To know the level of success the Philadelphia Flyers have achieved in recent years, one needs to look no further than their goaltending, spanning the labor wars:

Fall 1994: With a young team led by superstar-to-be Eric Lindros on the verge of breaking a five-year non-playoff hex, returning Flyers general manager Bob Clarke trades to bring back one-time Philadelphia goalie idol Ron Hextall.

2002-03 BY THE NUMBERS

Record: 45-20-13-4, 107 pts. (5th overall, 4th East, 2nd Atlantic); Home: 21-10-8-2; Road: 24-10-5-2 Goals for/Avg.: 211/2.57 (17th overall) Goals against/Avg.: 166/2.02 (T1st overall) Differential: Plus-45 (7th overall) Power play: 14.3 percent (47-328, T21st overall) Penalty kill: 85.2 percent (288-338, 9th overall) 20-goal scorers: Jeremy Roenick (27), Mark Recchi (20), Tony Amonte (20, 7 with Flyers) 50-point scorers: Roenick (59), Recchi (52), Amonte (51, 15 with Flyers)

Spring 1995: A lockout-shortened season winds up with the young Flyers making it to the Eastern Conference finals. Hextall is sharp until allowing a 60-foot goal that leads to New Jersey winning the series in six games.

Spring 1996: Hextall is outplayed by veteran John Vanbiesbrouck as Florida upsets the Flyers in the second round.

Spring 1997: Coach Terry Murray tries to alternate Hextall with backup Garth Snow. The Flyers advance to the Stanley Cup finals, where they are swept by the Detroit Red Wings.

Spring 1998 and 1999: After turning a nose up at free agent Curtis Joseph, Clarke brings Vanbiesbrouck in as a less expensive option. He's good, but his affinity for allowing short-side goals at bad times leads to consecutive first-round exits against Buffalo and Toronto.

Spring 2000: Behind rookie Brian Boucher, Flyers make it back to the conference finals, where Devils goalie Martin Brodeur shakes off a poor series start to oversee three straight wins in a seven-game series.

Spring 2001-02: Roman Cechmanek is the new Philadelphia netminder. Consecutive playoff series losses to Ottawa follow.

With one more try at a Cup until another labor war ... what now?

Looking ahead
Back in May, Dominik Hasek got off his couch, stretched, peered out at the Prague skyline and remarked, "You know, all in all, I'd really rather be in Detroit."

After welcoming Hasek back with open arms, the Red Wings are looking to unload Joseph, who still has two years left on his three-year, $24 million contract, at a discounted price. The Flyers need a goalie ... so they sign less-expensive option Jeff Hackett. Clarke never seemed to think his club needs a high-priced goaltending stud to win a Stanley Cup.

Is this history repeating itself?

With Hackett helping to develop backup Robert Esche -- who probably will take over as the full-time starter for the playoffs -- Clarke feels his club is deep enough to compete for a championship. So with that -- and Hackett's three career playoff victories -- in mind, the Flyers aren't planning on making any drastic offseason moves.

Hackett instead of Cechmanek. Re-signing pending free agents Eric Desjardins, Sami Kapanen and Claude Lapointe. Signing exciting Finnish defensive prospect Joni Pitkanen. And that's about it.

Considering the history of this team, is that about enough?

But Clarke would rather concentrate on recent history. How his team again achieved a 100-plus point regular season. How it has experience on the blue line with Desjardins, Kim Johnsson, Chris Therien, Marcus Ragnarsson and Eric Weinrich. How late last last season he added scoring depth with Tony Amonte (a down year with 20 goals, but 7 goals in 13 games as a Flyer) and Kapanen, who did well teamed with Jeremy Roenick (a solid, 59-point season).

Add them to a veteran core of John LeClair, Keith Primeau and Mark Recchi and what do you have? Yup, an old team.

But coach Ken Hitchcock has a plan: mold those three latter old hands into one experienced, $19 million checking line. Primeau and Recchi are up for it, but LeClair isn't. Since he's missed the bulk of two of the past three seasons and still has three years and $27 million left on his contract, Clarke seemed itching to try to trade him during the summer, too. Yet with teams unwilling to take on significant salary, that won't happen.

LeClair will get a chance to prove himself to Hitchcock as the valuable healthy scorer he thinks he can still be. That will be interesting to see. But what should really determine the Flyers' fate are the fortunes of three young guys -- Simon Gagne, Justin Williams and Pitkanen.

A 30-goal scorer two years ago, Gagne took a huge step back because of injuries last season and produced just nine goals and 27 points. Williams was making steps toward stardom when he went down hard in January with a knee injury, but he returned strong in the playoffs and is now awaiting a Group II free-agent reward.

And Pitkanen?

He will be a rookie with a lot of pressure -- the Flyers haven't had a pure puck-carrying, offensive-threat defenseman since Mark Howe, whose best years with the Flyers were in the late '80s.

If it all comes together there's no reason to laugh at Clarke when he says his team can be a true Cup contender in 2003-04. Of course, there's always that historic goaltending factor to consider.

Rob Parent of the Delaware County (Pa.) Times is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.