Bobby Clarke says scouts didn't want Nolan Patrick; blames Ron Hextall for team's failures
During an appearance on the Cam and Strick podcast, Flyers legend Bobby Clarke said that leading up to the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, when he was Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations, none of the scouts wanted to take Nolan Patrick with the second overall pick. He added that they wanted to draft defenceman Cale Makar.
"He alienated everybody right away" Clarke said about former General Manager Ron Hextall. "He shut the door, locked the door, he was the boss and nobody else was apart of it. We get the second pick in the draft and we end up drafting Nolan Patrick."
He added, "None of our scouts wanted Nolan Patrick. I don't know where Patrick should have gone, after his performances in Brandon, he's a pretty good player, but they wanted Makar. Now he's a superstar. But Hextall made that choice himself and there were other choices in our draft that we're paying for. We got two or three first round that are never going to play. That's why we're struggling, he made some huge mistakes."
Patrick, 23, had his fair share of injury issues in his time as a Philadelphia Flyer. They eventually traded him to the Vegas Golden Knights by way of the Nashville Predators in a three-team deal back in July 2021.
Looking back on the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, two elite defenceman went right after the Flyers selected second overall. Miro Heiskanen went third overall to the Dallas Stars, while Cale Makar went fourth overall to the Colorado Avalanche. If Ron Hextall listened to his scouting staff, then maybe the Flyers would be in a different position than they are today.
Bobby Clarke «None of our scouts wanted Nolan Patrick» also says Philly could've had Ryan O'Reilly. Full episode avail now. @CamandStrick #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/PYA6LFa7wW— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) January 11, 2022
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mikko Rantanen | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jake Debrusk | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Connor McDavid | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jonathan Drouin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Roman Josi | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kirill Marchenko | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kyle Palmieri | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Artemi Panarin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Evan Bouchard | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Matt Duchene | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 21 | 17 | 4 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | |
Devils | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 29 | |
Golden Knights | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | |
Flames | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 19 | 13 | 6 | - | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||