Before Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, the Philadelphia Flyers honored one of their own who announced his retirement in early September.
Simon Gagne was the focal point of the pre-game ceremony, the third retired Flyer to be honored this season following ceremonies for Daniel Briere and Kimmo Timonen.
Gagne did a ceremonial puck drop with his son and daughter between captains of two teams whose sweater he donned. Though he suited up for both squads, Gagne’s storied career was largely spent in Philadelphia, playing 691 of his 822 career games with Philly.
His time in the City of Brotherly Love encompassed two 40-goal seasons, two 30-goal seasons and three 20-goal seasons.
Simon's got some help guarding tonight's game puck! #LAKvsPHI pic.twitter.com/3T0dUhKTQp
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 18, 2015
While his story largely took place with the Flyers, it was the perfect night for Gagne to be paid tribute, with the team he is most closely associated with facing off against the team where he won his lone Stanley Cup ring.
It was a nice moment at Wells Fargo Center, though the star of the evening may have been Gagne’s son, who attempted to hype the crowd as he worked his way off the ice following the ceremonial puck drop.
“It’s going to be fun to go back to where everything started, where my son was born, and we’re really excited,” Gagner told Philly.com before the game. “We’re going to stick around more than just one night. We’re going to stay there for the week and just have some really good memories that happened there when I was in Philly for more than 10 years.”
In addition to a lot of success with Philly and a Cup in Los Angeles, Gagne grabbed a gold medal with the 2002 Canadian Olympic Team, played in two NHL All-Star games and led the league in even strength goals during the 2005-06 season.
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