Bobby Clarke throws Ron Hextall under the bus in a major way.

The Ron Hextall era in Philadelphia remains one of the most controversial in recent memory, and no I'm not talking about the era in which he often hacked opposing players with his goalie stick while backstopping the Philadelphia Flyers in goal.

Hextall had one of the most controversial tenures that any general manager has had of late, with perhaps the notable exception of Paul Fenton with the Minnesota Wild, and things went so bad in fact that we are still learning more about it in spite of the fact that it came to an end years ago at this point.

This week Philadelphia Flyers legend Bobby Clarke shared his thoughts on the controversial period the Flyers experienced under Hextall as general manager and to say that he was ruthless would be an understatement. Clarke laid some major failures in the Flyers organization at the feet of Hextall and appeared to be defending general manager Chuck Fletcher by saying that Hextall saddled the team with some major issues that will be affecting them for the long term.

"He alienated everybody right away. He shut his door, he locked the doors, he was the boss and nobody else was a part of it," said Clarke on the Cam and Strick podcast. "We get the 2nd pick in the draft, we end up drafting Nolan Patrick. None of our scouts wanted Nolan Patrick... They wanted Makar and of course he went next, now he's a superstar and Patrick hasn't played. But Hextall made that choice himself."

Clarke let out an audible sigh when talking about Nolan Patrick who has unquestionably been a bust as a #2 overall pick in the draft, especially when you consider some of the names that went after he did. Clarke was however not done laying blame at the feat of the former Flyers general manager.

"There were other choices that we made in our draft that we're paying for. We've got 2 or 3 first round picks that are never gonna play and that's why we're struggling, Hexy made some huge mistakes."

Clarke was also critical of Hextall for trading away Brayden Schenn who went on to win a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues.

"That was just as bad. Nobody knew it, Hexy made that on his own. It was at the draft, all our scouts were so mad at Hexy for doing that."

Last but not least, Clarke also claimed that Hextall passed on a chance to acquire Ryan O'Reilly who coincidentally also went on to win a Stanley Cup with the Blues alongside Brayden Schenn.

"We also had a chance to get O'Reilly from Buffalo but we didn't. Obviously that was the manager's decision but it was another one that the scouts weren't consulted on."

Hextall has of course long since been fired by the Flyers organization and was replaced by the aforementioned Chuck Fletcher, but despite Clarke's claims here it did not slow down his career as an NHL executive. Hextall currently serves as general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, he was hired at the same time as president of hockey operations Brian Burke, and I suspect that Clarke believes that is something that should concern the Penguins.