The 1997–98 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers 31st season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The man picked to replace Terry Murray, Wayne Cashman, was deemed ill-suited for the job as the Flyers played inconsistently throughout the 1997–98 season and so Roger Neilson was hired in March to take over the head coaching duties. John LeClair was able to score at least 50 goals for the third consecutive year (netting 51), the first time for an American-born player, and Sean Burke was acquired at the trade deadline to shore up the ever-worsening goaltending situation. In a season in which the Flyers — despite a hard fall to Detroit the previous year — were heavily favored to repeat as Eastern champs and return to the Finals, they never came close, as they were dominated in