Bill Barber

Lore & Background

Barber was drafted by the Flyers seventh overall in the 1972 draft. He helped lead the Flyers to two Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975 as part of the LCB line. His 53 goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Flyers remains a franchise record shared with Rick MacLeish. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990. The Flyers retired his number 7 on October 7, 1990.

In Their Own Story

The Forum is dark except for the floodlights, and the ice gleams like black glass. Barber drops his stick, adjusts his mask, and the crowd noise swells into a low, sustained roar that you feel in your sternum before you hear it. The opposing winger winds up from the slot, and for a half-second the arena holds its breath. Then Barber's leg shoots out—longer than it should be, longer than physics allows—and the puck kisses the pad and dies. He doesn't even look up. He just taps the puck out with his stick, turns, and skates back to his crease as if nothing happened. The crowd erupts. He raises one gloved fist, barely a nod, already scanning the ice for the next shot. This is the job. This is the whole job. And he is not finished yet.

Reader's Guide

Barber played left wing for the Flyers from 1972 to 1985. He scored at least 20 goals every season, with a best of 50 goals and 62 assists in 1975–76. He captained the Flyers in 1981–82 and part of 1982–83. After playing, he coached the Hershey Bears, served as Flyers assistant coach, coached the Phantoms to a Calder Cup in 1998, and was Flyers head coach from December 2000 to April 2002, winning the Jack Adams Trophy. He was director of player personnel for the Tampa Bay Lightning from August 2002 to June 2008, adding his name to the Stanley Cup in 2004. He returned to the Flyers as a scouting consultant on October 13, 2008.

Did You Know?

• Barber scored one of his most famous goals for Team Canada in the 1976 Canada Cup, tying the final against Czechoslovakia and sending it to overtime.
• He still holds the Flyers regular season career scoring record with 420 goals as of the end of the 2012–13 season.
• The Bill Barber Sports Complex in Callander, Ontario, was opened in his honor on September 25, 2010.