Keith Was Almost A Flyer

[Curufinwe]

Hitch wouldn’t play Sharp regularly on the 4th line, let alone in the top 6.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

According to who? I've heard plenty of interviews with Sharp where he's said he always got along with Hitchcock and he didn't know where those rumours came from.

Sounds like something the Philadelphia media would make up so that people would "understand" why Clarke traded him. Remember, Clarke could do no wrong



No matter what excuse you want to give for the trade, it was still a terrible trade. Clarke and Hitchcock were clueless on how to build a team after the 04-05 lockout. It was all about speed, yet they just ignored that. I'm pretty sure Hitchcock even said that speed was overrated after the Rathje and Hatcher signings.

I don’t know what you’re seemingly annoyed about. I said they got “burned” in the Sharp & Weinrich trades. Which they did.

But saying that Clarke didn’t like to leave players buried on the NHL depth chart if they could get a chance to play elsewhere isn’t an “excuse,” it’s simply a fact. And I think it’s a good way to treat people as a manager. It’s not a computer game.

Sharp was about to turn 24. He was averaging 7:43 minutes per game as a non-regular. I believe he was subject to waivers if they sent him down. He had good but not great minor league stats to that point & 15 points in 66 career NHL games. He was a 3rd rd. pick. No one expected him to turn into the player he did. They just wanted to get something for him & not confine a 24 year old to the press box. It’s easy to rip it to shreds in hindsight, & it was a bad trade (I didn’t like it at the time, either), but a lot of context gets omitted when people bash it retrospectively.

As for being “clueless on how to build a team after the 04-05 lockout” —

The team was already built. And constructed for the pre-lockout East which was ruled by traps, obstruction, & size (Devils hockey).

Then the league did a 180 & undertook a massive crackdown on interference when the league returned in 05-06. There was no way for the Flyers to plan ahead for that. It wasn’t a gradual change with warning. It was a bam! instant complete change, & the Flyers were stuck with a roster not built for the new rules. And you can’t just completely reconstruct your roster immediately. You’ve got guys on contracts. As it is, they still managed 101 points, tied for 4th in the East.

True, next season they stunk, & Clarke was out in under a month for refusing to fire Hitchcock. But that was based on Forsberg being hurt, the team getting old & having to transition to the young players & the new rules, & Carter & Richards not quite being ready to take the reins yet.

But to say the organization wasn’t in a good place is wrong. They were set up with excellent young talent (Richards, Carter, Pitkanen, Umberger, Giroux in the system) who could play under the new rules, and loads of cap space for the stacked ‘06 free agency season. Unsurprisingly that turned into an immediate rebound.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

"Almost" is this team's real motto.

Who knows the truth to it as I believe it came from Brian Lawton’s mouth. He’s a guy who certainly loves to hear himself talk. But I believe he claimed he almost acquired Giroux for Paul Ranger back in the day.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

According to who? I've heard plenty of interviews with Sharp where he's said he always got along with Hitchcock and he didn't know where those rumours came from.

Sounds like something the Philadelphia media would make up so that people would "understand" why Clarke traded him. Remember, Clarke could do no wrong



No matter what excuse you want to give for the trade, it was still a terrible trade. Clarke and Hitchcock were clueless on how to build a team after the 04-05 lockout. It was all about speed, yet they just ignored that. I'm pretty sure Hitchcock even said that speed was overrated after the Rathje and Hatcher signings.

well I could very well be wrong. I just thought I read it somewhere. It was 15 years ago and I could very well be thinking he had issues with someone else

 

[Soup Enthusiast]

k

 

[onlylordsvsmorebp]

ugh.

 

[orangey]

Coming on the heals of the Williams trade the Sharp one was a heart-breaker. I was all like, oh here is a RW replacement for Williams so things will be ok, then wham, and we got what??!! Yikes. Ignominious end for a mgmt group that was close at times but made some bizarre deals too and just wasn't patient enough for the new NHL, IMO.

Hextall wasn't perfect and he overlooked the NHL club to a large degree but at least he represented a real break with the past, especially with drafting and developing prospects. I hope that aspect continues under Fletcher now that he has successfully addressed most of the problems with the big club.

 

[Cootsfanclub]

Who knows the truth to it as I believe it came from Brian Lawton’s mouth. He’s a guy who certainly loves to hear himself talk. But I believe he claimed he almost acquired Giroux for Paul Ranger back in the day.

Immediate thing that came to mind.

 

[wankstifier]

Yes, “undersized” defensemen who drive offense thrive in Philadelphia

 

[Embiid]

According to who? I've heard plenty of interviews with Sharp where he's said he always got along with Hitchcock and he didn't know where those rumours came from.

Sounds like something the Philadelphia media would make up so that people would "understand" why Clarke traded him. Remember, Clarke could do no wrong



No matter what excuse you want to give for the trade, it was still a terrible trade. Clarke and Hitchcock were clueless on how to build a team after the 04-05 lockout. It was all about speed, yet they just ignored that. I'm pretty sure Hitchcock even said that speed was overrated after the Rathje and Hatcher signings.

For Clarke the trend to speed and internationalization of the game (ala Detroit etc.) was not his friend and we paid for his stubbornness. Not the first time. The league had removed clutching and grabbing that offseason I believe and the dumb ass went ahead and signed Rathje and Hatcher. Rathje became a medical basket case whose contract stuck around like a hemorrhoid for far too long and Hatcher was impacted by the rule change pretty considerably...took him until the next season to adjust and by then his knees were like that of my grandma...

I don't recall Hitchcock and Sharp being too much of an issue but it is plausible as he was not one to defer to the youngins. They had to earn their ice time. Gagne said he was a hard ass to him but he was able to take it in stride and he credited him with his career success. He said it took a certain personality to not take Hitchcock's razzing/challenges too personal. The same was said by Modano in Dallas. I know he had Justin Williams in his dog house which was a complete disaster.....worse than Sharp if you ask me.

 

[lancer247]

"Former Blackhawks general manager Mike Smith told the Athletic's Mark Lazerus that the franchise came "this close" to trading then prospect now two-time Norris Trophy winner and three-time Stanley Cup champ Keith to the Philadelphia Flyers to bring back Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte.

Smith said his successor, Bob Pulford, intended to package Keith - who was drafted by the Hawks at No. 54 overall in 2002 - with three other players to return the two Blackhawks legends, who were 34 at the time, to Chicago. The 2004-05 NHL lockout prevented the deal from happening with the trade market being frozen for the year.

Report: Blackhawks almost traded Duncan Keith for Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte

the Philly team thing would have been to acquire Duncan’s much less talented brother (see the Mike Maddox, Ken Brett, Michael Sykora).

 

[ArchAngel55]

the Philly team thing would have been to acquire Duncan’s much less talented brother (see the Mike Maddox, Ken Brett, Michael Sykora).

I just quoted the article.

 

[lancer247]

I just quoted the article.

I know. I was joking about Phila teams always getting the less talented brothers. That would be their luck rather than getting Duncan.

ba dump bump