Hextall's moves

[Tripod]

Someone asked for a list of Hextall's moves and since I had a bunch of it done, I figured I would update it and post.

If anyone has anything to add, let me know and I will do. Also, if anyone has any comments that make sense to have beside the moves, I will add those as well(awards, etc).

Since Hextall took over:
Year 1&2
Traded Hartnell for Umberger+4th(Wagner flipped for Vorobvov+Salintri)=short term pain, for long term flexibility to re-sign core players
Traded McGinn for a 3rd(Sandstrom)...traded a 4th line tweener who got waived by SJ months later
Signed MDZ for free=had a very good year
Signed Schultz for free=had a very good year
Signed White for free=had a good year
Signed Bellemare for free=had a good year
Signed VDV for free=had a good year
Traded Coburn for 1st, 3rd(Tomek) + Gudas=Got Konecky by moving up+ Gudas has been great.
Traded Timonen for 2 2nd rounders=fantastic value, used 1 pick to move up for Konecny, the other for Allison
Signed Danick Martel for free=QMJHL 2nd leading scorer...worth a shot
Traded Rinaldo for 3rd 2017 = another great value trade
Traded Grossmann + Pronger for Gagner + 4th(traded to NYI for 4th in 2017)
Signed Medvedev=a good KHL player for free…didn't work out
Signed Neuvirth for free=shored up the backup G situation for the next 2 years
Fired Berube…Flyers fans rejoice
Hired a College coach who is used to coaching 18-24 year olds in Hakstol
Signed Marti for free…didn't work out
Signed Bardreau for free
Signed undrafted 6'5 RHD Philip Myers for free…QMJHL All Star 2016, WJC top pairing in 2016/17 as well as a PPG in the Q.
Traded Vinny and LSchenn for Weal + 3rd(Twarynski)
Got us into the playoffs 2016
Signed top College FA G Lyon for free
Added Goalie Coach Kim Dillabaugh
Added Goalie Development Coach Brady Robinson
Added AHL coach Scott Gordon who has NHL experience

Oversaw 2 drafts and had these 7 guys at the WJC this year(2015/16):
Provorov: named CHL Dman of the year
Sanheim: highest PPG in the WHL in 20 years for a Dman
Konecny: greast draft+1 season
Lindblom: highest scoring U20 in SHL, followed by top 4 in scoring and named Forward Of The Year.
Fazleev: over PPG in WHL
Sandstrom: youngest split starter in SHL
Kase: Over PPG in MHL

Plus drafted:
Aube Kubel: over PPG in QMJHL
Friedman: WCHA All Star Dman
Tomek: injured all season, made WJC in following year
Dove McFalls: dealt with injuries, not signed and went back into draft
Vorobyov: expected to be top 6 C at WJC, ended up being Russia's #1C
Marody: great rookie season in college
Fedotov: long term G prospect
Pettersson: played in AHL

Year 3
Drafted in 2016:
Rubstov: expected to be top 6 C in WJC, ended up in a supporting role. Great QMJHL stats
Laberge: CHL All Star Game MVP, felt with injuries in draft+1
Hart: CHL goalie of the Year, made WJC in 2016/17 and WHL goalie of the year
Allison: USHL Playoff MVP, good draft +1
Twarynski:
Bunnaman: stepped up to look like a good prospect in the future
Hogberg: should make WJC in 2917/18
Laczynski: made the WJC in 2016/17
Salinitri:
Bernhardt: made the WJC in 2016/17

