Over the course of their 45-year existence, the Flyers have six general managers -- seven if you consider Bob Clarke's two tenures separately. If I had to rank them, I'd go in this order:
1. Keith Allen (December 22, 1969– May 27, 1983): Allen was the architect of the Broad Street Bully teams. He hired good scouts, drafted well, and wasn't called "Keith the Thief" for nothing when it came to trades. Over Ed Snider's initial resistance, it was Allen who recommended maverick longtime minor league coach Fred Shero to replace Vic Stasiuk behind the Flyers' bench. In negotiations, players trusted Allen as a man of his word. He's very worthy of his spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame. A truly great GM.
2. Bob Clarke second tenure (June 15, 1994 – October 22, 2006): When he first returned as the Flyers' GM, Clarke could hardly do any wrong. From the LeClair/Desjardins acquisition to the Hextall-for-Soderstrom trade, Clarke rapidly built the team into a Stanley Cup contender. There were a lot of ups and downs after 1997. The GM was unable to come up with the one move that would put the team over the top. Also Clarke was far from blameless in how ugly the protracted Eric Lindros divorce from the team turned out to be. Nevertheless, the Flyers were a perennial Cup contender for most of his tenure. On the whole, Clarke had more hits than misses the second time around.
3. Paul Holmgren (October 22, 2006– present): Unlike Clarke pre-2005, Holmgren's had to deal with the limits imposed by the salary cap. Like Clarke, he's not afraid to make bold -- and sometimes controversial -- moves. He's had his share of hits and misses, too, but think about the mess he came into during the 2006-07 disastrous season. There have been times where it seems like he's been pressured by Ed Snider into making particular moves, such as trading for Ilya Bryzgalov's rights and signing the goaltender to a nine-year, $51 million contract. But regardless of whether it was mandated from above, the GM still ultimately takes the heat or gets the credit.
4. Bud Poile (May 31, 1966– December 19, 1969): The crusty Poile put together a defensively solid team in the earliest years of the Flyers franchise. He made some astute pickups in the expansion draft, including Bernie Parent, Gary Dornhoefer, Joe Watson and Ed van Impe. The Philadelphia Flyers started out their life as the best of the expansion teams, winning the Western Division title in their first season and beating each of the Original Six teams at least once. Poile was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990.
5. Russ Farwell (June 6, 1990– June 15, 1994): At the end of Bob Clarke's first tenure, new GM Farwell inherited a strip-mined team bereft of prospects and thin on NHL talent. The former Seattle Thunderbirds GM had a couple strong drafts (1990, 1991, 1993) and a pair of poor ones (1992, 1994 -- the latter of which technically a Clarke draft, but Farwell stayed on with the organization through the draft). Farwell's trades for Eric Lindros and Mark Recchi set the team back in the short-term depth wise, but also provided a crucial pair of building blocks. Also acquired Rod Brind'Amour. Farwell's biggest failures were in his utter inability to build a serviceable blueline and his choice of Terry Simpson as coach in 1993-94. He also accomplished little in the free agent market. Farwell returned to junior hockey management after his NHL stint.
6. Bob McCammon (May 27, 1983– April 25, 1984): "Cagey" was only in the dual coach/GM post with the Flyers for one year. He was considered a good judge of talent -- actually better in a GM-type capacity than at coaching at the NHL level. The highlights of the year: McCammon oversaw a tremendous 1983 Draft haul (Peter Zezel, Rick Tocchet, Pelle Eklund), reunited the Sutter twins in Philadelphia, and coaxed defenseman Thomas Eriksson to return to the NHL after a year back in Sweden.
7. Bob Clarke first tenure (May 15, 1984– April 16, 1990): Clarke was named general manager on the same day he retired as an active player. The Flyers reached a pair of Cup Finals during Clarke's tenure, and also had to deal with the death of Pelle Lindbergh. However, it must be noted that almost all of the talent that formed the nucleus of the Mike Keenan-era Flyers -- with the notable exception of Murray Craven -- were drafted/acquired by Allen or McCammon. Hiring Keenan to coach the youngest team in the NHL proved to be Clarke's most successful decision. However, the Flyers' drafts and the majority of the trades during the first Clarke era were nothing short of atrocious, especially the Brad McCrimmon fiasco and in the late years of his first tenure when Clarke was desperate to get the team into the playoffs.
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