Hextall. An amazing job.

[Embiid]

one of these nights I'm going to put on a pot of coffee and disect Homer vs. hextall move-by-move.

Lord knows going through Hextall's transaction history will take no time at all. I know there are obv some brutal strikeouts with Homer, but he kinda hit some grand slam homeruns as well.

It's been 5-years and Hextall just sitting there working the count hoping for a walk if he can get it MAYBE make contact for single. Slow and steady. Sloooooow and steady. Meanwhile, there's a very real chance the New Jersey Devils & Carolina Hurricanes just passed us by.

The dude ultimately left the cupboard bare with prospects until he finally wised up towards the end and stopped giving away picks like they were circulars. He left our farm team with barely any homegrown prospects to develop. The guy was a mediocre GM ultimately. Started off good.....went rogue trading youth and picks after saying he wouldn't do so, then gained back some sanity with the Carter and Richards trades which were necessary....then went nuts again with Bryz which lost us Bob, traded JVR for Schenn which he did to get stay at home D to protect Bryz and institute the extra wrinkle of D which was against Lavi's system and confused the players, then we lost Lavi as a result which was necessary but should have been done in the offseason, then we inherited Berube…..I mean the guy is just as big a reason we're still spinning our wheels and without a cup moving towards a half century.

 

[Starat327]

it's going to be his 5th year and these are his hand picked goalies:

Brian Elliott
Michal Neuvirth
Calvin Pickard
Petr Mrazek

His only trade during that time that can be spun as his attempt to improve our current roster NOW was Petr Mrazek, and that was because we literally had to have a goalie.

In a playoff where half the teams in the league get in, he has failed to get us in in consectuive years. Not only that, but he hasn't even built a team that has played a competitive series, let alone win a series. When Homer was 5-years in, he already had 2 Conference Finals trips & a Cup Final trip under his belt.

Hextall is an absolute bum (who hired a bum coach out of nepotism BTW any of you that hate Hak need to hate Hextall as well) and I laugh at those of you that say he's done a better job than Homer.

I wish Ed were still alive he'd have fired them both.

also, we're not trading Simmonds. He's our defacto "trade deadline acquisition" without having to give up any prized "assets." He'll walk at the end of the year and I'm fine with it. I'm tired of trades and making moves around the premise of "futures." It's not 2014 any more and the 2 best (arguable) players on the team are 30.

To be Fair, Mrazek was self-admittedly by Hextall a deadline acquisition because he felt like he owed it to the team. If Giroux wasnt in the middle of a career year and carrying the team, i dont know that he wouldve even bothered. Mrazek was probably the best thing reasonably available at the deadline.

Pickard was much of the same. Waiver pickup when he had 3 injured goalies. I dont really fauly him for these two.

Acquiring a better goalie would be ideal, but at the same time, hes playing long bal here with Hart. Acquire a young starting goalie and what message does that send/ what does that do to Hart's development? Try to acquire a pending UFA and who wants to sign here if they know they're just a stop gap? I fault Hextall for a few things - mainly not being aggressive enough on acquiring a better more proven defender, but i thnk his hards are a little tied on the goalie front at this point.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I'm going to convert my house to roll coal like those obnoxious pickups. I'm going to heat it with the dirtiest fuel oil year round. Anything to speed up the desertification of North America and the corresponding death of hockey that will come with it. Then we can all watch Thunderdome instead.

It's better than watching this.

 

[The Madrigal]

I can definitely agree with you on the coach and the defense, but can't we all just agree that this organization is going to wait for Carter Hart to take the job. Anyone expecting or wanting Hextall to find an upgrade in net when it is abundantly clear the net will be Hart's for the taking at the beginning of the 19-20 season is just wasting their energy. The Mrazek move last season was out of necessity given the injury situation.

I disagree for several reasons. First of all, they elected to sign Brian Elliott and re-sign Michal Neuvirth which were both mistakes, period. The second and third reason I disagree is in response to those who use the excuse "they were/are just the place holders for Carter Hart. There are no guarantees that Carter Hart is going to be great or even good for one thing. Also, even IF he has a great season in the AHL, to just hand the reigns over to him fully as a 21 year old next year with this coach and defense would be irresponsible and set him up to fail. This position should have been improved over the last couple of years and they need to bring someone in who is better than the current bums who can share the load with Hart early in his career and take some of the pressure off of him.

 

[Starat327]

I'm going to convert my house to roll coal like those obnoxious pickups. I'm going to heat it with the dirtiest fuel oil year round. Anything to speed up the desertification of North America and the corresponding death of hockey that will come with it. Then we can all watch Thunderdome instead.

It's better than watching this.

This post produced a legitimate LOL the likes that none have heard before. Bravo, sir.

