Philadelphia Flyers Friday Flubs, Part 4: Trading Justin Williams

It’s Friday (I think), and that means another dive into the past atrocities committed by the Philadelphia Flyers, this time with a look at the trade of Justin Williams.

Unlike Patrick Sharp, who we covered in Part 3 of this series, Justin Williams was supposed to be a standout player. He was a first round pick, after all, and he earned himself a spot in the Philadelphia Flyers‘ lineup that very year. In fact, he scored 3 points in his NHL debut, which came the day after he turned 19 years old. “Future star” was written all over him.

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But stardom didn’t happen, and Williams was only settling in as a mid-level scorer, when the Flyers dealt him midway through his fourth season. Needing defensive help, the Flyers got Danny Markov from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Williams. The move made sense on the surface, as the Flyers had been linked to Markov for years, going back to when they were shopping Eric Lindros and the Toronto Maple Leafs (Markov’s team at the time) were in serious talks with the Flyers. Still, it was hard to see a young player like Williams go.

Markov played decently for the Flyers, lending his hard-nosed play to the blueline for 34 games in the regular season and then 18 more in the playoffs as the Flyers went to the third round. Williams, meanwhile, performed at roughly the same level in Carolina after the trade. But then the NHL lockout of 2004 happened, and things changed. The Flyers traded Markov the following summer, ending his time with the team. And Williams? All he did was explode for 76 points in the 2005-06 season and then followed that up by helping lead the Hurricanes to an improbable Stanley Cup title.

Oh no. What did the Flyers do?

Well, I’ll tell you what they did. They traded a guy who went on to become a consistently solid, not spectacular, producer during the regular season but who always managed to ramp things up come playoff time. To this end, Williams added a pair of additional Cup rings while playing with the Los Angeles Kings alongside former Flyers Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, and (for one of them) Simon Gagne. He also was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as MVP of the playoffs in 2014.

After leaving the Flyers, Williams would play over 1,000 more NHL games and rack up nearly 700 points. And that’s just in the regular season. Only Marian Gaborik went on to score more regular season points in his career than Williams has among players drafted in 2000. And don’t forget, Williams may not be done yet, so he could top that list when all is said and done. Either way, he’s been a success story that the Flyers were an unfortunately small part of.

Worst of all for the Flyers, Williams developed a reputation for being so clutch that he is literally known as “Mr. Game 7“. The guy probably isn’t a Hall of Famer, but that moniker is just about the ultimate honor a player can receive as a comment on his performance. Danny Markov was nice to have around for that one playoff run, but this one will never stop hurting.

Next. Nolan Patrick: Good luck turned bad. dark

Sometimes, teams get too enamored with their own young players, and they aren’t realistic about if and when to move on. The Flyers sure avoided that with Justin Williams. Consider it yet another painful lesson learned.

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