# 1969–70 Philadelphia Flyers season

The 1969–70 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers' third season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, setting a team record for fewest wins and an NHL record for most ties.

## Off-season

On May 20, 1969, Keith Allen was named vice president and assistant general manager of the team and replaced as head coach by Vic Stasiuk. Stasiuk spent the previous two seasons as the head coach of the Quebec Aces, the Flyers American Hockey League affiliate.
The Flyers took a chance when they selected a 19-year-old diabetic from Flin Flon, Manitoba, named Bobby Clarke with their second draft pick, 17th overall, in the 1969 NHL amateur draft.

## Regular season

By the time training camp came around it was clear that Clarke was the best player on the team, and he quickly became a fan favorite. His 15 goals and 31 assists earned him a trip to the NHL All-Star Game.
On December 11, 1969, the Flyers introduced what became one of the team's best-known traditions: playing a recording of Kate Smith singing God Bless America instead of The Star-Spangled Banner before important games. The perception was that the team was more successful on these occasions, so the tradition grew. The move was initially done by Flyers promotion director Lou Scheinfeld as a way to defray national tensions at the time of the Vietnam War: Scheinfeld noticed that people regularly left their seats to walk around during the anthem, but showed more respect and often sang along to "God Bless America". To this day, the team plays the song before major playoff games, currently with Lauren Hart (daughter of Hall of Fame Flyers broadcast announcer Gene Hart) performing the first part of the song, a recording of Smith singing the second part, and Lauren Hart joining the recording for the finale. As of the close of the 2013–14 Flyers season, the Flyers have a record of 96–28–4 when God Bless America is sung prior to home games.
General manager Bud Poile was fired on December 19. Keith Allen was named his replacement on December 22.
The team struggled in 1969–70 recording a franchise worst (as of completion of the 2013–14 season) in wins (17). Even with such a bad output, the Flyers had a seven-point lead on the Oakland Seals with six games to play. However, the Flyers lost their last six games and Oakland made up the deficit. They lost the tiebreaker for the final playoff spot to Oakland, missing the playoffs for the first time.

### Season standings

West Division vte :
| | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts |
| 1 | St. Louis Blues | 76 | 37 | 27 | 12 | 224 | 179 | +45 | 86 |
| 2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 76 | 26 | 38 | 12 | 182 | 238 | −56 | 64 |
| 3 | Minnesota North Stars | 76 | 19 | 35 | 22 | 224 | 257 | −33 | 60 |
| 4 | Oakland Seals | 76 | 22 | 40 | 14 | 169 | 243 | −74 | 58 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Flyers | 76 | 17 | 35 | 24 | 197 | 225 | −28 | 58 |
| 6 | Los Angeles Kings | 76 | 14 | 52 | 10 | 168 | 290 | −122 | 38 |

