For reference, People magazine popularized the celebrity couple name Brangelina in 2005. Since before Danny Briere was even a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, there has never been a widespread, non-romantic application of the portmanteau name.
excerpt from the autobiography for anyone interested
Google translation:
"We were at the table having supper when Claude called out:
âHey, the guys in the locker room were talking about their Christmas cards today. Theyâre all getting family cards printed. We should get some too!â Personalized Christmas cards arenât really part of the holiday tradition in Quebec. But in the United States, itâs a big deal! As Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Yearâs approach, tons of people take the time to take beautiful family photos and have them printed on cards to send their greetings to their loved ones.
Claudeâs idea was brilliant. The kids and I immediately jumped on board. To make sure our project was a success, we did some test shots during the evening, taking several pictures of the boys with the dogs. Then the next day, when Caelan, Carson, and Cameron got home from school, we dressed up in our best clothes and took a great picture of our funny family.
When our teammates and members of the Flyers organization received our card, it was a huge hit. It read: HOLIDAY BEST WISHES FROM THE BRIOUX FAMILY!"
when you and your platonic coworker meet for the first time, and the memory keeps replaying in your head like a broken record, helping you through tough times
these two are the blueprint of hrpf. both retired and still the load bearing shadows that haunt every pairing that occurs in the nhl. and mike richards means everything to me. and should to you as well. enjoy!
mike is from kenora, ontario. jeff is from somewhere, canada. they played against each other in the ohl, on the rangers and the greyhounds, respectively. mike won the memorial cup with the rangers in 2003. they played together on team canada in two world juniors, winning silver and then gold in the next one. mike was captain.
they were both drafted in 2003 first round by the flyers. joined the phantoms late in the 2005 season and helped them win the calder cup, then started with the flyers in the 2005-06 season.
their time on the flyers is most well known in the general public by the famous 2009-10 season (get into the playoffs in a game 82 shootout win, lose in the scf to the blackhawks), being guys in their twenties doing things such as drinking and going out and rumored to have threesomâ[car horn], and perhaps most significantly with hindsight, a tense relationship with the media. mike was named captain by the flyers in the 2008 season, when he was 23.
the philly sports media is well, how do you say, uh, EVIL (and still is). will do just about anything for a headline, like blow their drinking/partying habits out of proportion, even if the flyers were playing well, drop the dry island story*, etc. of course it's not like the flyers weren't going out, they very much enjoyed a good time, but it really is one of those things where the 2010 flyers team was one of the best ever, and they were good, like if it isn't harming anyone why does it matter what grown adults do in their off time..
* the dry island story: the coach at that time laviolette, allegedly at the end of a practice said to the players he was going to write his name on the whiteboard to pledge he wouldnât drink the rest of the season. of course the younger guys, with the pressure signed as well. and some other vets. but notably mike, jeff, and hartnell didnât, as well of a number of others. because itâs like, well, why is the coach trying to police what they do in their free time? and mike notes that players who did sign their name would still drink with them, like pronger, so he hated that it was like encouraging lying for some weird stupid status quo.
anyways, this all pinballs a little bit, and after the 2010-11 season, mike and jeff get traded to LA and columbus respectively. it's a whole ordeal. jeff had JUST signed an eleven year contract that would kick in on july first (with a no trade claude), but he instead gets traded on june 23. there had been rumors of jeff potentially being traded for a long while that season. the two had also allegedly sat down with paul holmgren (flyers gm) around a few weeks before getting traded and he had told them explicitly that they would not get traded and the rumors were not true. well.
mike also says the phone call he got from holmgren was short and insulting, left a bad taste in his mouth.
from the multiple interview segments about this that mike has done, this my best reconstruction of what his and jeff's phone calls were like at this time:
mike's agent: you're probably getting traded to LA. but we can fight this if you want, to stay in philly.
mike: uhhh hm. fuck holmgren, if they don't want me, i'm out. LA is a good team. hey agent, give me a sec, i need to make a call. [hangs up].
[jeff's phone: incoming call from "richie"]
mike: you're not getting traded.
jeff: what, what do you mean?
mike: because i'm getting traded to LA.
jeff: wait what the fuck, you're what? you're what? mike what you're getting traded to LA?
mike: wait sorry i got to go, my agent. [hangs up]
*two minutes later* [mike's phone: incoming call from "carts"]
jeff: richie. i just got traded.
mike: wait wh
jeff: to columbus.
