Bobby Clarke

Bobby Clarke
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1987
Born	August 13, 1949 Flin Flon, MB, CAN
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	176 lb (80 kg; 12 st 8 lb)
Position	Center
Played for	Philadelphia Flyers
NHL draft	17th overall, 1969 Philadelphia Flyers
Playing career	1969–1984

Robert Earle "Bobby" Clarke OC (born August 13, 1949 in Flin Flon, Manitoba) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and former general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Clarke was one of the first stars drafted by the expansion Flyers, and he quickly led them into contention within a few years, capturing two consecutive Stanley Cups and personally being named league MVP three times.

After retiring as a player, Clark served as General Manager of the Flyers on two stints (1984-1990, 1994-2006), managing his team to the Stanley Cup finals three times. He reached a fourth final as manager of the Minnesota North Stars. Clarke was also the first General Manager of Team Canada in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, the first time that NHL professionals were allowed to play.

Playing career

Clarke played in hockey leagues since the age of eight. He learned he had diabetes when he was twelve or thirteen years old. Although he was a highly-touted prospect as a junior, playing with his hometown Flin Flon Bombers, some NHL teams hesitated to draft him because of his diabetes. However, the Philadelphia Flyers organization made enquires of a diabetic specialist and were told that as long as he took care of himself, Clarke would be fine. Thus assured, the Flyers drafted Clarke with their second pick, 17th overall, in the 1969 Entry Draft.

Despite his diabetes and hard-nosed play, Clarke proved remarkably durable, playing fewer than 70 games only one season in his career. Clarke's diet antics would later become famous: he would drink two cans of soda and take three spoons of sugar before a game, add two bottles of orange juice during intermissions and pack chocolate bars and glucose gum hidden in his uniform's pockets, to prevent his blood sugar from going down from all the physical activity during the sixty minute games.

Clarke played for fifteen seasons in the NHL, from 1969 to 1984, and was one of the great stars of the sport during his playing days, notable for a ferocious will, tenacious defense play and scoring prowess. He was the ultimate proto-type team player, recognized by both his peers and fans alike.

During the 1972 Summit Series which was won by Canada, he controversially slashed at Valery Kharlamov's ankle making the Soviet largely ineffective for the last game of the series.

In 1974 and 1975, after being named the Flyers' captain, he led his team -- nicknamed the "Broad Street Bullies" for their penalty-filled intimidating style -- to back-to-back Stanley Cups, the first expansion squad to win a Cup.

He also helped save the honor of North American hockey by leading the Flyers to victory in the final game of the 1975-76 USSR Red Army tour in North America.

Clarke retired after the 1983-84 NHL season, having scored 358 goals and 852 assists for 1210 points and 1453 penalty minutes in 1144 games. At the time of his retirement, he was 4th all-time in assists and 10th in points.

Wayne Gretzky has remarked that it was Clarke's play "from behind the net" that inspired him to improve that area of his game. Most regard Gretzky as the best ever from that position on the ice.

General Manager

Philadelphia (1984-1990)

Having a taste of management during his playing career, when he served as a player-assistant coach between 1979-1982, Clarke was named general manager in 1984. During his first tenure, the Flyers reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1985 and 1987, losing both to the Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers. In 1990 following a dismal season and continuing friction with former team president Jay Snider, Clarke was dismissed. During the next five consecutive seasons, the Flyers failed to make the playoffs.

Minnesota and Florida

Clarke spent the next two seasons (1990-1992) as the general manager for the Minnesota North Stars, guiding the team to a Stanley Cup final appearance in 1991.

After a brief return to Philadelphia as a Senior Vice President in 1992-93, Clarke was named the Florida Panthers' first general manager. Under Clarke, the Panthers set league records for wins and points by an expansion team during the 1993-94 season.

Philadelphia (1994-2006)

He left that post after a single season to return to Philadelphia for the 1994-95 season, and served as the Flyers' President and general manager until 2002 and then solely as General Manager until his resignation announced eight games into the 2006-07 season.

His second tenure as GM of the Flyers started with the Flyers returning to the postseason, after a five year absence, as well as the emergence of Eric Lindros as a superstar. He orchestrated one of the most productive trades in team history in 1995, acquiring Eric Desjardins, Gilbert Dionne, and John LeClair from the Montreal Canadiens for Mark Recchi, whom Clarke would re-acquire from Montreal a few years later.