### Record vs. opponents
## Schedule and results

1969–70 regular season :
October: 1–1–5, 7 points (home: 0–0–4; road: 1–1–1)
GameDateOpponentScoreRecordPointsRecap
1October 11@ Minnesota North Stars0–40–1–00Recap
2October 15@ Pittsburgh Penguins3–30–1–11Recap
3October 19Montreal Canadiens1–10–1–22Recap
4October 22@ Toronto Maple Leafs4–31–1–24Recap
5October 23Detroit Red Wings2–21–1–35Recap
6October 26St. Louis Blues0–01–1–46Recap
7October 30New York Rangers3–31–1–57Recap :
November: 2–7–4, 8 points (home: 2–2–3; road: 0–5–1)
GameDateOpponentScoreRecordPointsRecap
8November 1@ St. Louis Blues0–81–2–57Recap
9November 2Minnesota North Stars6–22–2–59Recap
10November 6Montreal Canadiens1–42–3–59Recap
11November 9Oakland Seals2–22–3–610Recap
12November 12@ Minnesota North Stars2–42–4–610Recap
13November 15@ Toronto Maple Leafs2–42–5–610Recap
14November 20Los Angeles Kings3–23–5–612Recap
15November 22@ Pittsburgh Penguins3–53–6–612Recap
16November 23Toronto Maple Leafs2–33–7–612Recap
17November 26Detroit Red Wings1–13–7–713Recap
18November 27@ Boston Bruins4–63–8–713Recap
19November 29@ New York Rangers2–23–8–814Recap
20November 30Pittsburgh Penguins3–33–8–915Recap :
December: 4–5–3, 11 points (home: 3–3–0; road: 1–2–3)
GameDateOpponentScoreRecordPointsRecap
21December 3@ Los Angeles Kings7–14–8–917Recap
22December 5@ Oakland Seals2–24–8–1018Recap
23December 7St. Louis Blues1–44–9–1018Recap
24December 11Toronto Maple Leafs6–35–9–1020Recap
25December 13Boston Bruins3–55–10–1020Recap
26December 14@ Chicago Black Hawks1–45–11–1020Recap
27December 17@ New York Rangers2–25–11–1121Recap
28December 20@ St. Louis Blues0–35–12–1121Recap
29December 21Pittsburgh Penguins4–06–12–1123Recap
30December 25Oakland Seals3–17–12–1125Recap
31December 27@ Montreal Canadiens2–27–12–1226Recap
32December 28Boston Bruins4–57–13–1226Recap :
January: 5–6–5, 15 points (home: 3–3–2; road: 2–3–3)
GameDateOpponentScoreRecordPointsRecap
33January 1@ Los Angeles Kings3–47–14–1226Recap
34January 3Detroit Red Wings1–67–15–1226Recap
35January 4Minnesota North Stars3–18–15–1228Recap
36January 7@ St. Louis Blues2–28–15–1329Recap
37January 8Los Angeles Kings4–19–15–1331Recap
38January 10Oakland Seals2–29–15–1432Recap
39January 13@ Oakland Seals3–110–15–1434Recap
40January 15New York Rangers4–410–15–1535Recap
41January 17@ Detroit Red Wings3–510–16–1535Recap
42January 18Pittsburgh Penguins4–610–17–1535Recap
43January 22@ Boston Bruins3–310–17–1636Recap
44January 24@ Minnesota North Stars6–011–17–1638Recap
45January 25St. Louis Blues2–012–17–1640Recap
46January 28@ Chicago Black Hawks2–212–17–1741Recap
47January 29@ Detroit Red Wings3–412–18–1741Recap
48January 31Chicago Black Hawks0–512–19–1741Recap :
February: 3–6–3, 9 points (home: 2–2–1; road: 1–4–2)
GameDateOpponentScoreRecordPointsRecap
49February 1Montreal Canadiens2–512–20–1741Recap
50February 5@ Boston Bruins1–512–21–1741Recap
51February 7@ Chicago Black Hawks4–412–21–1842Recap
52February 8@ Detroit Red Wings5–313–21–1844Recap
53February 12Toronto Maple Leafs3–313–21–1945Recap
54February 14@ Toronto Maple Leafs3–413–22–1945Recap
55February 15Los Angeles Kings7–114–22–1947Recap
56February 17@ Pittsburgh Penguins2–414–23–1947Recap
57February 18@ New York Rangers3–314–23–2048Recap
58February 21@ Montreal Canadiens3–514–24–2048Recap
59February 26Chicago Black Hawks2–314–25–2048Recap
60February 28Minnesota North Stars6–215–25–2050Recap :
March: 2–7–4, 8 points (home: 1–2–3; road: 1–5–1)
GameDateOpponentScoreRecordPointsRecap
61March 1Los Angeles Kings4–415–25–2151Recap
62March 4@ Minnesota North Stars2–215–25–2252Recap
63March 7Boston Bruins5–515–25–2353Recap
64March 8Chicago Black Hawks2–315–26–2353Recap
65March 12@ St. Louis Blues2–415–27–2353Recap
66March 14@ Los Angeles Kings5–316–27–2355Recap
67March 15@ Oakland Seals1–216–28–2355Recap
68March 19New York Rangers2–216–28–2456Recap
69March 21@ Montreal Canadiens0–216–29–2456Recap
70March 22Oakland Seals3–217–29–2458Recap
71March 25@ Oakland Seals2–317–30–2458Recap
72March 26@ Los Angeles Kings2–317–31–2458Recap
73March 28Pittsburgh Penguins1–217–32–2458Recap :
April: 0–3–0, 0 points (home: 0–2–0; road: 0–1–0)
GameDateOpponentScoreRecordPointsRecap
74April 1@ Pittsburgh Penguins1–417–33–2458Recap
75April 2St. Louis Blues0–117–34–2458Recap
76April 4Minnesota North Stars0–117–35–2458Recap :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Tie (1 point) :