 

[The Madrigal]

it's going to be his 5th year and these are his hand picked goalies:

Brian Elliott
Michal Neuvirth
Calvin Pickard
Petr Mrazek

His only trade during that time that can be spun as his attempt to improve our current roster NOW was Petr Mrazek, and that was because we literally had to have a goalie.

In a playoff where half the teams in the league get in, he has failed to get us in in consectuive years. Not only that, but he hasn't even built a team that has played a competitive series, let alone win a series. When Homer was 5-years in, he already had 2 Conference Finals trips & a Cup Final trip under his belt.

Hextall is an absolute bum (who hired a bum coach out of nepotism BTW any of you that hate Hak need to hate Hextall as well) and I laugh at those of you that say he's done a better job than Homer.

I wish Ed were still alive he'd have fired them both.

also, we're not trading Simmonds. He's our defacto "trade deadline acquisition" without having to give up any prized "assets." He'll walk at the end of the year and I'm fine with it. I'm tired of trades and making moves around the premise of "futures." It's not 2014 any more and the 2 best (arguable) players on the team are 30.

Glad to see that more and more people are starting to get what's going on with the Flyers organization. What was once the minority about a year is now becoming the majority. Tonight was just more of the same absolute crap storm that this team has been over the last two season with Hextall in charge and his boy "Haksy."

For those saying it's only 7 games, stop being in denial. The same exact problems that have plagued this team over the last couple of years are the same things we are seeing through these 7 games. Poor coaching, poor goaltending, terrible team defense, an AHL level group of defenseman after Provorov and Ghost, etc etc.

Oh yeah, the kicker to all of this is that the team is boring as hell to watch. No toughness, no passion, and quite honestly no identity or direction which is 99% coaching. Guess who strongly supported that coach after last season when the majority of fans and media were calling for him to be fired. The Flyers organization is an absolute mess.

 

[BrindamoursNose]

one of these nights I'm going to put on a pot of coffee and disect Homer vs. hextall move-by-move.

Lord knows going through Hextall's transaction history will take no time at all. I know there are obv some brutal strikeouts with Homer, but he kinda hit some grand slam homeruns as well.

It's been 5-years and Hextall just sitting there working the count hoping for a walk if he can get it MAYBE make contact for single. Slow and steady. Sloooooow and steady. Meanwhile, there's a very real chance the New Jersey Devils & Carolina Hurricanes just passed us by.

But you understand that Holmgren didn't have the same problems Hextall had, right?

You talk about how quickly Holmgren had a winner, but you don't talk about the how it happened.

Context is everything

 

[The Burdened]

The dude ultimately left the cupboard bare with prospects until he finally wised up towards the end and stopped giving away picks like they were circulars. He left our farm team with barely any homegrown prospects to develop. The guy was a mediocre GM ultimately. Started off good.....went rogue trading youth and picks after saying he wouldn't do so, then gained back some sanity with the Carter and Richards trades which were necessary....then went nuts again with Bryz which lost us Bob, traded JVR for Schenn which he did to get stay at home D to protect Bryz and institute the extra wrinkle of D which was against Lavi's system and confused the players, then we lost Lavi as a result which was necessary but should have been done in the offseason, then we inherited Berube…..I mean the guy is just as big a reason we're still spinning our wheels and without a cup moving towards a half century.

Oh I know Homer was mediocre at best, which is more so a statement about Hextall

Yes Homer left it p bare in terms of prospect depth, but let's not pretend Hextall inherited a mess void of young talent and nothing but bad contracts.

Hextall was given as good of a head start as a GM could want with with a young Schenn & Couturier and Giroux, Voracek & Simmonds each who were 25-years old and a Ghost in the cupboard and all of his key draft picks intact.

When he first got here, Hextall was a revelation. He was making moves dumping Pronger, Grossman, Lecavalier then showing killer instinct by aggressively trading up to get Konecny.

Unfortunately, that all happened years ago and it's not 2015 anymore.

I was fine waiting for the promise of tomorrow when it was 2014 and 2015, but tomorrow is here now and we're no better a hockey team today than we were Oct 18 2014. That's a problem.

 

[magnumpi]

But you understand that Holmgren didn't have the same problems Hextall had, right?

You talk about how quickly Holmgren had a winner, but you don't talk about the how it happened.

Context is everything

Yes, its very simplistic to make those types of arguments. Two completely different situations.
Hextall's tenure began with the complete understanding that they were completely rebuilding the farm system.

In this day and age a guy like Tom Landry would have been roasted alive after his 2nd season.

Check the records, Landry had a losing record for the first 5 or 6 seasons with the Cowboys before the team became a 20 yr powerhouse. To build properly, it takes time.

 

[The Madrigal]

I was about to respond to every post and say why this panic is silly, but forgetttttttt about it. No point.

