Claude Boivin

Before the 1988 draft, the Flyers desperately wanted to trade up into the top 10 of the draft, offering to sacrifice their 14th overall selection and a package of players/prospects to do so. The Flyers had their eyes on one of two top prospects in that draft. One was a young Finnish winger named Teemu Selänne. The other was college-bound center named of Rod Brind'Amour. The Flyers however were not able to make any deals. Brind'Amour went 9th overall to St. Louis, and became a solid player for many years, many of which were eventually in a Philly uniform as a result of a later trade. Selänne followed Brind'Amour by going 10th overall to the Winnipeg Jets. Of course Selanne went on to smash the NHL rookie scoring record and became one of the most feared snipers of his day. The Flyers also missed out on Jeremy Roenick and Martin Gelinas.

The Flyers ended up with Claude Boivin, one of the bigger busts in Flyers draft history. Boivin was highly touted after a strong first year in the QMJHL with the Drummondville Voltigeurs. He scored 23 goals and 49 points while piling up 233 penalty minutes. His draft position was enhanced by a strong playoff showing by Boivin and his team as the Voltigeurs played deep into the playoffs. Boivin's 5 goal, 8 point post season was highlited by his strong play along the boards and in front of the net.

After being drafted, Boivin returned to Drummondville but disappointed by not taking his game to the next level. He scored 20 goals and 56 points with 218 PIM. He played strong, but was expected to play at a much higher level.

Boivin had a strong final season in 1989-90 with the Laval Titan. He scored 24 goals and 51 assists with 309 PIM plus had a strong playoff with 7 goals and 13 assists in 13 games.

Claude played his first professional season with the Flyers farm team in Hershey. He scored 13 goals but impressed with 32 assists for 45 points. There was hope that Boivin may yet develop into a top player like was first hoped when he was drafted. Knee injuries did not help.

Boivin made the Flyers in 1991-92 but played a limited 3rd or 4th line role. He scored 5 goals and 18 points in 58 games, with 187 PIM. He had an injury filled 1992-93 season with Philly and started the 1993-94 year with the Flyers before a late season trade saw him go to Ottawa. With Ottawa he played 18 games over the next two years before he retired.

Boivin didn't have the skating skills or puck skills to play at the NHL level. Because he didn't skate well enough he couldn't do a good job as a role playing mucker and grinder either. In short he earned his lofty draft position because of an overachieving playoff in his draft year, but rarely showed that form again.

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Philadelphia Flyers Greatest Players

Bill Barber Tom Bladon Dave Brown Lindsay Carson Dick Cherry Bobby Clarke Bill Clement Glen Cochrane Doug Crossman Bob Dailey Eric Desjardins Gary Dornhoefer Miroslav Dvorak Pelle Eklund Doug Favell Cowboy Bill Flett Ron Flockhart Bob Froese Derian Hatcher Earl Heiskala Ron Hextall Ed "Boxcar" Hospodar Mark Howe Sami Kapanen Forbes Kennedy Tim Kerr Orest Kindrachuk

Reggie Leach John LeClair Pelle Lindbergh Eric Lindros Ken Linseman Rick MacLeish Brad McCrimmon Jack McIlhargey Simon Nolet Bernie Parent Pete Peeters Dave Poulin Keith Primeau Brian Propp Mikael Renberg Dominic Roussel Don Saleski Kjell Samuelsson Dave "The Hammer" Schultz Ilkka Sinisalo Derrick Smith Daryl Stanley Rich Sutter Ron Sutter Bobby Taylor Dimitri Tertyshny Behn Wilson Larry Zeidel Peter Zezel

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Larry Zeidel

Larry Zeidel was hockey's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

On the ice he was the evil Mr. Hyde and off the ice he was the nice Dr. Jekyll. He received the tag of "The fastest stick in the Midwest" and it wasn't because of his slick stickhandling. Larry had a reputation of using his stick as a spear whenever he felt it necessary, which was quite often.

No other professional player was involved in more stick swinging incidents than Larry. His most famous one came in the NHL against Bruins Eddie Shack. Both combatants tried to scalp each other after Shack had made racial remarks against Larry, who was Jewish. In another stick swinging incident that happened in the WHL it was Larry and Willie O'Ree (the first black player in the NHL) who tried to chop off each others heads. WHL's league president Al Leader almost expelled Larry from the league.

So how come that Larry became such a rough player? Larry had two explanations for this.

"I guess there are a couple of reasons. First, I played some senior hockey in Quebec City and we could play well and win, but the fans would rather have us involved in a real brawl and lose the game. There were a lot of rugged guys in the league at that time, too, so maybe it was partly a matter of survival. The other thing is that there's the big thing of being young and having stars in your eyes. The clubs themselves are as much or more to blame. They play up the tough guys. Guts, guts, guts is all you hear from a lot of coaches and managers, even as early as junior. I was playing for some coaches and managers who would tell me ' go get him ' ,so I did "

To Larry's defense it has to be said that he tried to clean up his "bad boy" image late in his career, but it was tough to convince the referees and opponents about that. Late in his career Larry explained how hard it was to get "straight".

