Bobby Clarke
Hockey Hall of Fame , 1987 | |
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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 | |||||||||||||
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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
- 1976 gold medal at the Canada Cup
- 1982 bronze medal at the world championship
Web links
- Bobby Clarke in the database of the Hockey Hall of Fame (English)
- Bobby Clarke at hockeydb.com (English)
personal data | |
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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 |