In other words:

 

[The Madrigal]

May 14th, 2014

FOUR full seasons, zero playoff series victories. Year FIVE is groundhog day to the last few, 7 games in. The few left standing need to admit to themselves that Hextall and the Flyers organization is an absolute sinking ship at this point.

 

[magnumpi]

Oh I know Homer was mediocre at best, which is more so a statement about Hextall

Yes Homer left it p bare in terms of prospect depth, but let's not pretend Hextall inherited a mess void of young talent and nothing but bad contracts.

Hextall was given as good of a head start as a GM could want with with a young Schenn & Couturier and Giroux, Voracek & Simmonds each who were 25-years old and a Ghost in the cupboard and all of his key draft picks intact.

When he first got here, Hextall was a revelation. He was making moves dumping Pronger, Grossman, Lecavalier then showing killer instinct by aggressively trading up to get Konecny.

Unfortunately, that all happened years ago and it's not 2015 anymore.

I was fine waiting for the promise of tomorrow when it was 2014 and 2015, but tomorrow is here now and we're no better a hockey team today than we were Oct 18 2014. That's a problem.

You're looking simply at wins and losses.
Talent wise they are very close.

I contend a couple things are holding them back from being a legit cup contender:

1) Fire Hakstol
2) certain young guys still need some more growth. ie provorov, patrick, tk, sanheim, myers, lindblom, frost, and im fine with hagg as #6 dman so i'll include him too.
3) Carter Hart or at least acquiring a short bridge to Carter Hart
4) Acquiring a true stud forward, like when the Rangers acquired Messier. Or like acquiring a sequin or something along those lines. if Sequin is a poor example, i deeply apologize, or like a Tavaras. I don't see a guy on the roster who can carry the team when the chips are down. maybe i pine for the days of Lindros.

 

[Embiid]

I'm still on the ledge with Hextall…...but losing patience over this coaching fiasco. Again...the guy continues to avoid the inevitable. Stubborn mofo…...stubborn!

 

[The Madrigal]

I'm still on the ledge with Hextall…...but losing patience over this coaching fiasco. Again...the guy continues to avoid the inevitable. Stubborn mofo…...stubborn!

He's gone so far past doubling down on the horrible hire of Hakstol that he is quadrupling down at this point. Hextall just seems like a guy too stubborn to admit his plan isn't working and unable to adapt what so ever.

"Dave Hakstol is our coach and he will remain our coach. Period," Hextall said. "I’ve said it over and over, and I’m not going to say it again."

 

[The Burdened]

I'm still on the ledge with Hextall…...but losing patience over this coaching fiasco. Again...the guy continues to avoid the inevitable. Stubborn mofo…...stubborn!

I'm losing patience not because of Hakstol, but because it will be 2019 in 2 months and Ron Hextall started this operation in 2014 and we are no closer (or farther for that matter) to being a contender than we were back then.

We're in the same spot: extremely frustrating team to watch, bad defense, bad goaltending, bad coaching, fringe playoff & 1st round foder.

Hextall has had more than enough time to get results. He could still get those results this year, but he's gonna have to do something for once.

 

[The Madrigal]

I'm losing patience not because of Hakstol, but because it will be 2019 in 2 months and Ron Hextall started this operation in 2014 and we are no closer (or farther for that matter) to being a contender than we were back then.

We're in the same spot: fringe playoff & 1st round foder.

Hextall has had more than enough time to get results. He could still get those results this year, but he's gonna have to do something for once.

Come on man you just have to be patient, good old Hexy has a plan

 

[BrindamoursNose]

I'm losing patience not because of Hakstol, but because it will be 2019 in 2 months and Ron Hextall started this operation in 2014 and we are no closer (or farther for that matter) to being a contender than we were back then.

We're in the same spot: extremely frustrating team to watch, bad defense, bad goaltending, bad coaching, fringe playoff & 1st round foder.

Hextall has had more than enough time to get results. He could still get those results this year, but he's gonna have to do something for once.

There are still bad contracts on the roster about to expire that will cost us nothing (but time) to lose and the team is one of the youngest in the league. His rebuild isn't finished yet -- this is what you're not paying attention to.

Tomorrow isn't here yet, but it almost is.

 

[Striiker]

I'm losing patience not because of Hakstol, but because it will be 2019 in 2 months and Ron Hextall started this operation in 2014 and we are no closer (or farther for that matter) to being a contender than we were back then.

We're in the same spot: extremely frustrating team to watch, bad defense, bad goaltending, bad coaching, fringe playoff & 1st round foder.

Hextall has had more than enough time to get results. He could still get those results this year, but he's gonna have to do something for once.

Except that’s not at all true.

Getting mad about the coaching situation is completely valid, but to say we’re no closer is ridiculous. We didn’t have even close to this prospect pool or young core. We’re set up for the future nicely once we fix the coaching issue, which isn’t something we could say back then.

