I'm sure we all remember the game where Primeau got hurt pretty well. If memory serves, it was against Montreal and he got elbowed in the head. But if that unfortunate event actually never occurred, how different would the Flyers be right now if we still had Primeau and he wasn't forced to retire? Thoughts?

Primeau is about to turn 37, hadn't had a productive season since 2001, and would probably be a salary cap hog like Hatcher right now. If you want to know what it would be like to have Primeau right now, read a Hatcher thread.

I'm looking forward not back. I think with all the young guys he would be a liability.We need a young captain ( Richards).

I beg to differ. He was very crucial to our success in the playoffs in '04.


You can only guess what kind of impact he would have had on the team. He may have helped us, he may have hurt us, you can never really know. I always thought he was a top notch captain though.

I won't deny his playoff contribution that year, but that was such an anomaly from how he normally performed. I won't argue that his effort was ever lacking, but he produced at a level in those playoffs that was far beyond what he had done since the late 90s.

Also, we had 3 players on the team last year that were equal or greater than him in the captain category.

Shoud have, Could have, Would have. The same thing could be ponderd if we had a healty Gagne last season. Like Cydel stated look forward not back.

If we still had Primeau, we would probably not have signed Briere. Miss ya Keith

Everything happens for a reason.

All I can say is screw Perezhogin.

8 points in 9 games to start that season.

I think we took a step forward when Primeau got hurt, let me explain.

As much as I liked him as a captain and as a man off the ice. He also impressed everybody during the 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs.

IMO, he was the face of the pre-lockout era of the Flyerrs. And what I mean by that is that when he got hurt, we looked at younger players.

We got smaller, faster and it took some money off the cap. The philosohy of the franchised changed since beacause we didnt have our leader anymore.

It was his time to retire, I think he was one of the best Flyers in captain history and I was thankful to him for that.

But it was time to move on and I love the new look of our Flyers team right now so let's move on!

i agree he made a great captain. he could score..play smart...protect the puck. Only he wasnt too mobile but he was big.

Primeau's point production had nothing to do with the way he lead this team. Just because didnt have a ton of points didnt mean, he wasn't an important good player.

There's no real way to answer that question because this would just be a different team. Maybe we wouldn't have signed Briere. Maybe Richards or Carter would've been traded. Or, maybe Umberger would've been traded earlier and for even less and we never would've made it that far into the palyoffs. Or maybe Richards would not have emerged as a leader. There's an infinite amount of hypothetical situations that could've played out and there's no way to tell if the team would've been better or worse. It just would've been different.

"I learned early on during my stay in Philadelphia that you need not be the most talented, the most skilled, the best goal-scorer or the best playmaker, but if you play with passion, desire and a blue-collar attitude, you would and could be embraced even more than you could ever imagine."
-Keith Primeau

He was a fantastic captain. Would have, should have, could have. Its time to move on. It sucks that he had to retire early, but what can be done? I hope the Flyers will hire him for something soon.

The age of the captain does not matter, he's supposed to be the one with experience, and good leadership qualities. Richards could wear the C, but I think Timonen will wear it this year, and Richie will get it when he's gone.

I'm going to tell you all what would've happened. In the 05-06 season, we'd have gone further in the playoffs. The 06-07 season would be nowehere near as bad. We would have been far more consistent last season. When you have a coach like Stevens, you have to make up for it by having a vocal and strongwilled captain

maybe Clarke would still be GM and Hitch still coach

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!



RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!

i think we may have experienced a year like last year earlier had he remained and we didn't get rid of him.

i think a better question is what would have happened if we traded Lindros for Primeau a few years before the Primeau-Brind'Amour deal. it apparently was a rumor and almost went down, but the Flyers decided to stick with Lindros and not Roddy. now if our teams would have had Primeau, Brind'Amour, Gagne, Williams, Kappy, Dejardins, and Roenick we may have won a cup.

While it's still not something you can answer, that's certainly an interesting thing to contemplate. I'll just cut right to the chase then and ask, what if we still had Williams and Sharp too? We'd have way too many good centers and another good right winger to add to the mix.

Primeau stunk.

That is a great quote and bang on.

I don't think we would've beaten Buffalo even if we did have a healthy Primeau. They were way too fast and young for our older, pre-lockout team.