" I feel my past is haunting me now, even though I'm trying very hard to avoid penalties. After you're regarded as a tough guy, every rough kid who comes along wants to make a name for himself, too, and because you've got that reputation, you're the target."

Larry was tough and fearless. During one game in 1955 he blocked a shot with his head that caught him in the temple. He continued to play but was later ejected from the game which probably saved his life. It was later revealed that he had sustained a serious skull fracture. In his early years Larry played for Porcupine Combines (NOHA), Verdun Maple Leafs (QJHL), Barrie Flyers (OHA), Quebec Aces (QSHL) and Saskatoon Quakers (SSHL). It was during his days in Saskatoon that he picked up his nickname "The Rock".

Larry made his NHL debut during the 1951-52 season for the Detroit Red Wings. His start couldn't have been better. He immediately won a Stanley Cup with Detroit that year. Larry also played a couple of games for Detroit in 1952-53 before being sold to Chicago in 1953. In Chicago he played one full season (53-54) before he was traded back to Detroit again. Larry spend the next 13 seasons in the minor leagues before being picked up by the expansion Philadelphia Flyers in 1967. He played very steady in Philadelphia and finished with a strong +12 rating for the expansion team. After a couple of games for Philly in 1968-69 he decided to retire, almost 41-years old.

Larry was one of the most controversial players of his time who had a sharp stick, elbows and tongue. He dished out a lot of blows but also was on the receiving end of many. Simply put, Larry didn't take any crap from anybody.

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Bill Clement

Known in the United States as a longtime staple of NHL television broadcasts in the United States, Bill Clement also had a solid - although not extraordinary - NHL career, winning two Stanley Cups with the Philadelphia Flyers as a back line center. But even before Clement retired from the game, it was obvious what he was going to do after hockey.

Clement broke into pro hockey in 1970-71 with the AHL Quebec Aces. The Aces were a Philadelphia farm team, and the Flyers had made Clement their 1st choice, 18th overall in 1970. Bill led the Aces in scoring (19-39-58) in what would prove to be their final season.

The next season, he split his time between the Flyers and the AHL Richmond Robins. He became a full-time Flyer in 1973-74 and as a result became forever a member of the immortal "Broad Street Bullies." Although Clement was anything but a bully. He tallied only 383 penalty minutes in 719 contests. Instead, his job was to kill off all those penalties that the Bullies took. He was an excellent penalty killer, combining a superior defensive understanding of the game and good skating skills to carve a niche in the NHL for 11 seasons.

Bill was traded to the Washington Capitals for the 1975-76 season in a trade that saw the Flyers and Caps swap 1st round picks. That trade was seen as brilliant at the time, as the two time defending Stanley Cup champions had secured the 1st overall selection in the draft in exchange for Clement and Don McLean. Unfortunately the player the Flyers took, Mel Bridgman never proved to be a superstar, though he did have a long, serviceable career. On the other hand Clement's stay in Washington was very short. He played in just 46 games before he moved on again. In that short time he proved to be one of the Caps' best players, and was even selected to represent them team in the annual All-Star game.

Clement finished the season with the Atlanta Flames in exchange for a 1st round draft pick (which turned out to be Greg Carroll), Jean Lemieux and Gerry Meehan. It would be the last time Clement changed organizations, although he did find himself moving once again in 1980 when the team transferred from the state of Georgia to Calgary, Alberta. Clement continued to be an effectively nice player for the Flames, and even returned to the NHL All-Star Game again in 1978.

As mentioned, as his playing career wound down, Clement was laying the groundwork for his next career: broadcasting. While still playing for the Flames, he was a guest commentator for games telecast on cable’s fledgling USA Network. Bill first joined ESPN in 1986 serving as a game analyst, but returned to Philadelphia in 1988 to help broadcast Flyers games on PRISM (now Comcast) for four years. During that time, Clement also did games for two stations locally. For his work covering the 1992 NHL playoffs for SportsChannel America, Clement won the CableACE Award, an honor equivalent to the Emmy for American cable stations. He has also appeared as a hockey analyst for NBC, TNT, the Madison Square Garden Network and Canada’s CTV.

Clement re-joined ESPN for the 1992-93 season as its NHL studio analyst. A professionally trained actor and model, Clement can list over 250 nationally televised commercials in the United States on his resume and has been active on the motivational speaking circuit for nearly a decade. He even appeared in a soap opera, ABC’s "All My Children," in 1986. His most famous television appearance would definitely have to be this bug spray commercial:



Although Bill Clement was never in the running for major accolades during his NHL career, after he hung up his skates he became a major spokesman for the game through broadcasting. His contributions to the game - particularly in the United States - have not gone unnoticed.

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