Rumor: Gordie Clark Moving Towards Retirement?

2014nyr

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With the system we've built up and the hyper-speed rebuild we've managed, save for a few tweeks, it's so strange to see people get excited at Gorton, JD, and Gordie getting the boot.

We'll probably be fine, as long as Dolan keeps his paws off; but the ease that we've gone through this transition is unprecedented. And the guys that orchestrated it have all moved on now. Or in the process of it, in Gordie's case.

couldn't agree more...i have no idea how anyone could see dumping jd and gorton as the right move. those guys are as good as it gets, and they operated the right way. the temper tantrum of an entitled idiot who can't fathom life ain't always fair yet at 65. a mirror alone could teach him that lesson. if it were an insufferable, insecure, incompetent little man wouldn't inherit not only a multi-billion dollar empire but one insulated against his stupidity by monopoly status? what a complete clown he is. wonder if he considered it will probably be at least 10 years before the players stop being carved during every single stoppage of every game about that "statement". i think drury is capable and hope the best for him, but as long as dolans around we're never more than a females rejection or poor table service away from another temper tantrum that lands our whole front office on a plane to siberia and new gm isiah thomas.

as for gordie...i'm not sure this is cleaning house so much as it getting to that time for him. i don't get the bashing of him, when you've been around as long as he has you have some misses. but overall he's been very good, and what i've always liked about him was he had a process to his evaluations, there was always a conviction to core traits he looked for. by that i mean almost all of the misses have been because they just couldn't play the game they projected to at this level - very few basket cases or guys that refused to put in the right amount of effort etc. i respect people who have a disciplined approach to their craft - if you're going to miss, miss with a guy you identify with, not making wild swings on upside against your better judgement - at least with your higher value picks. i'd hope he's not being pushed out but i suppose its possible - hard to imagine he'd stick around in a smaller role if that were the case though. either way, as has been mentioned, this is a critical hire for drury. for anyone that wants him gone this is a be careful what you wish for situation. hopefully its a home run, but damn this is a ton of internal reshuffling to manage in such a short period of time. its one thing to replace a big piece when there's a strong organizational structure in place in mgmt - a miss on a hire is easy to catch there, in a full scale restocking like this there's so many new faces and voices building working relationships and establishing roles and autonomy - not easy to navigate thats for sure.
 
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Savant

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Doesn’t mTter if you like him or not, they NEED to get a better replacement.
 

Roo Returns

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Clark takes a lot of crap but his teams went to a Cup Final, two Conference Finals, and were in the playoffs most years.

Not many teams can say that.

He made four mistakes that were all catastrophic (Sanguinetti over Giroux, LaFleur in Round 2, McLIrath we know, and the most underrated was Del Zotto over John Carlson).

That's the sad part. He did a very good job and found many players but the misses were amplified.

Even with that, the biggest issue was too much reliance on "character" and not talent.

That metric wasn't always consistent and not enough of his players with the exception of Hagelin or Fast had the clutch gene to get better in the playoffs.

He also has a statue built outside of MSG if some of the 2013-2017 drafts didn't have all the loons and headcases (Kovacs, Sareela, Zborovsky, Andersson, Gropp).
 

ColonialsHockey10

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How does it compare to the rest of the league. I bet it’s middle of the pack. Which is mitigated by the lack of top picks we had compared to most teams.

In games played, total points and points per game, they’re all bottom 10 I’m pretty sure. One of like like ~5 teams in the bottom third for all three. I posted these stats a little while back.

Not be-all-end-all, but just answering your Q. :)
 
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Paulie Walnutz

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Amazing Kreiderman

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New York Rangers Directory

Gordie Clark not listed on NYR official site as Director of Player Personnel anymore. Is now listed as Pro Scout & Advisor, Amateur Scouting.

Who is in line for the next Director? Might be hearing some news soon....

Early thoughts?