[silence]
mike: bro i'm so sorry that's so shitty.
jeff: oh my god my beach house.
so they go their separate ways for the 2011-12 season. jeff famously has an insane crashout/isolation moment it's really quite iconic if i were to say something positive about him. holes up in his newly bought sea isle city beachhouse until the cbj general manager and coach literally go up to his front door and drag him out to talk to him.
at the start of the 2011 season, jeff is sad as hell. no bestie, in ohio, the team is ass, he's kinda injured, it's balls, he's playing like ass (purposefully, say spiteful cbj fans). he visits mike when cbj plays the kings and they're walking on the beach together (bro things) and is like "i'm freezing my ass off in columbus and you get this?" lol.
the kings and mike are better but they're in this baddd scoring drought. and you know who was known for being a natural goal scorer?
dean lombardi rings up mike in february and is like yo what do you think about jeff carter to the kings? and mike is like, "well, you know how i feel about him" whatever the fuck that means.
and then mike calls jeff and this is my reconstruction of the conversation:
mike: hey. you would have to play wing maybe, but what do you think about playing for the kinâ
jeff: YES! Yes. yes yes. i mean, yes.
mike: dean wanted me to tell you you might have to play wing if you're here.
jeff: richie. i actually, well, i don't give a fuck what position i have to play as long as i'm in LA and out of columbus. put me in fucking goalie pads.
mike: carts, we're going to be on the same team
jeff: wait, is this real?
joy! jeff gets traded to LA in feburary 2011. two major things from this: mike's famous "Reunited and it feels so good...... Excited to be back playing with carts #needaroommate" tweet. and then the "On the Richards-Carter relationship one Flyer told me: Mike likes Jeff but Jeff loves Mike. Carter can't pack fast enough. #heroworship" (quote cite and givers hypothesized here and more reasonable understanding of jeff's crashout here).
also a few weeks earlier, mike had tweeted, "i would love to play on same team as Jeff again. He's a great player so hope it works" whatever the fuck that means. good job manifesting, richie.
(other note that cbj fans HATE jeff. for not a bad reason. funny perusal of their subreddit here).
they live together for the rest of that season and have a great roommate relationship :D
mike and jeff apparently watched the ECF (flyers v devils) very very scared they might face philly in the finals
and then the kings win the cup
they promise to hand the cup to each other
"Carter on his postgame words with Mike Richards: "I can't tell you. You guys would have too much fun with them." fuck thi slife.
and then they win the cup again the next next season. hand the cup off to each other again.
jeff says the most satisfying team to beat in the 2014 playoffs was chicago because "they've had our number"
during the 2014 olympics mike has fun tweeting compliments about jeff
and then
mike has a rough time. he admits later that he did not adequately prepare the 2014 offseason, and he's someone who needs to work extra hard to be at the level that a lot of nhl players reach naturally.
jeff got married in the 2014 offseason, and it was a small wedding. the pictures from it that made it public were posted by mike's now ex-girlfriend, who now has a private instagram account. but proof that mike was there.
so by january 2015, mike was placed on waivers and played on the ahl team for the kings, the manchester monarchs
you had tweets like "Send down Mike Richards, and you only make Jeff Carter more angry. Two amazing shots." from the kings beat reporters, whatever that means
then in june 2015, dean lombardi terminated mike's contract because he had been caught at the us-canada border with oxycodone without a prescription. the contract was the 12 year $69 million one he had signed while in philly, and he still had five years remaining. the nhlpa filed a grievance against lombardi, and the kings ultimately reached a settlement in october 2015 and the kings will pay mike until 2031.
so from june-october 2015, mike's perception in the media and the hockey world was quite rocky
this is where jeff's quote comes in. he was asked about mike in a broader interview, and he said this:
Carter is quick to point out that heâs his own person, though he and Richards shared success together with multiple Canadian national teams as well as a Flyers 2010 Stanley Cup Final run and two Kingsâ Cups. âAll that where âitâs me and him is really,â no offense, but itâs just the media talking,â Carter said. âWe played against each other in junior and then we got drafted to Philly together and came in to Philly the same time and World Juniors and pretty much every team weâve played on since weâve both been on that team. Itâs fair to say, but we were both totally different players and never really played that much together maybe here or there.â
this quote is a source of many a mikehead crashout.
mike played in his brother's beer league for the last part of 2015 because he missed hockey so much
the caps ultimately picked him up in january 2016, and he played a little bit, but that was the end.
due to mike's unfortunate end, he never got a retirement ceremony or any of the theatrics that any player with his accolades should have gotten. it's really fucked up. and dean lombardi is going to hell. (dean lombardi currently works in the front office of the flyers).
jeff.. jeff played until 2024. he reached the 1000 game mark with the kings in 2019, which mike notes that he made sure to watch the first period of. fuck my life.
jeff then gets traded to the pitt pens. haha
plays with them until 2024 when he retires at the end of the 2023-24 season.
and he retires WITH the pens. haha
he gets a lawnmower as a retirement gift [NOT A JOKE].
he moved his family, who had still been in LA, to pitt in 2023, and they still are there to this day, where he occasionally is involved with various pitt charity events etc. watched game one of the 2026 flyers pens series whatever the fuck.
whole retirement shabang here.
there we go :) this really isn't even the half of it, is the thing.
If you think of any worthwhile novelâits intersecting arcs, its intertwined themes and metaphorsâno one is clever enough to do it. When you have crammed your head with data, you have to take your hands off and see what shapes the story forms. You must trust the process, and that can be difficult, because you have to quell anxiety; the task is to get out of your own way. I think this is true for all worthwhile fiction, not just historical fiction. At the centre of your work is an act of faith in the novel form. You employ what Keats called "negative capability"âyou must endure doubt and follow paths without signposts.