Signed Weise for free
Signed Gordon for Free
Added Huffman to handle the D in AHL
Signed talented AHL players in Brennan, O'Neill, and Miele
Signed F, Roman Lyubimov to ELC ... played on the 4th line with limited ice-time, went back to KHL after season, qualifying offer has been made
Signed F, Jordan Weal to 1-year contract ($650K AAV)
Signed F, Pascal Laberge to ELC ... 2016 2nd round pick, QMJHL
Signed F, Nick Cousins to 1-year contract ($840K AAV)
Signed F, Petr Straka to 1-year contract ($650K AAV) ... this is nothing signing , but for the record, and Straka did not play a single game in 16-17 (for Lehigh Valley), traded right away to Albany Devils, now in Czech Extraliga for 17-18
Re-signed D, Brandon Manning to 2-year contract ($975K AAV) ... not much need to be said, serviceble #7th d-man on NHL level who played on the 3rd pair due to lack of depth
Re-signed F, Brayden Schenn to 4-year contract ($5.125M AAV) and avoided arbitration ... a good contract for young, physical top 6 forward with a nice production through the years
Signed G, Carter Hart to ELC ... 2016 2nd round pick, CHL Goaltender of the Year (15-16), played 4 games for Team Canada U20 (16-17) at the WJC, as 18 years old
Re-signed G, Michal Neuvirth to 2-year contract ($2.5M AAV) ... once showed that can be very good goalie, injury prone, had terrible year but could bounce back, fills role as stop-gap for young goalie prospects, will fight for the starting position in goal
Re-signed F, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to 2-year contract ($1.45M AAV) ... meh, no longer in the organization, taken in the ED. 1 year too much and about 450k too much for player of his caliber
Traded D, Mark Streit in exchange for F, Valtteri Filppula, 4th(Sushko) & 7th round pick(Kalynuk)... traded pending UFA and gathered draft picks along with solid veteran F who fills the short-term need either as center or LW and improves overall depth of the team
Signed F, German Rubtsov to ELC ... 2016 1st round pick, almost PPG in MHL (15-16), played in KHL as 18 years old (16-17), played at the WJC for Team Russia U20 as 18 years old (16-17), finished season in QMJHL (over PPG there), had injury
Signed F, Greg Carey to 2-year contract ... pure AHL signing
Signed D, Mark Friedman to ELC ... 2014 3rd round pick, played in NCAA, now headed to AHL for 17-18
Signed F, Mike Vecchione to 1-year ELC ... one of top free agents from college, made NHL debut and looked good
Signed F, Connor Bunnaman to ELC ... 2016 4th round pick, OHL
Signed F, Mikhail Vorobyov to ELC ... 2015 4th round pick, headed to AHL for 17-18, played 2 seasons in KHL before, and played at the WJC for Team Russia U20 (10 assists in 7 games)
Signed F, Oskar Lindblom to ELC ... not much needs to be said, Lindblom could make the NHL roster in 17-18, late round pick who has massively developed & improved, was one of the top forwards in the SHL
Re-signed D, Shayne Gostisbehere to 6-year contract ($4.5M AAV) ... very reasonable contract for top PMD, who had monster rookie season, experienced sophomore season but still with very good numbers, could be a steal (likely it already is), if he bounces back to his rookie season or comes close to it
Re-signed D, Mark Alt to 1-year contract ... pure AHL signing
Traded F, Nick Cousins & G, Merrick Madsen in exchange for F, Brendan Warren & 2018 5th round pick ... cleared space in bottom 6, got value for player who could be taken in ED, cleared space on goalie prospect position and traded prospect who maybe would not sign contract with the Flyers, gained F prospect and pick in a strong draft
Did not offer new contract to the assistant coach Joe Mullen ... he was in charge of PP
Hired Kris Knoblauch as assistant coach of the Flyers ... young coach who turned Erie Otters (OHL) to a junior power-house (7 years as head coach in juniors), provides new outlook & ideas to the coaching staff

Year 4:

Draft 2017
Nolan Patrick:
Morgan Frost:
Isaac Ratcliffe:
Kirill Ustimenko:
Matthew Strome:
Maksim Sushko:
Noah Cates:
Olle Lycksell:
Wyatt Kalynuk:

Traded 2017 picks #44, #75, #108 to Arizona in exchange for 2017 pick #35 to select F, Isaac Ratcliffe
Traded 2017 7th round pick (#199) to Montreal for 2018 7th round pick

