The 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers season was the franchise's 43rd season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on June 5, 1967.
The Flyers began the 2009–10 season with some major changes, allowing goaltenders Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki to depart via free agency, replacing them with former Ottawa Senators netminder Ray Emery and former Flyer Brian Boucher, and significantly upgrading the defense with the addition of Chris Pronger from the Anaheim Ducks. Pronger came at a price, costing the Flyers Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, and the Flyers' first round draft picks in 2009 and 2010. The season began in earnest but soon began to unravel with mediocre play that cost John Stevens his job in December. Peter Laviolette was hired as head coach in order to re-institute accountability and restore success to the Flyers but the results were not immediate, as the Flyers suffered a 2–7–1 stretch after his arrival. This was corrected with an 18–7–1 stretch in the middle of the season. Injuries took a major toll on the Flyers, with Blair Betts, Danny Briere, Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Kimmo Timonen missing significant numbers of games, but no position was nearly affected as much with injuries as goaltending with Emery suffering a career-threatening injury. Mediocre play down the stretch forced the Flyers into a do-or-die shootout with the New York Rangers in the last game of the regular season for a playoff berth. Boucher stopped final shooter Olli Jokinen to clinch the seventh seed in the East and a first round match-up with the New Jersey Devils.
In the first round of the playoffs, Boucher and the Flyers consistently outplayed Martin Brodeur and New Jersey and pulled off the upset in five games. However, the victory was costly as Carter suffered a broken foot, Gagne a broken toe in Game 4, and Ian Laperriere suffered a fractured orbital bone by blocking a shot in Game 5. The Flyers faced the sixth-seeded Boston Bruins in the second round, and despite playing at an even level with Boston, the Flyers found themselves in a 3–0 series deficit. Gagne returned from injury in Game 4, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime. The Flyers shut out the Bruins 4–0 in Game 5, despite losing goaltender Boucher to injury. A 2–1 Flyers win in Game 6 forced a Game 7 in Boston. Falling behind 3–0 in Game 7, the Flyers pulled off the biggest comeback in franchise history, winning 4–3 on a late goal by Gagne to join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders and the 2004 Boston Red Sox as the only sports teams to win a playoff series after trailing 3–0. Not only did they overcome a 3–0 series deficit, they also overcame a 3–0 goal deficit in Game 7.
In the Eastern Conference finals, the Flyers had home-ice advantage as they faced the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens. Michael Leighton became the first Flyers netminder to record three shutouts in a series, and Jeff Carter and Ian Laperriere returned to the lineup as the Flyers won the Eastern Conference Championship in five games and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since ; the Chicago Blackhawks were their opponents. Patrick Kane scored just over four minutes into overtime in Game 6 to eliminate the Flyers and give Chicago their first Stanley Cup since . Ville Leino, acquired in a mid-season trade from the Detroit Red Wings, set the Flyers rookie playoff scoring record and tied the NHL record with 21 points.
Off-season
The Flyers began preparing for the season by signing controversial goalie Ray Emery prior to the official start of free agency. Emery, who had spent the previous season in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), signed a one-year contract worth US$1.5 million. Former Flyer Brian Boucher was signed to a two-year contract on the first day of free agency to serve as Emery's backup. As a result, the team's goaltending tandem of the past two seasons, starter Martin Biron and backup Antero Niittymaki, signed with the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning, respectively, as unrestricted free agents. The Flyers also signed right winger Ian Laperriere to a three-year contract and lost Mike Knuble as a free agent to the Washington Capitals.
Longtime defenseman Derian Hatcher also retired at the beginning of the off-season (after missing all of last season due to knee surgery), replacing Eric Desjardins as the team's player development coach. Desjardins stepped down due to personal business interests. Other staff changes included the Flyers hiring Jeff Reese as their new goalie coach to replace Reggie Lemelin and promoting former Phantoms coach John Paddock to assistant general manager.
At the entry draft, the Flyers made a blockbuster trade for Anaheim Ducks' defenseman Chris Pronger, a former Hart Trophy winner as league MVP and Norris Trophy winner as the league's best defenseman. Along with Pronger, the Flyers also received minor league forward Ryan Dingle in exchange for winger Joffrey Lupul, defenseman Luca Sbisa, first-round picks in 2009 and 2010 and a conditional third-round pick. They quickly signed Pronger to a seven-year contract extension worth approximately $34 million. Nearly a month after signing, the NHL announced they had launched an investigation on Pronger's deal to determine whether it was a circumvention of the salary cap under the collective bargaining agreement. Because the contract is front-loaded, with annual salaries of just $525,000 in the final two years, and expires by the time Pronger is 42, the investigation was launched with the focus on the potential of negotiations between Pronger and the Flyers to retire before contract expiration. However, as Pronger's contract took effect after his 35th birthday, under the terms of the current collective bargaining agreement, his over-35 contract could not be deleted from the Flyers' cap space unless he is placed on long-term injured reserve, and even then it would come back on the team's cap space during the offseason.