Not sure how relevant this is with the recent shake-up but when I ran into Gordie Clark and Nick Bobrov in Helsinki back in 2019 (u20 four nations tournament), we spoke a bit about the future of the Rangers and Gordie Clark said he expects to retire in 2 years and when talking about his replacement he pointed to Bobrov and smiled.
 
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Edge

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I think Clark is definitely in the upper tier of talent evaluators in the league.

Yeah, he has misses. Guess what, so does everyone else? Tampa, Boston, etc. all have glaring misses.

You take Laf and Kakko out of the equation, you still have guys who replace them and keep this prospect/young talent pool among the top 5 in the league.
 

Kaapo di tutti capi

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I think Clark is definitely in the upper tier of talent evaluators in the league.

Yeah, he has misses. Guess what, so does everyone else? Tampa, Boston, etc. all have glaring misses.

You take Laf and Kakko out of the equation, you still have guys who replace them and keep this prospect/young talent pool among the top 5 in the league.

I think fans tend to focus other team's steals (Point in the 3rd round, Marchand in the 3rd round) and our own team's blunders (McIlrath, Lias etc.) rather than the other way around.
 
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Edge

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I think fans tend to focus other team's steals (Point in the 3rd round, Marchand in the 3rd round) and our own team's blunders (McIlrath, Lias etc.) rather than the other way around.

Most certainly.

And while they're mentioned Point, they're overlooking taking Connolly over Skinner, or Koekkoek over Forsberg/Wilson.

We can do this for literally every team in the league.

Maybe there was a point you could argue we didn't produce superstars, but now we find ourselves at a point where we have elite young talent and top notch support talent. We're univerally recognized as being one of the top 3 farm systems/prospect cupboards in the league --- and we did it in 36 months. Even if we take our Laf and Kakko, the guys we were targeting would still have us easily in the top 5.

There is no argument at this point. Only flailing.
 

Kaapo di tutti capi

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Most certainly.

And while they're mentioned Point, they're overlooking taking Connolly over Skinner, or Koekkoek over Forsberg/Wilson.

We can do this for literally every team in the league.

Maybe there was a point you could argue we didn't produce superstars, but now we find ourselves at a point where we have elite young talent and top notch support talent. We're univerally recognized as being one of the top 3 farm systems/prospect cupboards in the league --- and we did it in 36 months. Even if we take our Laf and Kakko, the guys we were targeting would still have us easily in the top 5.

There is no argument at this point. Only flailing.

I agree. I think as a species, we're never getting rid of jealousy and greed - which is where most of this stems from.
 

True Blue

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With the system we've built up and the hyper-speed rebuild we've managed, save for a few tweeks, it's so strange to see people get excited at Gorton, JD, and Gordie getting the boot.

We'll probably be fine, as long as Dolan keeps his paws off; but the ease that we've gone through this transition is unprecedented. And the guys that orchestrated it have all moved on now. Or in the process of it, in Gordie's case.
Honestly, if you cannot see that this has been developed into a top-5 system in the entire NHL, then people are just being ignorant.
 

HatTrick Swayze

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Most certainly.

And while they're mentioned Point, they're overlooking taking Connolly over Skinner, or Koekkoek over Forsberg/Wilson.

We can do this for literally every team in the league.

Maybe there was a point you could argue we didn't produce superstars, but now we find ourselves at a point where we have elite young talent and top notch support talent. We're univerally recognized as being one of the top 3 farm systems/prospect cupboards in the league --- and we did it in 36 months. Even if we take our Laf and Kakko, the guys we were targeting would still have us easily in the top 5.

There is no argument at this point. Only flailing.

I think the vast, vast majority of HF and likely the entire fanbase at large would agree with this. In a similar way, the few memorable "dissenters" screaming into the void are also more memorable.
 

KirkAlbuquerque

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Gordie Clark is a great hockey guy name and he has a very strong look.

