Sunday

Patrick Juhlin

The Philadelphia Flyers fell on hard times In the early 1990s. They came within a couple of bounces of defeating the might Edmonton Oilers in 1985 and 1987 to win the Stanley Cup, but came up short both times. The Flyers fall was quick however, sped up by injuries to key players like Tim Kerr, Mark Howe and even Ron Hextall. To make matters worse, years of success meant poor drafting position. Eventually that caught up with the Flyers as they had little talent within their own farm system.

The Flyers looked to remedy the situation by drafting talented European players. The hope was that these guys could come across the pond and add some firepower to the Flyers anemic offense.

Patrick Juhlin was one of the players the Flyers placed their hopes on. The 1989 second rounder was a standout forward for Västerås in Sweden. However Juhlin didn't make an immediate jump to the NHL, opting to remain in Sweden. He went on to star in the 1994 Olympics where his 7 goals in 7 games helped Sweden win the gold medal.. It wasn't until the 1995 lockout shortened season that Juhlin finally made his NHL debut.

Coming off such a great Olympic performance, it was hoped that Juhlin could make an immediate impact on the Flyers offense, much like fellow Swede Mikael Renberg had done in the previous season. However Juhlin struggled as he had a hard time adapting to the tighter checking, harder hitting NHL style. He scored just 4 goals and 3 assists in 42 games. He added one more goal in 13 playoff games.

The 1995-96 season started out with great promise for Juhlin. A strong preseason saw Juhlin appearing to be the Flyers new second line right winger. However Juhlin quickly slumped and soon was eating popcorn in the pressbox. The second half of the season was marred by a serious groin injury and an eventual demotion to the minor leagues in Hershey

Juhlin spent the following season with the Flyers new AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms. Although he had a fine season for the Phantoms, the call never came for him to rejoin the Flyers.

After the 1996-97 season, Juhlin left Philadelphia to play in Finland.

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