Throughout Clarke's second stint as GM the Flyers were usually considered contenders for the championship never finishing worse than second in their division. With Clarke as General Manager, the Flyers finished 7 seasons with 100-plus points; they were 6-time Atlantic Division Champions and 2-time Eastern Conference Champions, once during the regular season and once in the playoffs. However, despite this success the Flyers failed to win another Stanley Cup during this era, advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals 3 times from 1994 to 2006; once in 1997 where they advanced to the Stanley Cup finals, once in 2000 (losing to the New Jersey Devils after leading the series three games to one) and once in 2004 (losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games.)

Team Canada

In 1998, Clarke was named General Manager of the Canadian Olympic hockey team, the first to feature a full squad of the NHL's best players.

There were some controversy over Clarke's selections. He tended to pick more grittier and grinder type players while most of the European teams had fast and skilled playmakers. Veteran Mark Messier and defenceman Scott Niedermayer were unexpectly omitted while unknown player Rob Zamuner was included. (McDonald's, who was selling promotional cards of atheletes for the Nagano Olympics, could only guess makeup of the roster of Team Canada and the set featured Messier and Niedermayer.) The relatively young Eric Lindros was given the captaincy over longer-tenured captains like Wayne Gretzky, Ray Bourque, and Steve Yzerman.

Team Canada was ranked number one going into the tournament and played strongly throughout until being stymied by the Czech Republic in the semi-final penalty shootout, falling short of the medals and finished a disappointing fourth in Nagano.

Managerial Style

Clarke's criticism during his second tenure usually centered around several reoccurring issues.

The first was being the lack of a true "lock down" goaltender; even during the 1997 run to the Finals, the goaltending was done in tandem with Garth Snow and Ron Hextall both of whom disappointed in the finals series. Rookie Brian Boucher impressed in 1999-2000 but poor form at the start of his sophomore season resulted in him losing his starting position to Roman Cechmanek. Ceckmanek, despite several solid regular season, was only able to reach the second round of the postseason once (2003) and he was subsequently traded to Los Angeles.

The second main criticism was his way of doing business, which after so many years many accepted as fact. His outward displays of stubbornness all served at times to agitate both the media and the fans. The back room feud with Eric Lindros and his father/agent Carl became public, starting with Clarke publicly challenging Lindros, saying "If you want to be paid like the best player in the NHL then play like it', and progressively deteriorated as Lindros criticized Flyers' doctors and training staff for misdiagnosed injuries. Lindros sat out a year as a restricted free agent and Clarke refused to trade him for less than what he considered equal value. Several deals were rumored (the Lindros camp pushed heavily for a move to the Toronto Maple Leafs but that collapsed when Clarke and Leafs GM Pat Quinn could not agree on terms) before the Flyers traded Lindros to the New York Rangers for Kim Johnsson, Jan Hlavac & Pavel Brendl. Clarke said he stopped caring about Lindros and that he "didn't give a shit if he ever played another NHL game."

Clarke was also noted for frequent coaching changes. Terry Murray was fired after the Flyers' were swept in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals (Murray described the impending sweep as a "choking situation" after game three. Many claim Murray was scapegoated, as goaltending and Lindros were also blamed, others said that Murray lost the respect of the players with a poor choice of words). There was also the dismissal of Roger Neilson during his battle with cancer (Neilson initially was told that the removal was strictly medical, but he was later informed that it was permanent). Neilson's successor Craig Ramsay only coached for a brief time, getting the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2000 playoffs but he was fired after poor start in the upcoming season. He was replaced by Clarke's former 1970s linemate Bill Barber, who was named coach of the year, but was unable to get the Flyers out of the first round of the playoffs during his two seasons, and the team mutined during the 2002 playoffs.

The third main criticism directed at Clarke was his penchant for bringing in big, hard nosed, "gritty mucker & grinder" type of players. Notable was during the 1997 playoffs, where the Flyer's top line of Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg (nicknamed the "Legion of Doom") used their size and strength to dominate in the Flyers' first three playoff series wins. However, the "Legion of Doom" failed to make an impact in the Finals as Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman countered it by using playmaking defencemen Nicklas Lidström and Larry Murphy instead of matching the Flyers for size and grit as many had expected. More importantly, while this worked with mixed results in years previous to the 2004-2005 lockout, it became a major hindrance in the post lockout years as the league attempted to move back towards the fast, skilled playmakers of the 1980s and away from the "clutching and grabbing" style that prevailed in from the mid 1990s onward.

