Bernie Parent.
In some ways, that is where every look at Flyers history should start, and where every attempt by the team to make more history often dead-ends.
No aspect of putting together a roster capable of winning the Stanley Cup has been more frustrating for the franchise than finding the guy who will finally replace Bernie Parent. Forty-one years after the last Cup, it hasn't happened yet. Along the way, there has been tragedy and comedy, near success and utter failure, homegrown talent that bloomed and withered, outsiders past their prime or never to reach one, and always the belief that if they could ever find that one guy .