mr gib said:
milbury and clark bringing up the rear
Ok, before you diss Clarke like that, let's remember that when he was turfed from Philadelphia, the year before he was turfed (1989) he wanted to deal some of the veterans like Tim Kerr, Dave Poulin, Brian Propp, Mark Howe, etc... and he had good deals on the table. The problem at the time was that Ed Snider's son Jay Snider blocked every deal Clarke tried to make. By the time 1990 came around, it was too late for this Flyers team. They were done. Clarke couldn't make a good trade and it was kaput from there. Let's also remember that as Clarke's first tenure as GM, the Flyers did make it to the Finals twice in 1985 and in 1987.
When Clarke was fired in 1990, the Flyers did not make it back into the playoffs until 1995. When they made it back in, they went to the third round before losing to New Jersey. 1997, they make it to the Stanley Cup finals. Fact of the matter is that every year Clarke has been the GM of the Flyers, he's kept that team competitive to the point where they should be going deep into the playoffs. The talent has always been there in Philadelphia.
So, to compare Clarke and Milbury is completely wrong. It wasn't until Milbury actually had an owner who was willing to spend a little money that the Islanders got better in a hurry. As well, Clarke's record speaks for itself. Let's also remember when he was turfed by the Flyers and signed with Minnesota, Minnesota made it to the finals his first year there. Let's not forget when he became President of the Florida Panthers, they too had some luck too with being competitive. So, to say that Clarke is on the firing lines because his teams haven't won anything is ludicrous. Every year, he's gone out of his way to try to find that missing component in Philadelphia. And as long as he does stuff like that, I have no complaint and most Flyers fans have no complaint with how he does his job.