Resignation

On Friday, October 13th, during the Flyers dismal 1-6-1 start to the 2006-2007 season, reminiscent of the 1989-1990 season, Bob Clarke tendered his resignation from his GM position to Comcast-Spectacor President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Lukko. After discussing the situation with Comcast-Spectacor Chairman and Flyers Founder Ed Snider he was told to take some time to think about it. On the morning of Sunday October 22nd, 2006 Bob Clarke, flanked by Snider, his former assistant and now interim GM Paul Holmgren and new Head Coach John Stevens, announced his resignation at a press conference, citing burnout and lack of desire as his reasons. As a consequence of his resignation and the teams poor performance Flyers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock was fired and replaced by Stevens, the seventh Flyers head coach since 1995. Both Snider and Clarke have intimated that after a respite, Clarke will return to the organization in some type of Front Office capacity, but will not be returning to his former duties.

Awards

• 1972 Bill Masterton Trophy
• 1973 Hart Memorial Trophy
• 1973 Lester B. Pearson Award
• 1973 Second Team All-Star Center
• 1974 Stanley Cup with the Philadelphia Flyers
• 1974 Second Team All-Star Center
• 1975 Stanley Cup with the Philadelphia Flyers
• 1975 Hart Memorial Trophy
• 1976 Hart Memorial Trophy
• 1980 Lester Patrick Trophy
• 1982 Yanick Dupre Memorial
• 1983 Frank J. Selke Trophy
• 1984 Philadelphia Flyers retired his number 16
• 1987 Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
• 1988 Inducted into the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame
• 1998 Ranked number 23 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players
• 2005 Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

Clarke played in the NHL All-Star Game eight times (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978).

Along with the hockey trophies he won during his career, two trophies bear his name. One, the Bob Clarke Trophy, is awarded annually to the top scorer in the Western Hockey League. The second, the Bobby Clarke Trophy, is awarded annually to the Team MVP of the Philadelphia Flyers. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981.

During the lockout 2004-2005 NHL season, as general manager of the Flyers, he oversaw the Flyers minor league organization's historic 2004-05 season where both teams in the Flyers' farm system, the Trenton Titans and Philadelphia Phantoms, won their respective championships.

Records

Holds the following Philadelphia Flyers records:

• Most games played (1144), most assists (852), and most points (1210) in franchise history
• Most assists in a season, 89 in 1974-75 and 1975-76

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1967-68	Flin Flon Bombers	WCJHL		59	51	117	168	148		15	4	10	14	2
1968-69	Flin Flon Bombers	WCHL		58	51	86	137	123		18	9	16	25	0
1969-70	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		76	15	31	46	68		-	-	-	-	-
1970-71	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		77	27	36	63	78		4	0	0	0	2
1971-72	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		78	35	46	81	87		-	-	-	-	-
1972-73	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		78	37	67	104	80		11	2	6	8	6
1973-74	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		77	35	52	87	113		17	5	11	16	42
1974-75	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		80	27	89	116	125		17	4	12	16	16
1975-76	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		76	30	89	119	136		16	2	14	16	28
1976-77	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		80	27	63	90	71		10	5	5	10	8
1977-78	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		71	21	68	89	83		12	4	7	11	8
1978-79	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		80	16	57	73	68		8	2	4	6	8
1979-80	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		76	12	57	69	65		19	8	12	20	16
1980-81	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		80	19	46	65	140		12	3	3	6	6
1981-82	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		62	17	46	63	154		4	4	2	6	4
1982-83	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		80	23	62	85	115		3	1	0	1	2
1983-84	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		73	17	43	60	70		3	2	1	3	6
NHL Totals				1144	358	852	1210	1453		136	42	77	119	152

International play

Played for Canada in:

• 1972 Summit Series
• 1976 Canada Cup
• 1982 World Championships

Played for NHL All-Stars in:

• 1979 Challenge Cup.

He is often remembered for his slash on Valeri Kharlamov in the sixth game of the Summit Series. Clarke came up behind Kharlamov, wound up his stick and swung it, as he would a golf club, across the ankle of the Russian. This broke Kharlamov's ankle, thereby sidelining the Soviets' best player for the next game of the series. (Canada went on to win in eight games.) Years later, John Ferguson, Sr., an assistant coach with Team Canada, was quoted as saying "I called Clarke over to the bench, looked over at Kharlamov and said, 'I think he needs a tap on the ankle.'"

International statistics

Year	Team	Event	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1972	Canada	Summit-72	8	2	4	6	18
1976	Canada	Can-Cup	6	1	2	3	0
1979	NHL All-Stars	Ch-Cup	3	0	1	1	0
1982	Canada	WC	9	0	1	1	6

See also

• List of NHL statistical leaders
• List of NHL seasons
• List of NHL players with 1000 points
• Bob Clarke Trophy - WHL Top Scorer
• Bobby Clarke Trophy - Flyers Team MVP

References

• Bobby Clarke's statistics at hockeydb.com
• Hockey Hall of Fame
• Bobby Clarke Hockey Cards