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They Said It Today in Flyerdom |
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Bob Clarke is gone ... It's like King Kong has left Skull Island ... the mystique is gone.
They said it on the day the last brick from the Broad Street Bullies era was replaced ...
Ken Hitchcock on whether he would have survived if Bob Clarke had not resigned:
“I am tied to Clarkie,” Hitchcock said. “There has to be such a personal relationship between the general manager and coach. The relationship is a very emotional one and it has to be there. The same thing happened in Dallas. The GM [Bob Gaine] resigned [in 2002] and in fairness to allow the team to grow, I went the same day.”
Hitchcock on working here in Philly:
“Both professionally and personally, this has been a tremendous experience for me,” Hitchcock said. “I am disappointed we were unable to bring a Cup. We had two tremendous runs …
“I really liked working with Clarkie and working with Mr. Snider and Peter Luukko. The discussions were very emotional at times, passionate, like brothers going at it. They are like the city. It is a passionate, blue collar city. I can’t say enough about working with Clarkie.”
Hitchcock on whether Clarke gave him the right players to succeed this season:
“Those are questions that get asked all the time,” he replied. “As a coach, you are not director of player personnel. You are hired to coach. Your job is to get every ounce out of every player.
“There are things that go on inside the locker room that affect performance. You have to recognize that, not based on personnel, but based on perception. We have to work through the perception and we were, in my opinion, working through it.”
BTW: Hitchcock left his news conference and joined Clarke to watch the Eagles lose at Tampa Bay.
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Clarke on why he resigned:
“I felt strongly that from the end of last season on, I don’t know if I was burnt out or tired or something, but the decisions that had to be made, I was not willing to make them and I was letting other people make them,” Clarke said.
“I wasn’t doing the right job for this organization. Mr. Snider is a friend and the best owner in professional sports and didn’t deserve this, the fans didn’t deserve it and the organization didn’t deserve it.
“Even the day-to-day stuff, when we had to change a trainer … or change people, I let Paul do it ... I felt I should have recognized it earlier. Even at the draft last [summer], that is usually a time when the Flyers are very active in moving picks and moving players and doing things to improve your club. When I left the draft, I realized I was a bystander and not very active like I should have. That for me was the first sign.
“…The team has to come first. It wasn’t because we lost some games. It was not wanting to do what a general manager has to do if you are going to be successful in this league. The team was being hurt by me.”
Clarke on failing to win the Stanley Cup (3 times) here as a GM:
“My responsibility is to try and win the Stanley Cup and I didn’t deliver,” Clarke said.
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Club chairman Ed Snider on Clarke knowing the time had come to leave:
“When a man can sit up here and say he hasn’t done the job, it shows what kind of man he is,” Snider said. “He came to that realization himself and was man enough to do it … This is why I respect Bob Clarke so much. I have always known I would not have to fire Bob Clarke and that he would fire himself.”
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Peter Forsberg agreeing that Hitch had to go:
“Sometimes you need a change,” Forsberg said. “I don’t think Hitch is a bad coach, but sometimes, when a team is not performing as it should, it’s good to get a change. John [Stevens] is a proven winner. The young guys like him.
“I am not putting all the blame on Hitch. I
look at myself. I don’t think we tuned him out. Hitch is good coach but sometimes, you need a change. When something like this happens … I don’t look any farther than myself. If we had a winning record, things would be different … I feel brutal today.”
Forsberg on his captaincy so far: worst record in 17 years, the coach gets axed and the GM quits:
“I feel brutal,” Forsberg said. “I did have the start I wanted to have.”
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Mike Richards was rumored to be among the players that respected Hitchcock's knowledge but felt he lacked something because he had never played hockey:
“John [Stevens] has played the game, he knows the game,” Richards said. “He is very smart and watches video. He played the game, so he’s been in our situation. He knows the things we are going through.
“We respected Hitch because of his hockey record and he’s a smart guy … He did a great job in bringing out our styles. He’s a smart hockey guy, a good teacher. He shows you a lot of different things. In every situation, he seemed to have an answer.”
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Snider said the players tuned Hitchcock out. Derian Hatcher's response:
“I feel like most of the guys,” he said. “Say what you want, you hear rumblings about players who didn’t like him, but I think all these guys feel responsible. The organization did what they had to do ... Maybe some of the guys were tuning him out a bit. But with the exception of the Buffalo game, guys were working for him. It was the breakdown in the fundamentals that was killing us.”
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Wayne Fish, celebrating 30 years of covering the Flyers, speaking to me at the end of the day:
"Tim, now that Clarke is gone, who is going to hate you in the organization? Everyone left likes you."
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Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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