## Player statistics
### Scoring

* Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
| No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season |
| No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| 7 | Andre Lacroix | C | 74 | 22 | 36 | 58 | −6 | 14 |
| 12 | Gary Dornhoefer | RW | 65 | 26 | 29 | 55 | 2 | 96 |
| 20 | Jim Johnson | C | 72 | 18 | 30 | 48 | 1 | 17 |
| 16 | Bobby Clarke | C | 76 | 15 | 31 | 46 | 1 | 68 |
| 11 | Jean-Guy Gendron | LW | 71 | 23 | 21 | 44 | 8 | 54 |
| 17 | Simon Nolet | RW | 56 | 22 | 22 | 44 | 12 | 36 |
| 10 | Bill Sutherland | LW | 51 | 15 | 17 | 32 | −2 | 30 |
| 3 | Larry Hillman | D | 76 | 5 | 26 | 31 | −9 | 73 |
| 9 | Reg Fleming | LW | 65 | 9 | 18 | 27 | −4 | 134 |
| 24 | Terry Ball | D | 61 | 7 | 18 | 25 | −7 | 20 |
| 8 | Lew Morrison | RW | 66 | 9 | 10 | 19 | −3 | 19 |
| 15 | Garry Peters | C | 59 | 6 | 10 | 16 | −9 | 69 |
| 19 | Earl Heiskala | LW | 65 | 8 | 7 | 15 | −15 | 171 |
| 14 | Joe Watson | D | 54 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 0 | 28 |
| 23 | Larry Hale | D | 53 | 1 | 9 | 10 | −4 | 28 |
| 2 | Ed Van Impe | D | 65 | 0 | 10 | 10 | −1 | 117 |
| 6 | Wayne Hillman | D | 68 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −9 | 69 |
| 5 | Dick Cherry | D | 68 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −24 | 23 |
| 30 | Bernie Parent | G | 62 | 0 | 3 | 3 | | 14 |
| 18 | Rosaire Paiement | RW | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 4 |
| 21 | Dick Sarrazin | RW | 18 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 4 |
| 22 | Serge Bernier | C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| 21 | Darryl Edestrand | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 6 |
| 1 | Doug Favell | G | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 2 |
| 4 | Ralph MacSweyn | D | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −7 | 4 |
| 1 | Dunc Wilson | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |

### Goaltending

| No. | Player | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season |
| No. | Player | GP | GS | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
| 30 | Bernie Parent | 62 | 62 | 13 | 29 | 20 | 2159 | 171 | 2.80 | .921 | 3 | 3,668 |
| 1 | Doug Favell | 15 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 516 | 43 | 3.15 | .917 | 1 | 818 |
| 1 | Dunc Wilson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 3 | 3.02 | .885 | 0 | 60 |

## Awards and records
### Awards

| Type | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref |
| League (in-season) | NHL All-Star Game selection | Bobby Clarke | |
| League (in-season) | NHL All-Star Game selection | Bernie Parent | |

### Records

During the 1969–70 season, the Flyers set the NHL record for most ties in a season with 24. They also tied an NHL record for most home ties with 13. Their four consecutive ties at home from October 19 to October 30 set a team record. Their 17 wins on the season is the lowest total in franchise history while their six home wins on the season tied the mark set during the 1968–69 season. Goaltender Bernie Parent set franchise records for most losses (29, later tied by Antero Niittymaki during the 2006–07 season) and most ties (20).

