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When the turkey leftovers are being doled out, the presents have all been opened and the friends and family have been seen, it's time for hockey again. It's also time to see the Flyers often play (or attempt to play) hockey into the wee hours of the morning (if in Atlantic Canada) in California or Vancouver. This season is no different, as they set out on a five-game road trip beginning with an afternoon tilt against Anaheim and William.
But how often have these trips been? How long have they been on average? And how successful have the Flyers fared over the seasons, especially the last decade? Some of the answers may surprise you while some of these questions should not be asked!
Why the West Coast trek this time of the year?
Almost every season in the Flyers history the team has found themselves heading out of town and more often than not heading to play Western Conference (or Smythe and Norris division for those of a certain vintage). The main reason is the Wells Fargo Center (and The Spectrum before that) has booked those post-Christmas dates for family entertainment, namely Stars On Ice. It's probably also a good time of the year for the players to play in warmer, sunnier climates and get out of the snow and ice on the East Coast.
Only seven times have the Flyers not been on the road this time of the season. In 1968-69 and 1969-70 Philadelphia had no road trip. In 1977-78 and 1978-79 the team also didn't have to travel. Since then only work stoppages or the pandemic have resulted in no road trips: 1994-95, 2012-13 and 2020-21.
How long have these trips been?
Since starting 2013-14 the Flyers have had a six-game trek twice: once in 2013-14 (Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, Colorado, Phoenix, and New Jersey) and again in 2019-20: (San Jose, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Vegas, Arizona, and Carolina). For the most part the road trips have been either four or five games.
In the early aughts, the owners of the Flyers must have really enjoyed Stars On Ice as the Flyers went on extended legs. Philadelphia went on a 10-game trip from Dec. 26 to Jan. 12 during 2005-06, but they only went as far west as Chicago (Florida, Atlanta, Carolina, Washington, Boston, Rangers, Washington (again), New Jersey, Chicago and Detroit). The following season it was a mere eight games but primarily started in Florida and Philadelphia worked their way up the East Coast.
How successful have they been over these trips?
Obviously a lot of their success is judged by just how well the team was in that era or timeframe. There's not enough bandwidth to break each year down on a game-by-game basis, but generally the Flyers of late have found themselves more often than not coming home licking their wounds and hoping at times to simply come close to .500 on the trip. Since the start of the 2014-15 season, the Flyers have only gone over .500 once. In 2022-23 they beat San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim for a perfect record. Outside of those three wins, Philadelphia has gone 4-21-6 the rest of that time. That's earning 14 out of a possible 62 points for a rather hideous 22.6 per cent. For a team supposedly in the playoff picture that's a record you have to significantly improve upon in order to get in.
Has it always been against West Coast teams?
Usually the three Western Canadian teams make up most of the trek some seasons. Other seasons the Ducks, Sharks, Kings and now Kraken make up the bulk of the trip. Seattle's location, especially being so close to Vancouver, makes it a logical stop for four-game road trips. This season's schedule sees a slightly different spin on things as Toronto will mark the end of the trek after games in Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose and Vegas are played. This season also is the 30th time in franchise history the post-Christmas journey will involve at least one West Coast or Western Canadian team.
The last season the Flyers didn't play any West Coast teams after Christmas was in 2018-19, when they simply had a rather travel-friendly jaunt that featured them playing Tampa, Florida, Carolina and Nashville, earning one measly loser point out of the four-game trip. The previous season saw them with a two-game, two-night all-Florida affair as they beat the Panthers but lost the next night to Tampa Bay.
Who's been the better point producers on these trips of late?
The Flyers have had a few players who seem to perform well on these treks dating back to the 2019-20 season. Travis Konecny has eight goals and 10 assists over those road trips while Joel Farabee has four goals and seven assists for 11 points over those seasons. Former Flyer captain Claude Giroux had two goals and seven assists for Philadelphia prior to being traded to Florida for Owen Tippett, a conditional first-round pick in 2024 and a third-round pick in 2023.
Will these annual post-Christmas trips end anytime soon?
It's conceivable, especially if there are plans for a new arena for the Sixers to call home a few years down the road. A new arena brings with it another competitor to get concerts and other events such as Disney On Ice booked to get bums in seats. Then again with the Wells Fargo Center (or whatever it will be called after this season) possibly losing forty-something home dates from the NBA club (and possible playoff revenue), they'll be just as resolute in keeping whatever relations they have with annual, multi-day non-sporting events. Time will tell but obviously it would be nice to see the Flyers not having to make the lengthy post-holiday trek nearly every single season.
One West Coast trek for the ages
Perhaps the strangest West Coast trek the Flyers ever had (and may ever have) was in their inaugural season. On Dec. 30, 1967, Philadelphia played the Los Angeles Kings at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The game was the very first NHL game played in the arena and was an afternoon affair the Flyers won 2-0.
The kicker? Well, after finishing the game around 4 p.m. local time, both teams had to play the following day at The Spectrum, resulting in a roughly 2700-mile one-way flight (and losing three hours in the process thanks to the time difference going west to east) before they took the ice New Year's Eve. The Flyers shellacked the Kings on the back end of the ridiculously scheduled home-and-home 9-1 for two wins over 5400 miles. On the positive side, at least the two games weren't part of a one-day, home-and-home, day-night doubleheader.