1999–2000 Philadelphia Flyers season
The 1999–2000 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers' 33rd season in the National Hockey League (NHL). One of the most tumultuous seasons in franchise history, the Flyers reached the Eastern Conference Finals, losing in seven games to the New Jersey Devils, blowing a 3-1 series lead in the process. Off-season After going unclaimed in the 1999 NHL Expansion Draft, longtime goaltender Ron Hextall was waived by the Flyers on July 1 for the purpose of buying out the final season of his contract. Hextall cleared waivers and announced his retirement on September 6, 1999. Longtime broadcaster Gene Hart, who was awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 1997, died from a variety of illnesses on July 14. A little over a week later on July 23, defenseman Dmitri Tertyshny, coming off his rookie season, was fatally injured in a boating accident. Tertyshny was on a boating trip to Okanagan Lake in British Columbia with two players from the Flyers' minor-league affiliate Philadelphia Phantoms, Francis Belanger and Mikhail Chernov, when a freak accident caused him to suffer fatal injuries. The boat hit a wave and caused him to fall forward overboard. The boat ran over him and its propeller slashed