Flyers: John Vanbiesbrouck and 1998’s “Beezer Blunder”

When the Philadelphia Flyers signed goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck in 1998, they thought they finally had their man in net. They didn’t.

Maybe this one belongs in one of my “Flyers Friday Flubs” columns, but I feel that the 1998 signing of John Vanbiesbrouck (“Beezer”) by the Philadelphia Flyers deserves its own special place, both in history and in my writing. Because it was truly a Beezer Blunder, one that ended up costing the Flyers during an era when they were in prime position to win a Stanley Cup.

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The Flyers’ fixation on Vanbiesbrouck likely began in 1996, when the diminutive netminder was fantastic in leading his Florida Panthers to an upset victory in the second round of the playoffs over the Flyers. He’d carry that underwhelming Panthers team on his tiny back all the way to the Cup Final before reality finally set in and they were smoked by the Colorado Avalanche in an awful series. Still, everyone acknowledged that the Panthers wouldn’t have even gotten close if not for the heroics of Beezer, and the league took note of the 32-year old goalie who was two years away from free agency.

I’ll stop you right there. 32 years old and still two years away from being available as a free agent? A lot has changed in sports over the last few decades, because nobody in their right mind would be lining up to sign a player that old today, not with the analytical movement and everything else we know. But the Flyers, and every other deep-pocketed team in a non-salary cap NHL back then, would throw money at anything that moved.

Fast forward to 1998. The Flyers have just lost in the first round of the playoffs and clearly won’t be re-signing deadline rental Sean Burke. They’re looking for a new starting goalie, and there are three clear-cut choices hitting the market at the same time. One is Vanbiesbrouck, now 34 years old. Another intriguing option is Mike Richter, whose contract with the Rangers has run out. But honestly, I never considered him as a real option. He’s basically a Philly native, but that’s about all he had going for him. “Poaching” him from the hated Rangers was unappealing to me; I hated his guts. I could barely even enjoy Team USA’s 1996 World Cup of Hockey win since he was the goaltender for that team. I was happy to see him re-sign with the Rangers, and even happier that he and the team never even made the playoffs again over the final five seasons of his career. Good riddance.

The third goaltender available was the best possible option, and the one that was most obvious: Curtis Joseph. The Flyers were heavily linked to him, and it certainly seemed like a good match. But then again, the team still likely had some Beezer memories in their heads from two years earlier, and they went with him, allowing Joseph to sign with Toronto. It also didn’t hurt that the Flyers were able to land Vanbiesbrouck with a 2-year, $7.25 million contract while Joseph fetched a 4-year, $24 million deal.

Let’s face it. It was a cheap move.

If you’re going to throw money at a veteran goaltender, you don’t go halfway. Joseph’s recent track record was so much better than Vanbiesbrouck’s, plus he was about four years younger. He was still playing at high level, while the Beez was clearly trending downward over the previous two seasons where he started to falter with the Panthers.

The Flyers and their new goalie would have to validate this decision.

Vanbiesbrouck held up decently during his first regular season in Philly, going 27-18-15 (yes, 15 ties) with a .902 save percentage and a career-best 2.19 Goals Against Average that was more indicative of the team allowing minimal shots than of his level of play. Still, the true test would come in the playoffs and – wouldn’t ya know it – the Flyers would be facing Joseph and the Leafs in Round 1.

Vanbiesbrouck would pitch a shutout in the first game, and things were looking good. But from that point on, Joseph largely stifled the Flyers. The whole series was a low-scoring affair, with each goaltender allowing only nine goals over the six games. In the end, it was Joseph who stood taller and weathered the Flyers’ attack, which managed about seven more shots on goal per game than Toronto did during the series, and the Leafs won four games to two.

A look at Beezer’s .938 save % would lead you to believe that he upheld his end of the bargain, but he didn’t. After the 25-save shutout in the opener, he was merely adequate, with a penchant for allowing ugly goals rearing its head throughout. None were worse than the pathetic OT winner in Game 5. If he had a truly good series, the Leafs probably shouldn’t have scored on him more than five or six times, as the Flyers allowed hardly any dangerous chances the entire time.

Those who bemoaned the decision to go with Vanbiesbrouck over Joseph in the first place now had all the ammunition they’d ever need. The series would also mark the last playoff action that Beezer would ever see in his NHL career, as he muddled through another passable season the following year but eventually ceded the crease to rookie Brian Boucher, who played every minute of the Flyers’ run to the East Finals. With his contract expiring, Vanbiesbrouck was flipped to the Islanders for a draft pick, and that was that. He’d later “hold the clipboard” for Martin Brodeur on the 2002 Devils team that came within one win of a title, but I was happy to see that club fall short because he didn’t deserve his name on the Stanley Cup.

Joseph would go on to significant success in Toronto, though he never did manage a Cup either. But who knows, maybe Joseph in a Flyers uniform would have been a match made in heaven. Even former GM Bobby Clarke admits that Joseph should have been the choice, though he conveniently passes the buck on that decision to coach Roger Nielson.

The signing of John Vanbiesbrouck is a textbook example of how any team, in this case the Flyers, could very well have cost themselves a championship with one misstep. We’ll never know for sure that the Flyers would have done better if they had ponied up and signed Joseph. But I know that they couldn’t have done any worse than they did with the man they called Beezer.