summer of 1982 following Watson's injury-induced early retirement.
I think it would make for a perfect way to honor McCrimmon's memory one year after his untimely death to enshrine him together with Jimmy Watson to the Flyers' Hall of Fame: two crucial defensive defensemen from the two most glorious and successful eras of franchise history.
Have Mark Howe -- McCrimmon's close friend and defense partner -- be the one to induct the Beast into the team Hall with McCrimmon's wife Maureen and children Liam and Carlin on hand to accept the honor. For Jimmy Watson, have brother Joe do the honors with Jimmy's son Chase and Brett present to see their father honored.
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I hope the Stanley Cup Finals come to an end tonight in Los Angeles. It would be nice to see Simon Gagne and Kings assistant coach John Stevens get their turns to hoist the Cup and for assistant general manager Ron Hextall to finally be part of the winning side of a championship celebration.
Like many Philadelphians, I was thrilled that Gagne got into Game 3 of the Finals after his long concussion-related absence. He is now assured of getting his name on the Cup if and when the Kings close out the series.
I hope Gagne remains in the lineup for the rest of the series. However, it was clear that he was struggling at times last game. Returning to the lineup after missing so much time and playing in a game at the pace and intensity of a Stanley Cup Final is something like trying to jump onto a moving train that's going at top speed: virtually impossible.
Despite two of the three games in the series so far having gone to overtime, it has not been a particularly interesting or entertaining series. The overtime session of Game 2 was the only truly captivating hockey played. The Kings have rolled on in efficient, machine-like fashion and New Jersey looks to be out of gas and unable to generate the sort of relentless forecheck that carried the club to the Final in the first place.
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The other day, I read an interesting NHL.com
article from the NHL Scouting Combine about Lukas Sutter. I already knew that the player is the son of former Flyers forward Rich Sutter.
What I was not aware of was that the younger-generation Sutter's game, by his own admission, was deeply influenced by emulating that of former teammate Brayden Schenn, now of the Flyers. The two players remain good friends.
Sutter, ranked 39th among North American skaters by Central Scouting, is likely to go in the second or third round of the upcoming NHL Draft. As with most members of his famous family, he plays a gritty, no-frills style of hockey.
Personally, I think it would be kind of cool if it works out that Lukas is drafted by Flyers 30 years after his uncle, Rich's twin brother Ron. Rich Sutter was drafted by Pittsburgh six picks after the Flyers took Ron fourth overall in the 1982 Entry Draft. He briefly played for the Penguins before joining Ron with the Flyers in 1983-84.
Speaking of Ron Sutter, there was also a
good article about him recently, which looked at his ongoing -- but potentially tenuous -- role as a scout for the Calgary Flames.
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I was saddened yesterday to learn of the passing of Center Ice Hockey founder Fran Rubert after a tough battle with cancer. Fran was a fixture in the press box over the years and was truly one of the nicest people I've ever met, as well being very knowledgeable and passionate about the game at all levels.
He will be missed by us all.
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Coming later today on NHL.com's
Across the Pond, I take an extensive look at 2012 Draft prospect Oscar Dansk and the Brynäs goaltending factory.
Dansk, who is considered to be one of the two or three best goaltenders in the draft along with Malcolm Subban and Russian prospect Andrei Vasilevsky, is the latest charge of Brynäs goaltending coach Per-Erik Alcén to emerge as an NHL prospect.
The 18-year-old Dansk was preceded by Jacob Markström (Florida Panthers), Anders Lindbäck (Nashville Predators), former Flyers draftee Joacim Eriksson (Skellefteå AIK), Eddie Läck (Vancouver Canucks) and Niklas Svedberg (recently signed to an entry-level contract by the Boston Bruins).
Like fellow Swede Gabriel Landeskog, Dansk speaks perfect English without even a slight trace of an accent. That's because he spent three years playing prep school hockey for the famed Shattuck St. Mary program in Minnesota before returning home to Sweden to play for the Brynäs J18 and J20 teams. He has said that he actually prefers the small-rink game to the big-rink style.
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COMING TOMORROW: Matt Carle, more 2012 Draft talk, the Flyers Alumi Golf Invitational, and more.
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