Editing Philadelphia Flyers (section)

====Legion of Doom (1994–1997)====
The Flyers initially struggled out of the gate, going only 3–7–1 through their first 11 games while being outscored 34–22. Lindros and LeClair then teamed with Renberg to form the [[Legion of Doom (ice hockey)|Legion of Doom]] line, a mix of scoring talent and physical intimidation. In their 37 games (including the 3–1 victory on February 11, 1995, against the New Jersey Devils), the Flyers went 25–9–3 and outscored their opponents 128–98 en route. Lindros tied [[Jaromír Jágr|Jaromir Jagr]] for the regular season scoring lead (though Jagr won the [[Art Ross Trophy]] with more goals), and captured the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's MVP. The playoff drought came to an end as the Flyers won their first division title in eight years and clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference. After dispatching Buffalo in five and sweeping the defending Stanley Cup champion Rangers, the Flyers were upset in the conference finals to the eventual Stanley Cup champion [[New Jersey Devils]] in six games.

Lindros eclipsed the 100-point mark for the first time in [[1995–96 NHL season|1995–96]], gathering 115 points, and LeClair scored 51 goals, as the Flyers repeated as Atlantic Division champs and clinched the top seed in the East. Facing the eighth-seeded [[Tampa Bay Lightning]], the Flyers dropped two of the first three games. They rallied by winning three straight games to win the series. After taking two of the first three games against the [[Florida Panthers]] in the second round, the Flyers were defeated in overtime in game four and double-overtime in game five. An upstart Florida club with stellar goaltending from [[John Vanbiesbrouck]] ended the Flyers' season in game six.

[[File:Wells Fargo Center - 2019 OWL Grand Finals.jpg|thumb|In 1996, the Flyers moved to their present home arena, the CoreStates Center (now [[Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia)|Wells Fargo Center]]).]]
The Flyers said goodbye to the Spectrum and prepared to open a new arena – the [[Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia)|CoreStates Center]] – for the next season. The [[1996–97 NHL season|1996–97 season]] started off slowly, as Lindros missed 30 games, but LeClair still managed to score 50 goals for the second consecutive year, while the mid-season acquisition of defenseman [[Paul Coffey]] gave the Flyers a veteran presence.<ref>{{cite news |date=January 13, 1997 |title=Galleries |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1009341/2/index.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717010644/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1009341/2/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 17, 2012 |publisher=CNN}}</ref> Despite finishing just one point shy of a third straight Atlantic Division title, the Flyers blitzed their way through the first three rounds of the playoffs, dominating Pittsburgh, Buffalo and the Rangers all in five games apiece to win the Eastern Conference championship, and clinch a berth in the [[1997 Stanley Cup Finals|Stanley Cup Finals]] for the first time since [[1986–87 NHL season|1986–87]]. Despite having home-ice advantage, the Flyers were swept in four-straight games by the [[Detroit Red Wings]]. The goaltending tandem of Hextall and [[Garth Snow]] fared poorly in the Finals, as both conceded soft goals, and Murray's strategy of alternating starters in goal was criticized. After game three, which was a 6–1 loss, Murray blasted his team in a closed-door meeting and then described to the media that the Flyers were in a "choking situation", a remark which angered his players and likely cost Murray his job, as his contract was not renewed. In July, Mikael Renberg was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, in exchange for [[Chris Gratton]], thus splitting up the famed Legion of Doom line. The trio of Lindros, LeClair and Renberg scored a combined total of 666 points in 547 regular season games.

The man picked to replace Murray as coach, [[Wayne Cashman]], was deemed ill-suited for the job as the Flyers played inconsistently throughout the [[1997–98 NHL season|1997–98 season]]. With 21 games to go in the season, [[Roger Neilson]] took over as coach while Cashman was retained as an assistant. John LeClair was able to score at least 50 goals for the third consecutive year (netting 51), the first time for an American-born player, and goaltender [[Sean Burke]] was acquired at the trade deadline. Burke proved ineffective in net, as the Flyers were eliminated in the first round by Buffalo in five games.

