1969-70 was the third year of existence for the Philadelphia Flyers and their first missing the post season. The team’s 58 points over 76 games remained the lowest single season output until 2006-07 when the Flyers produced just 56 points over 82 games. However, it was the first year with future Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke in the lineup and the team was just four years away from their first Stanley Cup victory.
The top five point producing positions on the team actually consist of six players with Jean-Guy Gendron and Simon Nolet tying for fifth with 44 points.
What follows are the 1970-71 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards of these six players. The only exception is Jim Johnson. Johnson was not included in the 1970-71 set so we’ve inserted his 1969-70 card. Why 1970-71 cards instead of 1969-70? Simply because we’re talking about the top 5 from 1969-70 and the 1970-71 hockey cards celebrate the stats and performances from the year before.
| Player Name | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Andre Lacroix | 74 | 22 | 36 | 58 | 14 |
| Gary Dornhoefer | 65 | 26 | 29 | 55 | 96 |
| Jim Johnson | 72 | 18 | 30 | 48 | 17 |
| Bobby Clarke | 76 | 15 | 31 | 46 | 68 |
| Jean-Guy Gendron | 71 | 23 | 21 | 44 | 54 |
| Simon Nolet | 56 | 22 | 22 | 44 | 36 |
Andre Lacroix led the Flyers in 1969-70 with 58 points. It was Lacroix’s third season in the NHL and third with the Flyers. Andre played just 325 games in the NHL with the Flyers, Chicago Black Hawks and Hartford Whalers before becoming one of the greatest offensive players in the history of the World Hockey Association.
Gary Dornhoefer finished three points behind Lacroix but played nine fewer games. Like Lacroix, Dornhoefer had been with the Flyers since the club’s beginning. He started his NHL career in 1963-64 with the Boston Bruins but didn’t become a regular player in the league until moving to Philadelphia. Dornhoefer retired a Flyer after the 1977-78 season.
Jim Johnson played a handful of games with the New York Rangers, starting in 1964-65, before being picked up by the Flyers in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft. Johnson played 302 games in the NHL with the Rangers, Flyers and Los Angeles Kings before jumping to the WHA after the 1971-72 season. He played three years in the WHA with the Minnesota Fighting Saints and Indianapolis Racers before retiring from the game. Jim finished third with 48 points.
Despite the Flyers reluctantly drafting him in the second round of the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft, Bobby Clarke almost instantly became the face of the team for many years to come. He finished two points behind Johnson and was the only one of the six to play in all 76 regular season games for Philadelphia.
Jean Guy Gendron started his NHL career in 1955-56 with the New York Rangers. He was in his mid-30’s when he played his first full season with the Flyers. He played with Philadelphia until the end of the 1971-72 season when he joined the exodus to the WHA, playing two years with the Quebec Nordiques before retiring. Along the way, Gendron also played for the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. In 1969-70, he tied for fifth with Simon Nolet.
Simon Nolet played his first NHL games in 1967-68 with the Flyers. That year, he spent most of his time in the AHL with the Quebec Aces where he led the league with 96 points and was awarded the John B. Sollenberger Trophy. He remained with the club until the end of the 1973-74 season, winning a Stanley Cup that spring. Nolet played just three seasons more, appearing with the Kansas City Scouts, Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Rockies.