Just as we thought this season couldn’t get any worse, Ron Hextall still finds a way to ruin our days one final time, all while he reaps the benefits of being the GM of a team that has one of the best players of all-time on it.

Bobby Clarke hopped on “The Cam & Strick Podcast” yesterday and had some extremely interesting choice words about Hextall.

Let me tell you, Clarke went in.

“We get the 2nd pick in the draft…and we end up drafting Nolan Patrick. None of our scouts wanted Nolan Patrick…(Hextall) made some huge mistakes…He made himself bigger than the team. That’s something I would never ever have thought of with Hexy because he was such a team player.”

I’m not here to cry about the fact that we should have Cale Makar, or throw a redraft in your face because honestly those piss me off. It’s extremely easy to go back with hindsight and sit there and type up a re-draft.

What’s so infuriating about Bobby Clarke, a senior advisor for the Flyers, saying this, is how pissed off and exhausted he sounds. Clarke went on to add that when the Flyers hired Ron as GM he personally thought it was a terrific move, but quickly realized that Hextall alienated everyone in the organization by shutting his doors and having a “my way or the highway” kind of attitude.

I mean, how stubborn is this guy? You hire an entire scouting department to work their asses off year-round to find the best young talent in the world, and when it’s time to use those scouts in determining a franchise-altering pick, you tell them to go fuck themselves? This is the same GM that got fired in 2018 for refusing to use any of his draft picks or prospects to go out and make the active roster better.

Nolan Patrick played 197 games as a Philadelphia Flyer, scoring 70 points (30G-40A) in that span. Cale Makar on the other hand just made Kirby Dach look like a JV player in OT just a couple of games ago. If you haven’t already seen this disgusting goal, I’d advise you not to look now, it’ll only piss you off even more. 

Makar currently has 15G-16A-31P in 28 games. He has more goals (15) in 28 games right now than Nolan Patrick has at any point in his career in 73 games (his highest total played in a season).

Again, I’m not here to cry about not having Makar. He’s a Colorado Avalanche now and most likely will be for the rest of his career. I just think it’s eye-opening that Bobby Clarke, who is now 72 years old, has shown more fire and anger on a fucking podcast than anybody else in this entire organization has in a decade.

We have the current GM telling fans, “We are what we are.” I’m confident Dave Scott doesn’t even know he’s running a hockey team right now. That loser is so far out of touch with the organization and fanbase that I’m seriously starting to wonder when the petitions for him to resign will begin. 

I like what I heard out of Bobby though. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the honor of watching the man play for my beloved Flyers, but I can see the heart and passion he still has at the age of 72. I’m going to need him to walk into that building with the same energy and tell Dave Scott to go fuck himself. For someone who was around during the best stretch of Flyers hockey ever, it’s got to be defeating seeing what this team has come to in 2022. 

Lifeless, boring, and fragile.

Mandatory Credit: Photo from cbssports.com