Legendary Bobby Clarke has made some shocking revelations about former Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall.
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While on the Cam and Strick Podcast, the Flyers senior advisor revealed that no one wanted to draft forward Nolan Patrick with the second overall pick in the 2017 amateur auction, except for Hextall.
“None of our recruiters wanted Nolan Patrick,” said the Flyers vice-president of hockey operations.
“They wanted [le défenseur Cake] Makar, whose name came out shortly after our selection. He became a super star, while Patrick didn’t play much. Hextall made this decision on his own, ”Clarke continued, referring to the current GM of the Flyers’ big rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Annoyed by injuries since his professional debut, Patrick amassed 70 points, including 27 goals in 197 games in the Flyers’ uniform. For his part, Makar had 125 points in 129 games with the Colorado Avalanche.
Last summer, Patrick moved to the Vegas Golden Knights in a three-team trade with the Nashville Predators. The Pennsylvania club got defenseman Ryan Ellis.
“Huge mistakes”
Clarke had a lot to heart about Hextall, who served as the team’s GM between May 2014 and November 2018.
“There are other draft picks we made in the draft that we’re currently paying for,” said the man who wore the Flyers’ colors from 1969 to 1984.
“We had a couple of first-round picks that will never play [dans la Ligue nationale]. That’s why we’re having trouble right now. Hextall made huge mistakes. ”
Clarke also had some complaints against the deals the former GM made and those he didn’t. He decried the trade that sent center Brayden Schenn to the St. Louis Blues and revealed that the Flyers could have acquired Ryan O’Reilly from the Buffalo Sabers in 2018.
“We were lucky enough to get our hands on Ryan O’Reilly from Buffalo and we didn’t. It was our CEO’s decision, but no one was consulted on this file, ”Clarke said.