As someone who grew up as a Flyers’ fan and is sick and tired of hearing “1975” taunts stripped of any and all context, I must admit there’s a certain schadenfreude in pointing out that very long championship droughts become part of every team’s history at some point.
Are you on top right now? Enjoy it. Savor every minute. Cherish the memories. This, too, shall pass.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will not win the 2025 Stanley Cup. Likewise, they will not reach the Cup Final. It’s been that way ever since the 1967-68 expansion from six NHL teams to 12. Nowadays, it’s a field of 32 teams. The outcome hasn’t changed. Some day in the undetermined future, it will. Well, at least for a little while.
The Philadelphia Phillies, created in 1883, never won the National League before the 1901 creation of the World Series. They didn’t win a World Series until 1980. Ninety-seven years of futility. Subsequently, World Series championship number two took another 28 years to come to fruition. In hockey, a slew of teams have zero Cup rings or just one. The New York Rangers have one Cup in the last 85 years, and zero in the last 31.
Moral of the story: No team has the market cornered on sporting misery. Winning a championship takes some good luck as well as good design. Those are the constants.
Here are a couple of Flyers’ quick hits for May 19, 2025.
Flyers Daily: Special edition
For the first time since 2019, the Mondays with Meltzer edition of Flyers Daily will run on Wednesday. The change is for this week only. Call it “Wednesday with William” if you want. I won’t, however.
On Friday, shortly after his introductory press conference, head coach Rick Tocchet sat down with Jason Myrtetus for a special edition of Flyers Daily. Watch the 20-minute interview below.
World Championships Update
Later today, Team Canada (5-0-0. 15 points) faces its toughest matchup to date at the 2025 IIHF World Championships . Canada takes on Team Finland (4-1-0, 11 points) at Avicii Arena in Stockholm.
Flyers winger Travis Konecny (3g, 6a, 9 points in five games) is tied with linemate Sidney Crosby for fifth on the tournament scoring leaderboard to date. Tyson Foerster has one goal and one assist in four games to date. Meanwhile, Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim has chipped in one assist and a plus-five rating to date.
Elsewhere in the World Championships field. Team Sweden (6-0-0, 18 points) is idle on Monday. Flyers goaltender has posted two shutouts in three starts (0.67 GAA, 3-0-0, .961 save percentage).
Great interview by Jason. So nice to have a decent human being as a coach (not a knock on Shaw, at all).