Yesterday, he fired a man 28 games into his first full season as head coach, a coach whose team started the day three points out of first place. He fired Craig Ramsay, it seemed, for many of the same characteristics that caused him to promote Ramsay to head coach late last season. Some guys figure this coaching thing out.
Some guys never do.
Bob Clarke, who operates his hockey club by trial and error, has yet to do it in what is now almost two decades of front-office administration. Either that, or he just has no idea when to hold them, when to fold them. Last spring, Clarke liked Ramsay's calm. He liked that he did not panic. He liked that he looked at the big picture, not all the little snapshots.