Bobby Clarke

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CanadaCanada  Bobby Clarke Ice hockey player
Hockey Hall of Fame , 1987
Bobby Clarke
Date of birth August 13, 1949
place of birth Flin Flon , Manitoba , Canada
size 178 cm
Weight 80 kg
position center
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft 1969 , 2nd round, 17th position
Philadelphia Flyers
Career stations
1965-1969 Flin Flon Bombers
1969-1984 Philadelphia Flyers

Robert Earle "Bobby" Clarke (born August 13, 1949 in Flin Flon , Manitoba ) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player who played from 1969 to 1984 for the Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League . He was also General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, Florida Panthers and Minnesota North Stars from 1984 to 2006 .

Career

As a player

The son of a miner and a department store cashier, Bobby grew up in the country, with the middle class. His talent and skill were no more than a decent NHL level. He had been suffering from diabetes since he was 15 years old . Not least because of this, the NHL teams were skeptical and cautious in the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft . When it was the turn of the Flyers again in the middle of the second round, the scout Gerry Melnyk yelled at President Ed Snider: “You have to take him”. Snider took Bobby Clarke with the 17th draft pick and thus paved the way for the Stanley Cup victory. Clarke's heart and willpower brought him and the team he played on to the top of the league as a player. In 1972 he declined to be represented by an agent and signed a handshake for $ 120,000. With the founding of the WHA in the same year, salaries rose significantly and Clarke had offers with which he could have earned twice as much, but he did not think about breaking his given word. Also that summer there was the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the USSR. Walerie Kharlamov demonstrated the Canadians and coach John Ferguson said: "Somebody has to stop him!". With a blow of the stick, Clarke broke Kharlamov's ankle and removed him from the series. Later he said: "It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but I'm not ashamed of it either". In 1974 and 1975 he led the Philadelphia Flyers to two Stanley Cup victories. After the “ Original Six ” era , the Flyers were the first new team to win the cup. In a survey on Clarke's active time, the coaches said he was in the NHL, the best outnumbered player, best checker, best face-off, toughest worker and best team leader, but most of all was the player the coaches preferred to play on their team would have.

In 1987 he was honored with the induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame .

As a manager

Immediately after retiring in the summer of 1984, he was appointed general manager and vice president of the Philadelphia Flyers and stayed until 1990. During this time, the team reached the Stanley Cup finals twice, but missed the playoffs in 1989/90 . In June 1990 he was hired by the Minnesota North Stars , where he also took the post of General Manager and Vice President. Under his leadership, the North Stars reached the final of the Stanley Cup in the 1990/91 season .

After two years in Minnesota, he returned to the Flyers organization as Senior Vice President, but left again in the spring of 1993 to become General Manager and Vice President of the Florida Panthers . But after only a year he went back to the Philadelphia Flyers and took over the post as general manager and president.

In 1997 the Flyers reached the Stanley Cup final for the third time under his leadership, but had to admit defeat again. In the following years, Clarke had to take massive criticism due to the lack of great success and personnel decisions. After leaving the final in 1997, a total of six trainers were dismissed over the next five years. There were also clashes between him and team captain Eric Lindros , which culminated in a strike by the player throughout the 2000/01 season . In addition, the Flyers survived the first round of the playoffs only once from 1998 to 2002.

After the elimination in the first round of the playoffs in the 2005/06 season , the criticism against Clarke became increasingly violent. Although he had signed a good reinforcement with Peter Forsberg in the summer of 2005, the obligations of the physically strong but slow defenders Mike Rathje and Derian Hatcher and their long-term contracts put Clarke under further pressure. After a failed start to the next season, he finally resigned from his position as general manager.

Bobby Clarke received special praise for his 19-year tenure in Philadelphia for putting together a team that were regular favorites for the Stanley Cup and won 714 of 1,356 games in the regular seasons. However, the team could never achieve great success in the playoffs and often fell short of expectations.

Bobby Clarke was also active internationally as General Manager. In 1984 and 1991 he was one of four assistant coaches for the Canadian national team at the Canada Cup , which was won both times. In 1998 he was also General Manager of Team Canada at the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano . But even there he was exposed to criticism when he preferred the lesser known Rob Zamuner to the experienced Mark Messier and appointed his 24-year-old protégé Eric Lindros of the Flyers as team captain, thus passing over veterans Wayne Gretzky , Steve Yzerman and Ray Bourque .

Career statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1965/66 Flin Flon Bombers SJHL 4th 4th 3 7th 0 - - - - -
1966/67 Flin Flon Bombers MJHL 45 71 112 183 123 14th 10 18th 28 51
1967 Flin Flon Bombers Memorial Cup 6th 2 5 7th 49
1967/68 Flin Flon Bombers WCHL 59 51 117 168 148 15th 4th 10 14th 2
1968/69 Flin Flon Bombers WCHL 58 51 86 137 123 18th 9 16 25th 0
1969/70 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 76 15th 31 46 68 - - - - -
1970/71 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 77 27 36 63 78 4th 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 6th 8th 6th
1973/74 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 77 35 52 87 113 17th 5 11 16 42
1974/75 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 80 27 89 116 125 17th 4th 12 16 16
1975/76 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 76 30th 89 119 136 16 2 14th 16 28
1976/77 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 80 27 63 90 71 10 5 5 10 8th
1977/78 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 71 21st 68 89 83 12 4th 7th 11 8th
1978/79 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 80 16 57 73 68 8th 2 4th 6th 8th
1979/80 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 76 12 57 69 65 19th 8th 12 20th 16
1980/81 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 80 19th 46 65 140 12 3 3 6th 6th
1981/82 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 62 17th 46 63 154 4th 4th 2 6th 4th
1982/83 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 80 23 62 85 115 3 1 0 1 2
1983/84 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 73 17th 43 60 70 3 2 1 3 6th
WCHL overall 117 102 203 305 271 33 13 26th 39 2
NHL overall 1144 358 852 1210 1453 136 42 77 119 152

International

Represented Canada to:

Represented the National Hockey League at:

year team event Sp T V Pt SM
1972 Canada Summit Series 8th 2 4th 6th 18th
1976 Canada Canada Cup 6th 1 2 3 0
1979 NHL All-Stars Challenge Cup 3 0 1 1 0
1982 Canada WM 9 0 1 1 6th
Men overall 23 3 7th 10 24

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Achievements and Awards

International

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Clarke, Bobby
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Clarke, Robert Earle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Flin Flon , Manitoba