from Josh Yohe of The Athletic,
When we close our eyes and think of Ron Hextall, we see the Flyers goaltender chasing Robby Brown around Civic Arena ice. We see the madman in a goalie mask, looking to initiate violence, as only a Flyer could. In our minds, we see a menacing figure. Brute force. The ultimate alpha figure.
Hextall apparently left that side of his personality on the ice, and it’s too bad. He could have used it.
The remarkably inept Hextall tenure came to a merciful end on Friday morning, 793 days after it began on Feb. 9, 2021. There were major oversights, botched trades and personnel assessments of the most curious kind during Hextall’s time as general manager. (More on those later.) There were no playoff series victories. This spring, there will be no playoffs in Pittsburgh for the first time since 2006. It was the final straw.
We could calculate all of his mistakes — and there were many — but there is a greater theme with Hextall, one that someone transported from 1989 to 2023 never would fathom: As general manager, Hextall was soft. Really, really soft.
That, more than anything, resulted in his demise.
continued ($)
LOL that Hex and Burke were the idea men behind keeping the Pens afloat for a few more years. Who thought that was a good idea? Uh, just resign our late 30s stars and some relatively old scrubs and hope for the best? That was the plan.
This worked out as predicted. Even Crosby is about to becomeif he isnt alreadya more complementary player. So many Old Hockey Men, so little time.
They even had league average goaltending. Rust and Carter seem cooked. Malkin and Letang werent great and neither one is exactly on the upswing. They have this core for a long time, too!
Theyre gonna have to bottom out like the Wings and itll still be a decade before theyre even close again.
Justwow. What a fundamental misunderstanding of how the modern NHL works.
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