### Milestones

| Milestone | Player | Date | Ref |
| First game | Bobby Clarke | October 11, 1969 | |
| First game | Lew Morrison | October 11, 1969 | |

## Transactions

The Flyers were involved in the following transactions from May 5, 1969, the day after the deciding game of the 1969 Stanley Cup Finals, through May 10, 1970, the day of the deciding game of the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| May 14, 1969 (1969-05-14) | To Philadelphia Flyers cash | To St. Louis Blues Ron Buchanan |
| May 14, 1969 (1969-05-14) | To Philadelphia Flyers Wayne Hillman | To Minnesota North Stars John Miszuk |
| June 7, 1969 (1969-06-07) | To Philadelphia Flyers Reg Fleming | To New York Rangers Don BlackburnLeon Rochefort |
| June 10, 1969 (1969-06-10) | To Philadelphia Flyers $30,000 cashFuture considerations | To Minnesota North Stars Bob Barlow |
| June 12, 1969 (1969-06-12) | To Philadelphia Flyers Jean-Guy Gendron | To Montreal Canadiens 7th-round pick in 1969 |

### Players acquired

| Date | Player | Former team | Via |
| June 10, 1969 (1969-06-10) | Bob Barlow | Vancouver Canucks (WHL) | Inter-league draft |
| June 11, 1969 (1969-06-11) | Larry Hillman | Montreal Canadiens | Intra-league draft |
| September 29, 1969 (1969-09-29) | Jim Mair | Johnstown Jets (EHL) | Free agency |

### Players lost

| Date | Player | New team | Via |
| N/A | Myron Stankiewicz | | Retirement |
| June 11, 1969 (1969-06-11) | Jean-Guy Gendron | Montreal Canadiens | Intra-league draft |
| June 12, 1969 (1969-06-12) | Rene Drolet | Quebec Aces (AHL) | Reverse draft |
| June 12, 1969 (1969-06-12) | Jean Lapointe | Hershey Bears (AHL) | Reverse draft |
| June 12, 1969 (1969-06-12) | Roger Pelletier | Quebec Aces (AHL) | Reverse draft |
| June 12, 1969 (1969-06-12) | Bob Sneddon | Springfield Kings (AHL) | Reverse draft |
| September 24, 1969 (1969-09-24) | Allan Stanley | | Retirement |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Term |
| July 24, 1969 (1969-07-24) | Andre Lacroix | 2-year |
| August 21, 1969 (1969-08-21) | Serge Bernier | |
| August 21, 1969 (1969-08-21) | Gerry Meehan | |
| October 1, 1969 (1969-10-01) | Bobby Clarke | |

## Draft picks

Philadelphia's picks at the 1969 NHL amateur draft, which was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, on June 11, 1969. During the draft, the Flyers traded their seventh-round pick, 75th overall, to the Montreal Canadiens in order to re-acquire Jean-Guy Gendron, who Montreal had selected from the Flyers earlier in the day during the inter-league draft.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team (league) |
| 1 | 6 | Bob Currier | Center | Canada | Cornwall Royals (CJAHL) |
| 2 | 17 | Bobby Clarke | Center | Canada | Flin Flon Bombers (WCHL) |
| 3 | 28 | Willie Brossart | Defense | Canada | Estevan Bruins (WCHL) |
| 4 | 40 | Michel Belhumeur | Goaltender | Canada | Drummondville Rangers (QJHL) |
| 5 | 52 | Dave Schultz | Left wing | Canada | Sorel Eperviers (QJHL) |
| 6 | 64 | Don Saleski | Right wing | Canada | Regina Pats (SJHL) |
| 8 | 81 | Claude Chartre | Center | Canada | Drummondville Rangers (QJHL) |

## Farm teams

The Flyers were affiliated with the Quebec Aces of the AHL, the Flint Generals of the IHL, and the Jersey Devils of the EHL.