As far as our drafting under him... eh, some solid picks, no absolute home runs though, and a few AWFUL choices that were awful immediately, not in hindsight (we all know which ones)
 

Joey Bones

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I think Clark is definitely in the upper tier of talent evaluators in the league.

Yeah, he has misses. Guess what, so does everyone else? Tampa, Boston, etc. all have glaring misses.

You take Laf and Kakko out of the equation, you still have guys who replace them and keep this prospect/young talent pool among the top 5 in the league.

This was exactly my way of thinking too. Every team has misses and if the Rangers missed with a Tarasenko, a Carlson, etc... well guess what... so did the teams before their selections. I think Gordie has done a hell of a job with what was given to him.
 

True Blue

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Gordie Clark is a great hockey guy name and he has a very strong look.

As far as our drafting under him... eh, some solid picks, no absolute home runs though, and a few AWFUL choices that were awful immediately, not in hindsight (we all know which ones)
What other teams have managed to collect such young assets in such a short period of time?
 

Bluenote13

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I think Clark is definitely in the upper tier of talent evaluators in the league.

Yeah, he has misses. Guess what, so does everyone else? Tampa, Boston, etc. all have glaring misses.

You take Laf and Kakko out of the equation, you still have guys who replace them and keep this prospect/young talent pool among the top 5 in the league.


Funny that you mentioned Boston and Tampa two teams that Gordie had a hand in helping before they won the cup.

He's had his hits and misses, can't be an easy job when you got a guy like sather running the show, I've liked what I've seen over the past ten years, got a lot better than the ten years before it. Mcilrath was such a poor pick but I have no doubt Sather was behind that one.

Maybe it's time for a change. We could always do a lot worse, but there are a lot of good Scouts in the community and I'm sure Drury and Company can find a capable successor.

As a side note, Six Degrees of Separation with Gordie Clark is an interesting rabbit hole if you ever get the time, the guy played/coached with so many classic names, even if briefly.
 

KirkAlbuquerque

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What other teams have managed to collect such young assets in such a short period of time?
whats that got to do with Clark and amateur scouting? JG made great trades, accumulated a lot of picks and the team got unbelievable luck in the lottery. No homeruns yet, though there is promise with a lot of these kids. No DeBrincats, Kucherovs, or Points in his tenure. Not even an Olofsson. All our best players were drafted by other teams, except Shesty.
 

True Blue

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whats that got to do with Clark and amateur scouting? JG made great trades, accumulated a lot of picks and the team got unbelievable luck in the lottery. No homeruns yet, though there is promise with a lot of these kids. No DeBrincats, Kucherovs, or Points in his tenure. Not even an Olofsson. All our best players were drafted by other teams, except Shesty.
What does amassing talent have to do with Clark and scouting? I'll give you a few to figure that out.

What unbelievable luck did they get in the lottery? Lafreneire and Kakko? That commentary seems to believe that those picks would otherwise be docked. Fine. Replace those two with Zegras and Lundell. Is this rebuild in worse shape?

What other unbelievable pieces of luck are you referring to?

Perhaps not all homeruns are instantenous? Perhaps in a year largely lost to an unpredictable health crisis, we should be a bit more careful in passing judgment? Would you rather have Huges instead of Kakko? Still pining for Stuetzle in stead of Lafreneire?

Spotting talent and then making moves for it is an art. Or did you know that Fox was an elite level defenseman at the time of the trade? Or what Miller was? Or what Schnieder was?
 

Edge

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I think the vast, vast majority of HF and likely the entire fanbase at large would agree with this. In a similar way, the few memorable "dissenters" screaming into the void are also more memorable.

In fairness, the quest to do better should always be present. We should never be complacent.

With that said, we also have to mindful that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. We can't let the quest for the perfect get in the way of the very good, or even the excellent. At some point there are productive overhauls and then there's just blowing shit up because we wanna blow shit up. Admittedly that's appealing for some people. But it also brings with it a significant amount of risk.
 

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