It’s Been 15,000 Days Since the Flyers Won the Stanley Cup

Image made by @BackhandedDevil

Last night, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Championship. It was Cleveland’s first major pro sports championship since 1964 — a 52-year gap since its last championship.

Philadelphia is no longer “cursed” since its victory in the 2008 World Series. But the city’s other teams are really starting to get into long droughts. The Eagles have never won a Super Bowl, and their last NFL Championship was in 1960. The Sixers haven’t won a title since 1983.

The Flyers’ drought now stands at 41 years; their last Stanley Cup was in 1975. And, as Twitter account @SinceFlyersCup notes, today marks 15,000 days since the Flyers last won the Stanley Cup.

15,000 days since the Philadelphia Flyers last won a Stanley Cup.

— SinceFlyersLastCup (@SinceFlyersCup) June 20, 2016

The account is even selling merchandise to commemorate the occasion. The Twitter account is a (friendly?) tweak at Flyers super-fans to remind them they haven’t won anything in a long time.

Telling a Flyers fan in 1975 they wouldn’t win a title again for 15,000-plus days would be a hard sell. The team won its lone Cups in its seventh and eighth years of existence. At one point, they’d won a championship in 25 percent of their seasons; now it’s 4 percent.

#Flyers15kDay pic.twitter.com/I194xlUmzb

— SinceFlyersLastCup (@SinceFlyersCup) June 20, 2016

To make things worse for Flyers fans this season, the in-state rival Pittsburgh Penguins last week won their fourth Stanley Cup.

What’s weird is the Flyers have been incredibly successful since their Stanley Cup wins, they just haven’t won a title. The Flyers are the expansion team with the most wins in NHL history; their .577 points percentage is second-best in NHL history behind the Montreal Canadiens.

But ultimate playoff success has been elusive. Since winning their two titles, the Flyers have lost in the Stanley Cup Final in 1976, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1996 and 2010. Things with the team are looking up — first-year coach Dave Hakstol led them back to the playoffs this season — but when will they be a Stanley Cup contender again?

The Cleveland win last night definitely thrusts Philadelphia back into the “cursed sports cities” conversation. If the Cavaliers can pull off another title in the next few years, we have to start looking around to figure out what we could have possibly done to deserve this.

Follow @dhm on Twitter.