In the off-season, the Flyers went looking for a new goaltender. Burke was let go and Hextall was about to enter his final season as a backup. They chose to sign former Panther John Vanbiesbrouck as the starting goaltender. The [[1998–99 NHL season|1998–99 season]] was marred by a life-threatening injury sustained by Eric Lindros on [[April Fools' Day]] during a game against the [[Nashville Predators]], a season-ending injury later diagnosed as a collapsed lung. Up until that point, Lindros was having an MVP-type season with 40 goals and 53 assists in 71 games. Without Lindros, the Flyers had trouble scoring in the playoffs even after having re-acquired Mark Recchi at the trade deadline. Although Vanbiesbrouck allowed 9 goals to Joseph's 11 allowed, the Flyers lost their first-round series with Toronto in six games.

The [[1999–2000 NHL season|1999–2000 season]] was one of the most tumultuous seasons in franchise history and the tumult actually started three months prior to the start of the regular season. In the span of a few days in July, longtime broadcaster Gene Hart died due to illness and defenseman [[Dmitri Tertyshny]], coming off his rookie season, was fatally injured in a freak boating accident.<ref>{{cite news |last=Panaccio |first=Tim |date=July 25, 1999 |title=Tertyshny Is Killed in Boating Accident |url=http://articles.philly.com/1999-07-25/sports/25524135_1_boating-accident-dmitri-tertyshny-boissonneault |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216224207/http://articles.philly.com/1999-07-25/sports/25524135_1_boating-accident-dmitri-tertyshny-boissonneault |archive-date=December 16, 2014 |access-date=June 3, 2024 |work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]}}</ref> Head coach Roger Neilson was diagnosed with bone cancer, forcing him to step aside in February 2000 to undergo treatment, so assistant coach [[Craig Ramsay]] took over as interim coach for the rest of the season; Neilson later recovered but was informed that he would not return. In January, longtime Flyer and fan-favorite Rod Brind'Amour was traded to the [[Carolina Hurricanes]] in exchange for [[Keith Primeau]], with the intention of acquiring a big center to complement Lindros. Meanwhile, the strife between Flyers management (particularly Clarke) and Lindros, continued to worsen. Less than a month after Ramsay took over, Lindros suffered his second concussion of the season. He played several games after the initial hit and afterwards criticized the team's training staff for failing to initially diagnose the concussion after it happened. It was after this that the Flyers' organization decided to strip Lindros of the captaincy on March 27 and name defenseman Eric Desjardins the team's captain.

[[File:Simon Gagne.jpg|thumb|226x226px|[[Simon Gagné|Simon Gagne]] played for the Flyers from 1999 to 2010, and in 2012–13.]]
With Lindros out indefinitely, the Flyers rallied to overcome the distractions and a 15-point deficit in the standings to win the Atlantic Division and the top seed in the East on the last day of the regular season. They easily defeated their first-round opponent, Buffalo, in five games. Primeau's goal in the fifth overtime of game four against the team's second-round opponent, Pittsburgh, turned that series in the Flyers' favor as they won in six games, coming back from a 2–0 series deficit. After dropping game one to New Jersey in the conference finals, the Flyers won three-straight games to take a 3–1 series lead. However, New Jersey won game five. In game six, Lindros returned to the lineup for the first time since March in another losing effort. Early in game seven, Lindros was handed another concussion and leaving the Philadelphia crowd deflated after being on the receiving end of a controversial hit by [[Scott Stevens]]. Without him, the Flyers lost the decisive game 2–1. It was the second time in franchise history the team lost a series after being up 3–1. Lindros never again wore a Flyers uniform, as he sat out the following season awaiting a trade.