Traded F, Brayden Schenn in exchange for F, Jori Lehtera, 27th overall pick in 2017 (Morgan Frost), and cond. 1st round pick in 2018 ... got two 1st round picks that massively helps to fill-up prospects pool, got another 1st round pick in 2018 draft that is considered to be very deep, acquired forward who should significantly improve bottom 6, wants to get more ice-time and opportunities for young players (Konecny, Lindblom ...) and hopes that they can replace Schenn's production
Re-signed F, Jordan Weal to 2-year contract ($1.75M AAV) ... still fairly young forward who showed very promising stretch of play at the end of the season, and showed that he can contribute in the top 9 on the NHL level if given the chance, could turn out to be very good signing, we'll see ... and also he's forward who Hextall acquired in exchange for L. Schenn and V. Lecavalier!
Signed G, Brian Elliott to a 2 year contract ($2.75M AAV) ... one of the best available UFA goalies on the market, signed to short-term and fairly cheap contract, perfect choice due to his experience of playing in tandem, he's used to share duties with another G, good veteran goalie who fills the the role as a stop-gap for goalie prospects, showed that he can be very good under the right structure
Re-signed F, Corban Knight to 2-year contract ... AHL signing
Signed F, Philip Varone to 2-year contract ... AHL signing
Re-signed F, Mike Vecchione to 2-year contract ($900K AAV)

Click to read more...

 

[CanuckistanFlyerfan]

Pretty good job by Hextall so far.

He's dug the team out from a lot of bad contracts...and took one of the worst prospect pools in the league and turned it into one of the best...without the help of the annual top 5 picks most of the "best prospect pool" franchises have.

 

[Lord Defect]

Impressive

 

[Rebels57]

Masterful job so far

 

[briererocks]

Only quibble was his first trade of Hartnell for Umberger, which has been dissected repeatedly on this board. Overall, so far an A+.

Truly a great job drafting and building the team patiently. Special props for not being impatient and making dumb trades.

 

[JWEKD]

Only quibble was his first trade of Hartnell for Umberger, which has been dissected repeatedly on this board. Overall, so far an A+.

Truly a great job drafting and building the team patiently. Special props for not being impatient and making dumb trades.

Ahh but since you made reference to it, you've now opened the gates to purgatory. No turning back now mwuuhahahahahahah

 

[Patrick Division]

Great job Tripod!!!!

 

[Tripod]

So far no one pointing out mistakes or things to add. Guess that's a good thing.

Love reading the prospects section and everyone having us top 5 yet we are the only one listed who also made the playoffs.

Hextall doing it right!

 

[mdm815]

Very glad to see this. All I would add as an example is resignings. The Gudas extension is a good example of how awesome he really is as GM. Locked a solid player up to a deal that takes him thru his 'prime years', with a contract that that pays less salary as time moves along making him more tradable in the event it doesn't work out. I just feel like "Resigned Gudas" doesn't do that move justice, and I'm sure tripod could think of even more examples like that.

Tl;dr-hexy is a g and I'm mad he didn't get any love in that main board thread

 

[Flyotes]

I'm someone. I am the he.

The idea was to sticky it.

 

[hatcher]

Big club still bland. Slow skaters and not a forechecking team.

 

[Jtown]

He has surpassed any flyers gm that i can ever recall when it comes to deriving value from the draft. THese past two drafts on paper are as good as anyone in recent history that we have had.

However his hardest work is ahead of him.

 

[daynus]

Wow tripod, thank you so much.

 

[Cyborg LeClair]

Appreciate the list, but it bothers me when you or other posters say "we signed (someone) for free". I know you mean that we didnt use assets to acquire them before signing them, but they do cost cap space, they arent technically free. You should just say "as FA" because they were a free agent.

 

[BillDineen]

Hextall has done an excellent job, but draft wise, the credit to him goes for moves like trading for the Konecny pick and trading back and still getting Rubtsov. Most picks for any team are credited to the scouting staff not really the GM.

 

[dats81]

Good job, Tripod!

