“The guys have really welcomed me here,’’ Hart said recently, while standing in a quiet corner of the dressing room. “They’ve been really great to me.’’
A native of Sherwood Park, Alberta, Hart said he had become quite aware since he was drafted that taking on the role as the Flyers’ goaltender of the future meant dealing with the demanding standards of Philadelphia’s fans.
The Flyers have not won the Stanley Cup since 1975, when goalie Bernie Parent helped lead the team known as the Broad Street Bullies to their second straight title. The Flyers have lost in the Stanley Cup finals six times since then, most recently in 2010.
Before they drafted Hart, the Flyers selected five goaltenders in the first or second round since that 1975 Stanley Cup triumph. One of them, Anthony Stolarz, is now a backup. Another, Brian Boucher, the team’s No. 1 pick in 1995, did go on to win 21 playoff games for the Flyers. But not the Stanley Cup.
“It’s difficult. There’s pressure,” said Boucher, now 42 and a hockey analyst for the Flyers, NBC Sports and the NHL Network. “The bar was set high by Bernie Parent in the ‘70s, and the fans are longing for those glory days to come back.’’
Parent retired early, at the age of 34, after sustaining a career-ending eye injury in February 1979. That same year, the Flyers drafted another goalie, Pelle Lindbergh, in the second round and he led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals in 1985. But later that year, he was fatally injured in an automobile crash; he had been to a team party and was intoxicated when the accident occurred.
Ron Hextall became the next standout Flyers goalie and was part of Philadelphia teams that went to the Cup finals in 1987 and 1997, again without winning a championship. He became the Flyers’ general manager in 2014 but was dismissed last November.
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