Flyers deserve some credit for helping Blues reach Stanley Cup Finals

Contrary to popular belief, the Philadelphia Flyers did have an impact on helping the St. Louis Blues reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

A Philadelphia team hasn’t been this munificent with the city of St. Louis since the Philadelphia Phillies gave Scott Rolen to the St. Louis Cardinals for less than nothing during the 2002 season.

Now, with the St. Louis Blues advancing to the Stanley Cup Final to face the Boston Bruins, I hope they’re spending some time to write out a big thank-you note to the Philadelphia Flyers organization for its numerous contributions to the team’s incredible postseason run.

Let’s start with the man behind the bench, Blues head coach Craig Berube. With the Blues flat-lining in November this past season, they made the decision to can head Mike Yeo, promoting Berube to the position and labeling him as “interim head coach” at that time.

Berube responded by guiding the Blues to a 38-19-6 record over the remainder of the season to turn what looked like a lost campaign into a huge success, and the good times have kept on rolling for the team in the playoffs ever since.

As for the fired Yeo, don’t worry, he found another job. The Flyers just hired him as an assistant coach. Gee, thanks.

The Blues have gone on this inspired run, mind you, under the guidance of the same Berube that the Flyers fired in 2015 after less than two seasons on the job. It was the classic “quick trigger” coach firing that the team has become known for over its existence.

Truth be told, I was one of those who supported his dismissal, but the whole situation sure doesn’t look good from a Flyers perspective four years later.

With last month’s hiring of Alain Vigneault as bench boss, the Flyers are now on their third head coach since Berube, even after the “promise of patience” delivered at that time by former GM Ron Hextall.

And while I realize that Berube was not guaranteed this kind of success if he had stayed on and been given time to develop more with the Flyers, I know that he couldn’t have done any worse for the Flyers than they’ve done without him in the seasons since.

But, I suppose hindsight is 20/20, and it looks like I may have created the new ad slogan for the 2019-20 Flyers season in the process.

Turning to the action on the ice, the Blues also have the Flyers to thank for Brayden Schenn, one of their most effective forwards. His playoff numbers are not great this season, but let’s put things in perspective.

Schenn came to the Blues in a 2017 trade that was basically a salary cap maneuver by the aforementioned Hextall, and he has had two very productive seasons for them so far, including career highs across the board during his first year with the team.

By sending Schenn to the Blues in exchange for Jori Lehtera and two draft picks, the Flyers were bringing in a player who made a little less money and also had one fewer year remaining on his contract.

With this in mind, it gave the Flyers extra cash to spend a year earlier (as in, this offseason) in anticipation of having to pay some players who were finishing their entry-level deals and hopefully also going after an unrestricted free agent or two.

Everyone knew that Schenn was the better player at the time, but the thought was that Lehtera could be a useful contributor for the Flyers during the remaining two years on his contract.

He wasn’t.

Lehtera put up just 11 points in 89 games as a member of the Flyers, spending much time as a healthy scratch and eventually being waived and sent down to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Additionally, he got into some hot water off the ice.

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The one saving grace for the Flyers could come in the form of Morgan Frost and/or Joel Farabee, the two players that the Flyers selected with the draft picks acquired from St. Louis.

But unless the Blues get thoroughly humiliated in the Stanley Cup Finals along with either Frost or Farabee becoming a star player who helps to bring a title to Philly, the Blues will never regret having made this trade.

Finally, the Blues have the Flyers and some of their fans to thank for their new anthem/victory song. As unlikely as it is that a city would embrace the 1982 Laura Branigan hit Gloria, its Philadelphia-related genesis is even more bizarre.

And so, after several Blues players heard the song over and over again in a Philadelphia bar, they went out and beat the Flyers 3-0 the following day.

Little-known goaltender Jordan Binnington registered a shutout in his first NHL start, although I could have beaten the Flyers that night wearing my street hockey goalie equipment.

Armed with Gloria, the Blues have gone on a fantastic run since that day, and they now stand just four wins away from the first Stanley Cup title in team history. And although they say it’s all in good fun, the cynical Flyers fan in me still suspects that it’s all a big inside joke that started at the expense of dumb/inebriated Flyers fans.

At any rate, Gloria has already attained Whoomp! (There It Is) status for them. But if they can win it all, the song will be forever linked with franchise glory and achieving the ultimate dream.

Man, I really wish the Flyers had a song that meant something like that to their franchise.

Also, to a lesser extent, Blues forward Patrick Maroon came courtesy of the Flyers, who released him years ago and whose circuitous NHL journey has brought him to his home city of St. Louis.

I don’t harbor any grudges here, though. Contrary to that, I wish the best of luck to the Blues in their series against Boston, as I am frankly sick of that organization and the city that it represents.

So when taking all of this into consideration, there’s no question the Blues should be thanking the Flyers for their incredible journey to reach the Stanley Cup Finals, and now it’s time for them to do whatever it takes to defeat the Bruins.