Holmgren's career on, off ice with Flyers led to U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

Paul Holmgren will be inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame as a reward for a career that saw him excel on and off the ice, both in the NHL and internationally.

But it's a career that nearly ended prematurely when surgery for an eye injury after his first NHL game almost led to his death.
"It's amazing how quickly time goes by," Holmgren said. "It's literally a blink of an eye when you think about it, how fast the years have gone by and where we're at."
Holmgren will be part of the 2021 Hall of Fame class that will be inducted Dec. 9, along with Peter McNab and Stan Fischler. Also being honored will be the Class of 2020: Dean Blais, Tony Granato, Jenny Potter and Jerry York, as well Jack Barzee (2021) and Lynn Olson (2020), who will receive the Lester Patrick Trophy for contributions to hockey in the United States. The 2020 ceremony was postponed because of concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
Most of Holmgren's professional career has been spent with the Philadelphia Flyers. He's the only person in NHL history to be player, assistant coach, coach, general manager and president for the same organization.
"I consider myself blessed to be a part of this for as many years as I have been," he said. "I am so fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time."
Holmgren was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was 12 years old when the North Stars joined the NHL in 1967. He went to one game growing up, coincidentally against the Flyers.
He played for the United States at the 1974 IIHF Under-18 World Championship and the 1974 IIHF World Junior Championship, and then in 1974-75 at the University of Minnesota, where he scored 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists) and had a team-high 108 penalty minutes in 37 games. His mix of skill and size (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) led the Flyers to select him in the sixth round (No. 108) of the 1975 NHL Draft.
Holmgren began his professional career in 1975-76 with the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the World Hockey Association, but when the team folded later that season he signed with the Flyers and was assigned to Richmond of the American Hockey League.
He made his NHL debut against the New York Rangers on March 25, 1976. The Flyers traveled to Boston the next day, and at a late-night team meeting in coach Fred Shero's hotel room, teammates could see something was wrong with Holmgren's right eye, which he had injured during a fight in the AHL.
Doctors determined Holmgren needed surgery, but during the procedure more than his eye needed saving.
"They told me after that my heart stopped," said Holmgren, who was 21 years old at the time. "I did all these tests and the only logical explanation to all the doctors that looked at me was [I] had an adverse reaction to the anesthesia."
Holmgren recovered and went on to play nine more NHL seasons and scored 323 points (144 goals, 179 assists) with 1,684 penalty minutes in 527 games with the Flyers and Minnesota North Stars.
"'Homer' was tough, played aggressive, fought, but he was also a presence on the ice in the offensive zone," said Brad Marsh, a teammate with Flyers. "If you checked him, he'd beat the stuffing out of you; if you left him alone, he had the ability to score goals."
Holmgren's best season was 1979-80 when he scored 65 points (30 goals, 35 assists) in 74 regular-season games and 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in 18 Stanley Cup Playoff games to help the Flyers reach the Final, where they lost in six games to the New York Islanders.
He also became the first United States-born player to score a hat trick in the playoffs when he scored three times against the Islanders in Game 2 of the Cup Final on May 15, 1980 (link to https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/nyi-vs-phi/1980/05/15/1979030412#game=1979030412,game_state=final).
"I said something to Joey Mullen once, he's played in a lot of Stanley Cup Finals, he's one of the top American scorers of all time, so I have that over Joe Mullen," Holmgren said. "I have that over Mike Modano, I have that over John LeClair. The list of American players ... for me to have that asterisk or whatever you want to call it, it's pretty incredible to think of all the great scorers that are American-born. I'm not in the top 1,000 probably. But somebody had to be first."
Holmgren retired after the 1984-85 season and was hired by the Flyers as an assistant on coach Mike Keenan's staff in 1985. He was named coach when Keenan was fired in 1988 and was 107-126 with 31 ties in four seasons.
He was fired 24 games into the 1991-92 season and hired by the Hartford Whalers as coach June 15, 1992. In four seasons as coach and GM he was 54-93 with 14 ties. Holmgren was fired 12 games into the 1995-96 season.
In 1996 Holmgren rejoined the Flyers as director of professional scouting and was an assistant on coach Ron Wilson's staff that helped the United States win the 1996 World Cup.
Holmgren and Bobby Clarke, then the Flyers GM, had developed a bond as teammates and grew closer as they worked together, and he took over as GM when Clarke retired early in the 2006-07 season.
"We were a good team," Clarke said. "He was really good. Obviously a really good worker and really good with people, how he treated the scouts, how he treated the people he worked with, people who worked for him and worked for me. He was just outstanding."
The Flyers reached the playoffs six times in Holmgren's eight seasons as GM, including a six-game loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. They also went from last in the NHL standings in 2006-07 to the Eastern Conference Final in 2008. The Detroit Red Wings, from 1985-87, are the other team in the NHL Expansion Era (since 1967) to go from last in the League to the NHL Semifinals/conference finals in consecutive seasons.
Holmgren won the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the United States in 2014, and that same year became Flyers president. He was named a senior advisor to chairman Dave Scott and GM Chuck Fletcher in 2019.
During a video honoring Holmgren for his induction into the Flyers Hall of Fame on Nov. 16, Daniel Briere called Holmgren, "the ultimate guardian of the Flyers logo." Briere said he signed with the Flyers as a free agent in 2007 because of the trust he had in Holmgren, and later learned the business side of the organization working under him.
"To me, no one embodies the culture of the Flyers like Paul does ... for everything that he's done for this organization," Briere said.
Holmgren was humbled by the comment.
"I've been very lucky, very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and have the right people behind me, in the right corner for me, giving me second chances and stuff like that," he said. "I've been very fortunate along the way."