Craig Ramsay was named the permanent head coach as Neilson was not asked to return for the [[2000–01 NHL season|2000–01]], which became a matter of some controversy. Ramsay lasted only until December when he was replaced by former Flyer great Bill Barber. [[Brian Boucher]], who as a rookie backstopped the Flyers' playoff run the previous season, could not duplicate his performance and lost the starting goaltending job to [[Roman Čechmánek|Roman Cechmanek]], a former star in the [[Czech Extraliga|Czech Republic]]. The performance of Cechmanek, worthy of a Vezina nomination, along with Bill Barber winning the [[Jack Adams Award]] as head coach of the year, helped the Flyers stay afloat, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs to Buffalo in six games.

In the off-season, the Flyers re-vamped their lineup by signing [[Jeremy Roenick]] and finally trading Eric Lindros to the Rangers for [[Kim Johnsson]], [[Jan Hlaváč|Jan Hlavac]], [[Pavel Brendl]] and a [[2003 NHL entry draft|2003]] third-round draft pick ([[Štefan Ružička|Stefan Ruzicka]]). Desjardins stepped down as team captain eight games into the season and was replaced by Primeau. The Flyers began [[2001–02 NHL season|2001–02]] with high expectations and with Roenick leading the team in scoring, the Flyers finished with an Atlantic Division title. The power play was one of the NHL's worst however, so [[Adam Oates]], the third leading point-producer in the League at the time, was acquired from Washington at the [[NHL trade deadline]]. However, it was of no benefit as the Flyers could not muster much offense, scoring only two goals in their five-game, first-round playoff loss to the [[Ottawa Senators]]. It turned out there was much discontent in the locker room as Bill Barber was fired. The Flyers hired a proven winner when they turned to former [[Dallas Stars]] and Stanley Cup-winning head coach [[Ken Hitchcock]].

[[File:Jeremy Roenick 2012.jpg|thumb|226x226px|[[Jeremy Roenick]] played for the Flyers from 2001 to 2004.]]
In [[2002–03 NHL season|2002–03]], Roman Cechmanek had a 1.83 [[goals against average]] (GAA) and the Flyers acquired [[Sami Kapanen]] and [[Tony Amonte]] prior to the trade deadline; however, they fell one point short of a second straight Atlantic Division title. Consequently, the Flyers endured a long, brutal seven-game first-round matchup with Toronto that featured three multiple overtime games, all in Toronto. After winning game seven, 6–1, the Flyers fought Ottawa in the second round with equal vigor as they split the first four games of the series, with Cechmanek earning shutouts in both wins. His inconsistency showed through, however, as he allowed ten goals in the final two games, and Ottawa advanced in six games. He was later traded to Los Angeles for a [[2004 NHL entry draft|2004]] second-round draft pick during the off-season despite having the second-best GAA in the League over his three years in Philadelphia.

Free-agent goaltender [[Jeff Hackett]] was signed from Boston to replace Cechmanek and challenge backup [[Robert Esche]] for the starter's spot in [[2003–04 NHL season|2003–04]], but he was forced to retire in February due to [[vertigo]]. During the course of the season, serious injuries suffered by both Roenick (broken jaw) and Primeau (concussion) in February forced the Flyers to trade for Chicago's [[Alexei Zhamnov]], who filled in well and kept the Flyers afloat. On March 5, 2004, the Flyers set an NHL record in a game against Ottawa where they set a combined record of [[Flyers–Senators brawl|419 penalty minutes in a single game]]. Esche entrenched himself as starter and remained in that position even after the Flyers re-acquired Sean Burke from the [[Arizona Coyotes|Phoenix Coyotes]] as the Flyers clinched the Atlantic Division title over New Jersey on the last day of the season. Though solid in net, Esche's performance was trumped by the play of captain Keith Primeau in the playoffs. Primeau led the Flyers past the defending Stanley Cup champion Devils in five, Toronto in six on their way to the conference finals, and a matchup with Tampa Bay. Despite winning game six on the late-game heroics of Primeau and winger [[Simon Gagné|Simon Gagne]], the Flyers came up short once again, losing game seven in Tampa, 2–1.