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The 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Flyers' 43rd season in the National Hockey League (NHL). 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. Injuries took a major toll on the Flyers, with Blair Betts, Daniel Briere, Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Kimmo Timonen missing significant amounts of games, but no position was nearly affected as much with injuries as goaltending. 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. 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 and Gagne a broken toe in Game 4 and Ian Laperriere suffered a horrible facial injury 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. 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. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Flyers had home-ice advantage as they faced the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens. 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 Finals 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.〔Philadelphia Inquirer, (Flyers fresh start for Ray Emery )〕 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.〔Yahoo! Sports, (Flyers Hatcher retires, becomes development coach )〕 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.〔The Philadelphia Inquirer, (Flyers hire Reese as goalie coach, promote Paddock to front office )〕 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.〔The Philadelphia Inquirer, (Chris Pronger, Holmgren's big gamble )〕 They quickly signed Pronger to a seven-year contract extension worth approximately $34 million.〔The Philadelphia Inquirer, (Flyers sign Pronger to 7-year extension )〕 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 cannot 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. On July 15, the NHL announced that the Flyers would visit Fenway Park to play in the 2010 Winter Classic against the Boston Bruins. The game will be played on New Year's Day.〔NHL.com, (Flyers-Bruins to hit the ice at Boston's Fenway Park )〕 To prepare for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics, Chris Pronger, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne were invited by Hockey Canada to compete for a spot on Canada's national hockey team.〔NHL.com, (Team Canada Unveils Olympic Camp Roster )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers season」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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