Q/A: Flyers Hall of Famer Brian Propp on his New Book, and Why Allowing Young Players to Make Mistakes is the Right Approach

It’s been almost 10 years since Brian Propp suffered a major stroke that rendered him unable to speak or walk.

“One minute I was sound asleep, the next I was still out of it but tumbling over the side of a rental house bed. My face hit the side of the bed and suddenly my faculties were gone,” the Flyers Hall of Famer writes in his new book, titled Angel on my Wing: A Story of Faith, Determination and Courage. 

Propp’s speech is still slightly affected, but otherwise it’s been a comprehensive and impressive recovery, detailed fully in the book. He talks about a lot of everything across almost 250 pages, from his youth in rural Canada to the great Flyers teams of the 1980s and life after hockey. Casual Philly sports fans sometimes forget that Propp is one of the all-time Flyers greats. To this day, he holds the franchise records for single-season game-winning goals (12) and shorthanded goals (7). He’s fourth on the all-time points list, and nobody behind him is remotely close. His 112 playoff points are second only to Bobby Clarke and he’s one of the 98 NHL players to score more than 1,000 career points.

We caught up with Propp earlier this week.

Crossing Broad: What made you want do the book?

Brian Propp: I talked to Wayne Fish, a writer I’ve known for 45 years. A hockey book doesn’t thrill me, but after my stroke nine years ago, how I recovered and got back to be better, I had a better story to tell. It took a couple of years to do the recordings and edit everything, but now that it’s up and going I’m excited for it and hopefully people really enjoy it.

CB: I did notice when reading this that there are a lot of chapters. It’s not just about hockey. Maybe only half the book is about hockey. It’s your life story.

Propp: Yeah and especially for people who have strokes. (Not everyone) knows hockey, but a lot of people have strokes and are affected in different ways. At the start, I had the stroke on September 3rd of 2015, so I couldn’t talk at all. It took me a few months before I could say anything. The first two words I said were “Bernie Parent,” and that’s not even my family’s name (laughing). It was really frustrating because I didn’t know if I’d ever talk or walk again or do anything else. It was frustrating at the start. But with my faith, my dad is a Lutheran Minister, speaks English and German, and is from a little town of 300 people, Neudorf, in Saskatchewan. And I have two brothers and two sisters so we had our own hockey team. The faith my dad gave me made a big difference. And I noticed when I left when I was 16 or 17 to play junior hockey, he gave me a good head to take care of own life and be happy with your own life and that takes care of itself. I always remembered that. Be happy with yourself and everything else falls into place.

CB: My introduction to Flyers fandom was the Legion of Doom line, so I missed those great teams of the 1980s, but enjoyed reading more about them in this book. What do you want people to know about those teams?

Propp: In the 80s, we didn’t make much money. I know my first three years I made 50, 55, and 60 thousand dollars. I lived on a thousand dollars a month budget. You couldn’t do much, so I had to work on the farm to make some money in the summers. But it was a good time. We had good teams in the 80s and good coaching. A player like Bob Clarke was a great leader, and Dave Poulin was a good leader, and Mark Howe was a great player. Brad McCrimmon – a good leader. I learned from them how to become a better leader. At the start, I couldn’t talk at all. Didn’t say much of anything. The writers were frustrated with me because I just said yes and no. After time you get better. In the 80s we played together 8 or 10 years and that made a big difference. Now they have two lines that they sign for 8 or 10 years and then the two bottom lines kind of get recirculated. But in the 80s we had good teams and we were always in the playoffs, and we had the 35-game unbeaten streak which will probably never get broken. That year we played against the Islanders in the finals, and of course we lost in OT in Game 6. Then ’85 and ’87 we had a chance to win and then I went to Boston and Minnesota (to finish my career). So I just contributed as much as I could, but the 80s were good. I was a “study” kind of player and just did my job and didn’t say too much and had fun… And back in the 80s, Ron Jaworski, the football guys, we’d all hang out together, the baseball guys too. And we still do things together. Jaws has the golf clubs around and does charity events. I help him with a lot of those things he does, and so I know a lot of the football players and the hockey players. We still give back and have fun with people.

CB: John Tortorella was telling the TNT crew that he coaches Matvei Michkov differently. Typically he likes to address things right away, but with Michkov being 19 and having the language barrier, they meet once a week and go over everything with a translator. What do you think of how they’re coaching him compared perhaps to how they would have done it in your day?

Propp: Well in the 80s we had mostly Canadians and Americans (laughs). You didn’t have any Russians because they couldn’t even be drafted until (the late 1980s). But the Flyers have a couple of Russians that can help, too. I know he doesn’t speak English, might be tough every week to go over things, but I still like the way he’s playing. I don’t mind if they make mistakes as long as they try, and try something different, because to dump it in and go back doesn’t make a difference. I’d rather have them try something and have a chance.

CB: They have to be allowed to make mistakes. There was a discussion about these Michigan attempts, they haven’t come off, not yet, and Scott Hartnell was saying on the broadcast that maybe the higher-percentage play is to just put the puck out in front of the net. Okay, sure, but you’ve got a creative guy. Where’s the line drawn in wanting guys to be creative but maybe pulling them back when it becomes too much? These types of guys have to have a longer leash.

Propp: I agree definitely, because you want to make sure they have their own character, and you might as well use it. You’ll make some mistakes but you’ll learn from there. They’re creating other things. He’s really good. He’s already got a couple of overtime winners. He’s only 20 some games in. He’s learning. Everybody knows he’s going to be a good player.

Here’s the full conversation:

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