Bobby Clarke: The Ultimate Philadelphia Flyer

Clarke has essentially been with the Flyers’ organization throughout its entire history. He was a legendary player on the ice and took his talents to the managerial world where he served as the team’s general manager (GM) twice, and serves as a senior vice president of the club today. What has he done to achieve such a prestigious honor?

A Prototypical Broad Street Bully

When Clarke was drafted in the second round of the 1969 NHL Draft, nobody expected him to be a franchise player. An undersized forward with elite skill and grit, the potential was there, but the belief in him was not across most NHL franchises. Throughout his time in Philadelphia, he proved the triviality of his 5-foot-10 stature.

Clarke was the face of the Flyers’ ‘Broad Street Bullies‘ era in the mid-1970s. Sure, those rosters had skill, but they combined that with a level of physicality unmatched by anyone in the NHL. He was one of the grittiest of these, yet was also one of the most talented.

Clarke emerged as a true superstar in the 1972-73 season, where he scored 104 points and accumulated 80 penalty minutes in the process as the team’s captain. From his rookie campaign in 1969-70, until he became the first Flyer to reach the 100-point mark in franchise history, he only got better and better. As a result, the team did as well.

In 1973-74, Clarke traded points for penalty minutes. He had 87 points and 113 penalty minutes, while the rest of the team followed suit in that regard. The Flyers’ 1973-74 campaign was one that defined the 1970s. The captain led a group of enforcers, including Dave Schultz, Bob Kelly, and Don Saleski, and a group of stars, including Bill Barber, Rick MacLeish, and Bernie Parent to the Stanley Cup Final with a 50-16-12 record in the regular season.

Against the clear-cut favorite Boston Bruins, he scored one of the team’s most iconic goals ever in Game 2 when he had an overtime-winning goal that tied the series at two at Boston Garden. The Flyers had notoriously struggled to win games on the road in Boston, and they needed to exorcise those demons to win the series. They did and became the first expansion team to win a Stanley Cup.

Clarke and the Flyers repeated what they did in their previous season in 1974-75, winning another Stanley Cup. The captain had his best individual season to date, scoring 116 points and winning the Hart Trophy as a result. In both the regular season and postseason, he led the league in assists.

As an individual, Clarke reached his peak in production in 1975-76 when he scored 119 points and won his second straight Hart Trophy that season. In the Flyers’ bid for three straight Cups, they fell just short in the Stanley Cup Final against the Montreal Canadiens.

Clarke was still an elite player for the years following the Broad Street Bullies days, but he wasn’t at the same level in terms of points. He consistently scored 65 or more points for the rest of his career as long as he was healthy. He had memorable post-prime seasons in 1979-80 when the Flyers went to the Stanley Cup Final, and he finished 10th in Hart Trophy voting that season, and another fantastic campaign as a 33-year-old in 1982-83 when he won the Selke Trophy.

Clarke hung up his skates following his 1983-84 campaign, having accomplished almost everything there was to in the NHL. He had 60 points in 73 regular season games, along with three points in three playoff games, but the team wasn’t at the same level as it was about a decade prior, so the decision became a bit easier.

Ultimately, Clarke finished his time in the NHL with 358 goals and 852 assists for 1,210 points in just 1,144 games, all of which were done with the Flyers. Since then, only Claude Giroux has come across the 1,000-game and 900-point mark. In addition, he finished with 119 playoff points in 136 postseason games — both of which are records. His consistent dominance has remained untouched since he retired, which is a reason why he is not just in the Flyers Hall of Fame but the Hockey Hall of Fame, as well.

First Stint as GM

Right after retiring as a player, Clarke chose to stay with the franchise as their GM entering the 1984-85 season. While the roster was essentially constructed entirely by previous management, he took over and started a turnaround for the Flyers following three straight seasons of first-round losses in the postseason. In his first season as the general manager, he took one of the youngest rosters in the NHL to the Stanley Cup Final.

Clarke and his club fell to the Edmonton Oilers in just five games, and he would fall to the same foe in the 1986-87 Stanley Cup Final in seven games. He didn’t make any big moves to contribute to either of those, but his keeping the major core of players like Tim Kerr, Brian Propp, and Mark Howe made it so sustained dominance was possible.

The Flyers never went back to the Stanley Cup Final while Clarke was in charge during his first stint with the team, mainly due to his stars aging. His time as GM was up after his 1990-91 campaign after he missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons starting in 1989-90. Fortunately for him, it wasn’t too long before he got his job back.

Clarke Returns as GM

After the Flyers missed the playoffs for another three seasons when Clarke departed, Philadelphia went back to him to be the GM. This time around, his tenure would be longer, much more eventful, and involve some drama.

Clarke’s first stint as the GM was by no means problematic whatsoever. His second could not be further from the case, as he notoriously butted heads with superstar center Eric Lindros amid his tenure.

Clarke was heavy in the trade market early on, re-acquiring goaltender Ron Hextall after his predecessor traded him away in the deal that brought Lindros to Philadelphia, but he also got star forward John LeClair and star defenseman Eric Desjardins from the Montreal Canadiens for winger Mark Recchi. Consequently, those deals resulted in good fortune with the team.

The Flyers made the playoffs in 1994-95 with flying colors, while Lindros became the first Hart Trophy winner the team had since Clarke did it in 1975-76. Making the Eastern Conference Final in his first season back, he gave himself a long leash.

The Lindros era reached its peak in the 1996-97 season when the Flyers reached their first Stanley Cup Final since 1986-87. While they were swept aside by the Detroit Red Wings, a logical expectation would be that they’d be dominant for years to come as long as they kept their major core intact. That did not happen, and everything fell apart soon after.

The Flyers still had the same level of success in terms of making the playoffs, but the drama around Clarke and Lindros took away from a lot of that. Neither of the two was a big fan of each other, all due to a collapsed lung, familial drama, being critical of the centerman when the team underachieved, and the media circus around it that consistently made their feud a big story.

The Flyers moved on from Lindros following a 2000-01 campaign where he missed the entire season, but Clarke never quite replaced his talents. Despite losing one of his star players, he never failed to qualify for the playoffs in his time as GM. Once the Lindros debacle was over, the Flyers were consistent early-round exits aside from in 2003-04, where they reached the Eastern Conference Final.

Clarke’s GM saga came to an end early in the 2006-07 season when he resigned as the team was struggling immensely. He never brought a Stanley Cup back to Philadelphia in either of his stints as the GM, but he kept a winning culture in the city. With all the off-ice issues aside, he was one of the better GMs the team has ever had.

Clarke’s Job Today

Today, Clarke works as a senior vice president for the Flyers. It is a position that he has held since he left as the team’s GM back in 2006-07 and one that he will likely hold as long as he pleases.

Clarke has still found ways to bring up controversies in the modern day, but the drama has been nothing like it was when he was GM. He holds a lesser influence on the organization, but he is still an important figure to this day. With how long Clarke has been involved in the Flyers’ affairs, it is clear that he is respected.

Clarke has spent more time off the ice for the Flyers, but it was his play that got him a spot in the team’s Hall of Fame. He still holds many team records to this day, so that induction is more than deserved. Though the greatest Flyer ever is ultimately an objective opinion, it might be a while before someone is able to beat him out definitively.