Visiting our Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Famers once again, we look at the impact forward Rick MacLeish had on the Orange and Black. One of the main stars of the Flyers’ Broad Street Bullies teams in the 1970s, he accomplished a lot in Philadelphia and spent a large majority of his time in the NHL there, too.
In 12 seasons with Philadelphia, MacLeish compiled 328 goals and 369 assists for 697 points in 741 games played. Considering he was in his prime right before the high-flying offenses of the 1980s, his numbers are that much more impressive. What did he bring to the table for the Flyers?
A Nearly Grave Mistake
In the Flyers’ first season of existence in 1967-68, inaugural general manager (GM) Bud Poile had a disastrous trade that almost set the franchise back quite a bit. They traded their first-round selection in the 1970 NHL Draft to the Boston Bruins for forward Rosaire Paiement. The latter only played 190 total games in the NHL before going over to the WHA where he spent most of his professional hockey career.
Unfortunately, the Flyers missed the playoffs badly in 1969-70 — they had what stands as the third-worst season in team history with just 58 points in 76 contests. So, of course, that pick ended up being pretty high. With the pick they traded, the Bruins took none other than MacLeish with the fourth-overall pick, right after winning the Stanley Cup.
But the second — and objectively the best — GM in Flyers history, Keith Allen, swooped in and saved the day. He traded a solid player at the time, forward Mike Walton, to the Bruins for winger Danny Schock and, of course, MacLeish back.
Related: Keith Allen: The Architect of the Flyers’ 2 Stanley Cups
Getting MacLeish was obviously huge for the Flyers, and Allen didn’t give up long-term assets to do it. From there, the young forward helped make history in Philadelphia — it’s almost like he was meant to be a Flyer.
MacLeish Became an Early Flyers Star
It took a couple of uneventful seasons where he just played 43 games in total, but MacLeish emerged as one of the first stars in the history of the Flyers in 1972-73. In his age-23 campaign, the centerman went from nine career points to 109 — he exploded for 50 goals and 50 assists for 100 points in just 78 contests. Only two other Flyers, Bill Barber and recent team Hall of Fame inductee Mark Recchi, have ever reached 50 goals and 50 assists in a single season with the club — both of which are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The 23-year-old became a sensation essentially overnight.
He helped the Flyers both clinch the playoffs and win their first series in franchise history. They didn’t go any further than the second round, just shy of their first Stanley Cup Final, but MacLeish put up seven points in 10 postseason games. This excellent season ended up being the only time he reached 100 points, but he was still primed for so much more.
MacLeish’s Championship Contributions
MacLeish regressed in terms of points in both 1973-74 and 1974-75, putting up 156 points in 158 points. As a team, however, the Flyers got a lot better. Their best season as a team was 37 wins set in 1972-73. In the following campaigns, they won 50 and 51 games. And, of course, they were fairly successful in the playoffs.
The Flyers became the first expansion team to win a Stanley Cup in 1974, and MacLeish was a huge part of that. Not only did he score the game-winning goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Bruins, but he had the most goals (13) and points (22) among all players in the postseason in just 17 contests. His four game-winning tallies overall made him a priceless entity for the Orange and Black.
As if it wasn’t enough the first time, MacLeish was arguably the Flyers’ best skater in the postseason in 1975, too. He had 11 goals and led the postseason with 20 points and a plus-17 rating in 17 games. He didn’t quite have the same clutch factor with just a single game-winning goal this time, but the Flyers won the Stanley Cup once again.
Usually, players like Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, Reggie Leach, or Barber get the major props for the Flyers winning back-to-back championships. MacLeish deserves all the love in the world for what he was able to accomplish. He was, indeed, a legend.
MacLeish Produced Until Retirement
MacLeish had no plans of slowing down after achieving pretty much everything there is to as a player. Unfortunately, though, he struggled with injuries in 1975-76. He played just 51 games but put up 45 points. He didn’t play in the postseason, and while the Flyers made a great effort to win their third straight championship, they fell in the Final to an incredible Montreal Canadiens team that went on to win three more Stanley Cups consecutively after doing so in 1976.
When he was healthier, MacLeish put up 49 goals and 48 assists for 97 points and a plus-46 rating in 79 contests in 1976-77, just shy of his career-best marks set three seasons prior. In 10 playoff games, he had 13 points — he didn’t miss major time from injury this go around, and the Flyers didn’t make the Final this time. And they didn’t until a little later in his career in 1979-80.
When that time came, MacLeish was 30 but he was still an important player for the Flyers. He had 66 points in 78 games, adding 15 more in the postseason in 19 contests. The Flyers lost to the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Final, but contrasting their loss in six games to New York versus their sweep against the Canadiens, it’s clear that he was sorely missed.
MacLeish was traded from the Flyers after putting up 74 points in 1980-81 before briefly returning for 29 games in 1983-84 and having an impressive 22 points in that span in his age-34 season. After that, though, he called it quits and hung up the skates.
Overall, MacLeish was one of just seven Flyers to reach the 300-goal mark just with the Orange and Black. He sadly passed away in 2016, but his legacy will live on. His number 19 is not retired by the team, but he definitely has a case for it. Posthumously, he absolutely deserves some consideration. In terms of franchise importance, he is right up there with those who do have their numbers off-limits.
