Ex-Flyer Bobby Clarke didn't hold back with his thoughts on the way Ron Hextall handled the draft as general manager of the Flyers.
Clarke, 72, was the senior vice president of hockey operations for the Flyers during Hextall's tenure as general manager, and remains in the organization now as a senior advisor.
Clarke made an appearance this week on the Cam & Strick Podcast hosted by former NHL forward Cam Janssen and Blues reporter Andy Strickland. He had several criticisms of Hextall's drafting with the Flyers, but his biggest gripe was with the 2017 draft.
The Flyers held the No. 2 overall pick, and selected forward Nolan Patrick. The next three players chosen in the draft were defensemen Miro Heiskanen (Dallas) and Cale Makar (Colorado), and forward Elias Pettersson (Vancouver).
Patrick played three seasons for the Flyers -- 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2020-21 -- and missed the 2019-20 season due to a migraine disorder. Patrick scored just four goals and five assists in 52 games in his final season with the Flyers. The Flyers traded Patrick and Philippe Myers to the Predators in exchange for Ryan Ellis, and then the Predators immediately traded Patrick to the Golden Knights for Cody Glass.
It was a bust of a pick for the Flyers.
Clarke, though, said on the podcast appearance that the Flyers scouts didn't want Patrick. They wanted Makar.
"When Hexy came in, he alienated everybody right away," Clarke said. "He shut his door, he locked the doors, he was the boss. Nobody else was part of it. We have the second pick in the draft and end up picking Nolan Patrick. None of our scouts wanted Nolan Patrick. I don't know where Patrick should have gone after his performances in (junior), he's a pretty good player. They wanted Makar. Of course, he went next. Now he's a superstar. Hextall made that choice himself."
Makar won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's top rookie in 2019-20 season, and finished No. 2 in voting for the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league's top defenseman in the 2020-21 season.
Clarke had other criticisms of Hextall's drafting, seemingly blaming him for the Flyers' ongoing failures.
"There were other choices that were made at our drafts that we’re paying for," he continued. "We've got two or three first-round picks that are never going to play. That’s why we’re struggling. Hexy made some huge mistakes.”
Clarke is likely alluding to German Rubtsov, the Flyers' first-round pick in 2016 and Jay O’Brien, the latter of the Flyers' two first-round picks in 2018.
Rubtsov, a forward, has played in three seasons in the Flyers' organization, in addition to being loaned to the KHL last season as a result of COVID-19 delaying and shortening the AHL season. Rubtsov played four scoreless games for the Flyers in the 2019-20 season, but has otherwise played for their AHL affiliate in Lehigh Valley. Rubtsov was a No. 22 overall pick. Nearly every forward who went after Rubtsov in the first round -- Max Jones, Tage Thompson, Brett Howden, Trent Frederic, Sam Steel -- have since turned into NHL regulars.
O'Brien remains unsigned and is currently playing at Boston University, but isn't regarded as one of the Flyers' top prospects anymore.
Strickland then brought up one of Hextall's trades on the podcast, noting that "He gave the Blues Brayden Schenn, too."
Schenn was a draft day trade made by Hextall in 2017. He traded Schenn to the Blues in exchange for Jori Lehtera, the No. 27 pick in the 2017 draft and a conditional first-round pick in the 2018 draft.
Lehtera played two seasons for the Flyers then left for the KHL. The Flyers drafted Morgan Frost with the No. 27 pick, and he's split the last three seasons between the AHL (or taxi squad) and NHL. The Flyers received the No. 14 pick in the 2018 draft as a result of the trade, and drafted Joel Farabee, who had developed into an NHL regular for the last three seasons.
"That was just as bad," Clarke said of the trade. "Nobody knew it. Hexy made that on his own. All of our scouts were at the draft. Our scouts were so mad at Hexy for doing that. We also had a chance to get (Ryan) O'Reilly from Buffalo, but we didn't. Obviously that's the manager's decision, but it's another one that the scouts weren't consulted on."
The full appearance from Clarke on the podcast can be heard here.