I love to have this condensed view of Hextall's moves. Sometimes it's hard to remember the exact details of some minor pieces like draft picks that later are turned into remarkable prospects.

 

[Appleyard]

Hired Rick Pracey as well as a scout (OHL & QMJHL mainly)... former Avs scouting director who is very highly regarded.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Hired Rick Pracey as well as a scout (OHL & QMJHL mainly)... former Avs scouting director who is very highly regarded.

Does anyone know the full story with Pracey in Colorado?

He was their Director of Scouting from the 2009-2014 drafts.
- Had a great 2009 draft (Duchene, O'Reilly, Barrie),
- Then frankly an overall poor drafting record from 2010-2014 (excluding MacKinnon, who the rumor was Roy forced against Pracey's preference for Jones; and Landeskog at 1 and 2 overall; but otherwise many early round flops like first rounders Bleackley, Siemens; and Hishon).

Was he just booted because of his performance, or did it stem from a dispute with Roy and Sakic? He was suddenly gone very soon after the 2014 draft.

 

[He Is Knocking]

Nice job compiling the list Tripod!

Truthfully Hextall has done more with the roster he inherited than one could have expected.

Excited for what is to come.

 

[tymed]

Thanks for putting together the list. Hextall's work here has been incredible to date.
My only 2 gripes with him so far have been Voracek's contract and his terrible handling of Laughton over the last couple of years. Small-ish prices to pay, however, for the rest of his work.

 

[WastedTalent]

Thanks for putting together the list. Hextall's work here has been incredible to date.
My only 2 gripes with him so far have been Voracek's contract and his terrible handling of Laughton over the last couple of years. Small-ish prices to pay, however, for the rest of his work.

Umm huh?

 

[Skerb]

kim dillabaugh is technically the goalie coach, brady robinson was added as a goalie development coach, pretty good list though

 

[backburner]

good job selling assets the real test will be when we compete in my opinion

 

[tymed]

Umm huh?

Slow reply, I've been killer busy IRL for the last couple weeks so I'll just quote myself from Jan and Feb, then I'm also not mincing words.

Laughton's rookie pro year went somewhat to the tune of a strong start with the phantoms, recording 6g5a in 13. A call up that resulted in staying up, where he showed reliable defensive play with rarer flashes of offence. A concussion 27 games into the call up followed by a brief 4-game return to the Flyers, highlighted by being beaten up after challenging the same guy to scrap before being demoted to the Phantoms. Started off slow down there too while trying to recover still from the concussion and ended the season somewhat strongly down there.... And this season he makes the team out of camp with a solid yet underwhelming preseason and playing crap for minutes and linemates.

I'm not sure why the patience that Hexy preaches wasn't practiced in the slightest bit with Laughton. The player hasn't been afforded any time to get a consistent groove going at the pro level and is about on par, performance-wise, with what you get when you do that. He evidently had plenty to prove still at the lower level. The concussion/fight loss ordeal really shook his confidence. I've been really unimpressed with Hextall's decisions regarding Laughton's overall development, it's been contrary to his philosophy of patience and counter productive in Laughton's development.

Laughton should be fine. His pro level management has been brutal, at least post concussion. It's on the player to seize his opportunities but it's also on management to make proper assessments and put them in the right spots to be successful. He was visibly outplayed by Cousins in the preseason imo. He still had plenty to prove at the AHL level. Still does. His confidence was essentially destroyed last year after getting concussed then returning to the nhl, getting beaten up by the guy who concussed him and promptly demoted to the ahl for the rest of the year where he played alright trying to regain some game.

Cousins on the other hand is showing some return on patience, whose pro level management was handled much closer to Hextall's apparent philosophy and apparently much better. They should have swapped places to begin the season and still can. It's sink or swim time for Cousins here too. I think Laughton will be fine once he gets himself going. It's been a long time since he was in a good groove.

 

[kelmitchell]

Very good write up on how he's done, I loved the way you worded berube being fired haha