 

[Starat327]

i thoroughly enjoy how people say "hextall has had five years" when about half of that was with a cap-strapped team of steaming garbage. At the very least, its at least just a team of steaming garbage at this point. To say the team hasnt progressed is just wishing for the days of yore where Ed (god rest his soul) would just buy the shiny new toy.

Hakstol needs to be fired this year. Thats Step 1. If that doesnt happen, ill join yall with a tiki torch.

 

[FlyerNutter]

He better pray that some more of the kids he drafted show some real star power over the next few years. If not, he’s chose to keep and waste the prime years of his veterans and in return has been given a pile of mediocre, two way slop.

 

[magnumpi]

people missing out on another reality.

The smart play was to wait out Pittsburgh and Washington.
You can dream up any moves he should have made the past seasons but in the end it would have been a waste of cap space and assets. They werent beating those 2 teams, so anything would have been futile.

 

[FlyerNutter]

Just going to say one thing about the coaching. I despise Hak for the most part, but you aren’t bringing in any coach right now who will not struggle with this team.

Hextall has kind of f***ed him over when it comes to the goalies for Hak’s whole tenure, arguably the most important position in the game.

 

[The Burdened]

There are still bad contracts on the roster about to expire that will cost us nothing (but time) to lose and the team is one of the youngest in the league. His rebuild isn't finished yet -- this is what you're not paying attention to.

Tomorrow isn't here yet, but it almost is.

Are you talking about AMac? You gotta be taking about AMac cause he's the last Homer holdover.

If it is AMac..... What in the dickens do you think Andrew MacDonald is preventing Ron Hextall from doing, lad?

It's certainly not stopping him for re-signing anybody.
Do you think we would use his money to sign UFA's (cause Hextall has terrible track record with UFAs)?
Do you think he is taking minutes away from somebody?

He COULD and SHOULD be rotting in the minors right now. He's not.
There's a reason and we all know that reason, and that reason is 100% Hextall's fault.

BTW Hextall got rid of 80% of the bad inherited contracts within 2-years of his tenure (which was awesome and he deserves credit for that), so it's not like those contracts really strapped us down at all.

Once again, that was years ago. How long ago was the Lecavalier trade? It was so long ago that the guy who helped us out with that trade (Dean Lomabrdi) is now Hextall's special advisor and has been int he role for over a year now.

I'm paying attention to the rebuild. Some of ya'll have had your eyes wide shut and whistling along like this is a Hinkie Trust the Process deal. This isn't that. This never was that.
We should be much much further along than where we are. As each game passes more people are waking up and seeing this team is in not as good as shape as it's been hyped up to be.

 

[Limeyjim]

Hextall will never admit to his failures, therefore Hakstol will not be fired.
The owner of this franchise needs to step in and clean house, which won't happen during the season.
In the meantime the fans will have to watch this on-going sh**fest. I'm sure the season ticket holders will love shelling out the money for tix next year if massive changes aren't made.
This franchise is ran like a country club, that's why senior members like Paul Holmgren are still holding onto a job. I don't understand why Holmgren is given so much love by this franchise, he wasn't on the Stanley Cup winning teams. He was a lousy goon forward who couldn't skate or score, but for some reason he is considered to be a former "great". He wasn't great as a player,coach, or GM.
Hextall was the last "great" goalie for this team (if you don't count the Vezina Trophy winning goalie Bobrovsky, who Holmgren traded to Columbus for Steve f**king Mason!). Hextall was a good goalie who led his team to the finals against the Gretzky led Oilers during their 1980's reign. Since the excellent part of his career was behind him, Hextall headed out to L.A. to become an assistant GM of the Kings, which eventually won the Stanley Cup,(thanks to players who ended up on the Kings from trades by Holmgren).
Hextall came back to the Flyers with the notion of building a quality farm team to empower the NHL team, then he hired a college coach to work with the kids. Hakstol enjoys giving his 3rd liners as much ice time as his 1st and 2nd liners, which results in extremely unbalanced offensive attacks. His reliance on worthless defense players like Manning last year, and Andrew MacDonald every year is causing too many momentum changes, thus leaving the goalies (all of which are back up goalies.....not one starter in the bunch), to be flapping (or as Elliot has demonstrated "flopping") in the breeze.
This team is screwed royally by the lousy decisions by Ronald Hextall.
He should be sacked!
-btw....if my rant makes no sense, don't attack me too much, it's rather early in the morning here, and I haven't had a wink of sleep. I'm just pissed all the way off by the terrible playing of this team.

 

[Embiid]

It stinks that Giroux's career may very well go down similarly as that of Pat Lafontaine (minus the concussion hopefully)....

Nothing to show for Cup wise despite being a prolific scorer...unless he gets traded of course to a cup contender. How it usually works for ex Flyers