âHilary Mantel, in an interview with The Guardian
Time Loop: periods of time are repeated and re-experienced...there is often some hope of breaking out of the...cycle of repetition
Articles
Baskow, J. (2024, December 10). Jamie Drysdale has had unfortunate luck with injuries, but he can use Sundayâs game as a building block for success moving forward. FLYERS NITTY GRITTY. https://flyersnittygritty.com/jamie-drysdale-has-had-unfortunate-luck-with-injuries-but-he-can-use-sundays-game-as-a-building-block-for-success-moving-forward/
CBS News. (2011, June 23). Flyer shakeup: Mike richards, jeff carter traded - cbs news. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flyer-shakeup-mike-richards-jeff-carter-traded/
Davis, S. (2021, November 19). How to escape a time loop by sara davis. Okay Donkey. https://okaydonkeymag.com/2021/11/19/how-to-escape-a-time-loop-by-sara-davis/
Dowe, P. (2009). Every Now and Then: A-Theory and Loops in Time . The Journal of Philosophy , 106(12), 641â665.
Eskin, S. (2013, January 15). Danny briere on claude giroux: Itâs his team - cbs philadelphia. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/danny-briere-on-claude-giroux-its-his-team/
Hall, J. (2026, May 21). Drysdaleâs growth and âconfidence levelâ evident as new contract awaits. NBC Sports Philadelphia. https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nhl/philadelphia-flyers/flyers-jamie-drysdale-needs-new-contract-restricted-free-agent/733971/
James, W. (2026, January 30). âIâm tired of missing the playoffsâ: Travis konecny addresses the flyers continuing slide. Philly Hockey Now. https://phillyhockeynow.com/flyers-news-travis-konecny-speaks-on-team-struggles-after-loss-vs-bruins/
Kurz, K. (2026a, April 14). Flyersâ closeness, resiliency lead to playoffs: âWe believed right from the start.â The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7195025/2026/04/14/flyers-win-hurricanes-playoff-berth-close-team/
Kurz, K. (2026b, April 14). Philadelphia Flyers clinch playoff spot: How did they end their drought? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7194499/2026/04/13/philadelphia-flyers-clinch-playoff-spot/
Lamb, H. (2014). Altered recurrence in to the lighthouse. Honors Theses. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/honors/5
LeaHQuark. (2021, July 29). How to Escape From a ime loop. Medium. https://leahquark.medium.com/how-to-escape-from-a-ime-loop-24bac57856f8
MacDonald, S. M. (2015). Listening to a lighthouse. Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 4(2), 32â57. https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2015.4.2.32
Morreale, M. G. (2018, March 5). Patrick playing with purpose for Flyers . NHL. https://www.nhl.com/news/nolan-patrick-gaining-confidence-with-philadelphia-296611016
Schniedermann, W., Willemsen, S., & Yeager, S. A. (2025). Introduction: Time loops, temporal uncertainty, and problem-solving in narrative. Poetics Today, 46(1), 1â13. https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-11557569
Shilton, K. (2022, March 19). Longtime Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux traded to Florida Panthers. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/33549353/long-philadelphia-flyers-captain-claude-giroux-traded-florida-panthers-sources-say
Stephens, E. (2025, June 23). Is Trevor Zegras really the NHLâs most overrated player? His Ducks teammates respond. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5240068/2024/01/31/trevor-zegras-overrated-nhl-player-poll-ducks/
Warne, S. (2025, October 23). Senators host flyers: Claude giroux reflects on lack of former teammates left in philly. The Hockey News. https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/ottawa-senators/game-day/senators-host-flyers-claude-giroux-reflects-on-lack-of-former-teammates-left-in-philly
Poems
I Eat Breakfast to Begin the Day - Zubair Ahmed / I Have a Time Machine - Brenda Shaughnessy / Sense of Time - George Bowering / Epitaphs of the War - Rudyard Kipling
Photos
#1, 4, 6, 9-12, 17: Len Redkoles/NHL
#2: Bruce Bennett/Image Sports
#3: Andrew D. Bernstein/NHL
#5, 8: Elsa/Images Sport
#7: Jared Silber/NHL
#13: Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports
#14: Icon Sportswire
#15: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images Sport
#16: Emilee Chinn/Getty Images Sport
(2:10:56) MR: i wasn't like a natural goal scorer. i wasn't like, incredible hands. i always had to work for everything and then um the one year, i just kind of lost that kind of passion for hockey. and it kind of really kind of crept into the game and wasn't playing very well. and then next thing you know, was being talked about being traded, and you know, everything kind of just snowballed. and then obviously what happened at the end, which i really don't blame anyone but myself. anyways so it is what it is. i just look back on that time in my life as a positive, to be honest.
i think the passion kind of left me. when a player like me, who plays with a lot of passion, who has to be, you know, the hardest working guy on the ice. if i'm not, then i'm just the very average player.
Mike Richards on the Cam & Strick Podcast 11/23/2021