Regular season The 2009–10 season started for the Flyers with the successful return of Ray Emery to the NHL, shutting out the Carolina Hurricanes. However, what followed was inconsistent play of the entire team throughout October though a successful record could be maintained. The last game in October started a five-game winning streak. However, this effort would be largely in vain as a road trip to the west coast and ensuing games at the end of the month saw the Flyers lose six of seven games. After being shut out by the Atlanta Thrashers and Vancouver Canucks in consecutive games, general manager Paul Holmgren relieved Head Coach John Stevens from his duties and hired Peter Laviolette in his stead.
The change behind the bench however only showed little immediate impact. The very first game for Laviolette saw his team being dominated by the Washington Capitals and Daniel Carcillo punching out Matt Bradley, for which Carcillo would be suspended for four games. Up until Christmas break the team showed little improvement with a 2–7–1 stretch from Laviolettes installation on December 4 to December 21.
The team was also marred with injuries up until that point. Simon Gagne had to have hernia surgery and was sidelined for two months. Blair Betts suffered a separated shoulder in early October and reinjured the shoulder a few games after his return in mid-November. Danny Briere suffered a tweaked groin and also missed time due to a suspension and the flu. The team also played hurt a lot. James van Riemsdyk suffered an injury to his pinky finger after being hit with a puck but did not miss any games for it. Ian Laperriere, on the other hand, was hit in the mouth with the puck on November 27 and would lose seven teeth but only miss one period of play. Defenseman Kimmo Timonen also suffered a broken toe.
The worst injury, however, was to goaltender Ray Emery, who suffered an abdominal tear and went out of the line-up in early December. A short return came in late January but Emery re-injured and had to undergo hip-surgery ending his season in early March. After continuing the slump with Boucher in net, the Flyers picked up Michael Leighton from re-entry waivers, who had fallen out of favor with the Carolina Hurricanes with a goals against average (GAA) above 4.00 and a save percentage below .850. However, Leighton would turn his season around with the Flyers with an 8–0–1 record in ten consecutive starts after he had been picked up. His season too would end early with a 16–5–2 record after suffering a high ankle sprain in a game against Nashville on March 16.
An early season highlight was November 16, when Dave Schultz was inducted in the Flyers Hall of Fame. Another honor was given to James van Riemsdyk, who was awarded Rookie of the Month for November 2009 by the NHL. Throughout December, five Flyers were selected for the roster of their home country in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Mike Richards and Chris Pronger were picked for Canada and Kimmo Timonen was selected for Finland, while Oskars Bartulis and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen were chosen by Latvia and Norway, respectively, though Tollefsen would be traded to Detroit before the Olympics began. Jeff Carter was later considered by Team Canada to join the squad in the event that Ryan Getzlaf is unable to play. However, Getzlaf did participate in the tournament and Carter did not. Richards and Pronger would earn gold medals with Canada while Timonen gained a bronze medal with Finland.
The Flyers also played in the 2010 Winter Classic in Fenway Park against the Boston Bruins. Though they held the lead up until the last three minutes of the game, they would ultimately lose in overtime to a goal that had been contested by the Flyers as it appeared that the Bruins had too many men on the ice.
Another controversy struck over a shorthanded goal by Simon Gagne in a 7–4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 7. The goal had not been given and, after video review, was not awarded, though video evidence shows the puck in the net. However, this angle had not been sent to the video review in Toronto by the FSN Pittsburgh broadcasting team and the call could no longer be overturned after the puck had been dropped. An internal investigation by FSN Pittsburgh as well as an investigation by the NHL followed and a producer, the son of former NHL player Lowell MacDonald, was suspended.
For the first time since 1993, the Flyers stayed put during the 2010 NHL trade deadline period with no trades. With only minor changes throughout the season, the team finished almost entirely unchanged from the way it started the season in terms of players. Only the waiver acquisition of Michael Leighton, the season-ending injury to Emery and the trade of Ole-Kristian Tollefsen for Ville Leino showed significant impact to the roster, besides usual promotions and demotions to or from the Flyers' AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms.
Another key injury knocked Jeff Carter out for five games as a fracture in his left foot halted his streak of consecutive games played at 286. He returned for the last two games of the season.