A two-time All-Star, Gagne spent 14 seasons within the National Hockey League, together with 11 with the Flyers. He scored two of the biggest goals in the Flyers’ postseason history during their historic comeback from 0-3 down to beating Boston in the second round of their 2010 run to the Stanley Cup Finals, the first in OT to win Game 4 and the other a Game 7 game-winner 12:52 into the third period.
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That’s when Gagne turned the page on former Flyers GM Paul Holmgren reneging on a promise to re-sign him for the 2013-14 season.
Simon Gagne is hanging up the skates. You made me perceive that you simply want greater than expertise; it takes sacrifice and self-discipline and you must work more durable than your rivals. “Every evening, you energized me and inspired me to perform”.
According to the Flyers’ official press release, Gagne ranks ninth on the Flyers’ all-time list in goals (264) and 10th in points (535).
“Last year, I lost my father: my number 1 fan, my coach, my confidant, my best friend, and my top teammate”, Gagne wrote. At this time, I know that I can not be close to those levels.
Gagne was named to four All-Star teams during his 10 and a half seasons as a member of the Flyers, including his 47-goal season in 2005-06. Despite being over sixty games in hand behind Detroit Red Wings veteran Pavel Datsyuk, Gagne is only seven goals behind the Russian forward for regular season career goals (Gagne has 291, Datsyuk has 298) and the two are only surpassed in scoring by Vincent Lecavalier – who, with 411 career goals scored, doesn’t seem like he’ll be surpassed by anyone in that draft class any time soon.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall says Gagne’s accomplishments shouldn’t be diminished by time.
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“If he was 20 years old now, we’d be real excited about him. And he was a real valuable player for us then”.
