By Jenny Masters
Flyers legend franchise Bobby Clarke crushed former GM Ron Hextall yesterday.
On the latest episode of the Cam and Strick Podcast, Clarke blamed Hextall, who held the team’s general manager position for a little over three seasons, for essentially everything wrong with the current roster. He pinned the somewhat miserable state of the franchise on Hextall’s “huge mistakes” which, Clarke says, included some very questionable trades and draft choices, including the big one — passing on superstar defenseman Cale Makar:
“He alienated everybody right away. He shut his door, he locked the doors. He was the boss and nobody else was a part of it,” Clarke said.
“We get the second pick in the draft and we end up drafting Nolan Patrick. None of our scouts wanted Nolan Patrick. I don’t know where Patrick should have gone after his performances in Brandon, he’s a pretty good player, but they certainly wanted Makar. Of course he went next. Now he’s a superstar and Patrick hasn’t played … but Hextall made that choice himself.”
Patrick, the No. 2 overall pick behind Nico Hischier in 2017, was widely considered a flop in Philadelphia after tallying 70 points in 197 games while struggling to stay healthy over four seasons with the Flyers. They finally gave up on the former Brandon Wheat Kings star last summer when they traded him to Vegas for fellow former top prospect Cody Glass. Patrick has played in nine games with the Golden Knights this season, tallying just one goal and three points.
