Flyers’ Bobby Clarke rips Ron Hextall for picking Nolan Patrick over Cale Makar
Anthony Scultore
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Philadelphia Flyers legend Bobby Clarke dropped a bomb that not many fans will be able to recover from.
Imagine this, Cale Makar patrolling the Broad St. blue line, scoring magical goals, and setting up some too. Yes, the Flyers could have selected him with the number two pick in the 2017 NHL Draft but opted to go with Nolan Patrick.
Of course, there’s a list as long as a skyscraper of missed draft selections by all teams from all sports. What gutted Flyers fans this week was to learn then GM Ron Hextall disregarded his scouting staff’s recommendation to choose Makar.
Flyers scouts wanted Makar
Legendary Flyers player and current Senior Advisor, Bobby Clarke was recently on the Cam and Strick Podcast. Even though he expressed his admiration for his former goalie, Clarke didn’t hold back on Hextall’s responsibility for the current situation the organization is in.
“When Paul Holmgren hired him I thought it was the best decision he could have made,” Clarke began. “Hexy came in and alienated everybody right away. He shut his door. He locked the doors. He was the boss and nobody else was part of it.”
What came next is still reverberating among the Flyers fan base.
“We get the second pick in the draft and we end up drafting Nolan Patrick. None of our scouts wanted Nolan Patrick… he’s a pretty good player, but (the scouts) wanted Makar,” Clarke revealed. “Now he’s a superstar and Patrick hasn’t played … but Hextall made that choice himself.”
Clarke at one point paused and said, “I’m talking too much.”
That still didn’t stop him from noting that Hextall also traded Brayden Schenn without anyone in the organization being aware. He also revealed that the Flyers were trying to get Ryan O’Reilly from the Sabres but were unable to get it done.
“That’s why we’re struggling, Hexy made some huge mistakes,” Clarke explained.
The Flyers are currently 13-16-7 for 33 points and 11 points out of the final wild card spot.
“We’ve got a long ways to go to catch up,” Clarke concluded. “We have to get back to the middle of the pack and work our way up.”
