"I still have a major role. So does Scott Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr and Chris Pronger."
Have people forgotten that Giroux was compared to Peter Forsberg in his rookie training camp? Or that van Riemsdyk was prematurely labeled a bust because he decided to stay at the University of New Hampshire for an extra year of seasoning? These two players certainly aren't rookies in the pressure cooker that is the Philadelphia sports landscape.
Part of the perception of added pressure stems from Holmgren's comments on the day that he dealt his two star players.
"Let's be honest, the emergence of Claude Giroux [was] a factor," Holmgren said then. "And James, I can't say enough about how James played in the playoffs."
But his subsequent moves last summer proved otherwise. Rather than dumping the load on his two former first-round picks, he signed Jagr to a $3.3 million deal and added veteran Max Talbot. Also, newcomers Jakub Voracek, Sean Couturier and Wayne Simmonds can chip in points on off nights.
So why the change in direction? Ultimately, the Flyers found out - through four separate playoff runs - that the supposed "next generation" might not have been able to deliver the Stanley Cup as hoped.
The sample size was not small. In 4 straight years under Richards and Carter, they bounced from the Eastern Conference finals, to a first-round exit, to the Stanley Cup finals, to a second-round sweep.
Two weeks ago, a group of Comcast-Spectacor employees cruised the Wells Fargo Center concourses, covering up any last semblance of Richards and Carter's likeness, either by removing an advertisement or billboard or covering up a face with a sticker on a charity donation box.
Both were only 26. Richards posted two points in his first game not in a Flyers uniform with the Kings yesterday in Stockholm at the NHL Premiere.
