Fischler, Holmgren, McNab elected to U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

Paul Holmgren
Holmgren played 10 NHL seasons as a forward with the Philadelphia Flyers and Minnesota North Stars. He scored 323 points (144 goals, 179 assists) in 527 regular-season games and 51 points (19 goals, 32 assists) in 82 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
The Flyers selected Holmgren in the sixth round (No. 108) of the 1975 NHL Draft.
Over five decades, mostly with the Flyers, Holmgren is the only person in their history to be a player (1975-84), assistant coach (1985-88), coach (1988-92), general manager (2006-14) and president (2014-19). He was also director of pro scouting (1995-97), director of player personnel (1997-99), assistant general manager (1999-06) and team president (2014-19).
Holmgren made his NHL debut March 25, 1976, against the Rangers at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, the first of 500 games with the Flyers. He scored an NHL career-high 65 points (30 goals, 35 assists) in 74 games in 1979-80 to help the Flyers to a 35-game undefeated streak (25 wins, 10 ties) and the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost the best-of-7 series to the Islanders in six games. In Game 2, an 8-3 Flyers win, Holmgren became the first United States-born player to score a hat trick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Holmgren was traded to Minnesota on Feb. 23, 1984. He retired after the 1984-85 season and returned to Philadelphia to coach under Mike Keenan. He became the first former Flyers player to become their coach on June 1, 1988 and was 107-126-31 over four seasons.
“To be able to play in the NHL, I consider a high honor,” Holmgren said. “I was able to coach in the NHL, be a GM in the NHL. All those are honors for me … I realize, I know I’ve been blessed to get to know the people I’ve got to know along the way. I got to work for (Flyers owner) Ed Snider, I worked with Bob Clarke, he was my roommate for many years. I got to know (NHL Commissioner) Gary Bettman, I got to know Brian Burke, legends in the game … I worked with Mike Keenan. I coached Mark Howe, I coached Chris Pronger. So many great things have happened because I was fortunate enough, blessed enough to be able to be part of this game, this great game of hockey.”
Holmgren worked four seasons for the Hartford Whalers. He was named coach June 15, 1992 and added general manager duties before the 1993-94 season. He stepped down as coach 17 games into that season to focus on the GM job but was reappointed coach on June 28, 1994 after Jim Rutherford was named GM. Holmgren was 54-93-14 in 161 games in four seasons coaching the Whalers.
Holmgren’s relationship with USA Hockey mirrors his time with the Flyers. He represented the United States internationally as a player, coach and in the front office. He played for the United States in the IIHF Under-20 World Junior Championship in 1974, was an assistant general manager for Team USA at the World Cup of Hockey 2016; assistant GM of the 2006 U.S. Men’s National Team; and an assistant for the United States at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
Holmgren played one season (1974-75) at the University of Minnesota and scored 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists) in 37 games.
“I look back and I hear people talk about work and this and that and I had a bad day at work,” Holmgren said. “I don’t remember having a bad day at work, I really don’t. I got to play hockey, I got to be involved in hockey, I got to watch a lot of hockey games. And if it wasn’t for USA Hockey and all the work they’ve done at the grassroots level, for me growing up, who knows what would have happened, but I was able to be involved in hockey my whole life and for that I’m grateful.”