Speculation: Martin McGuire on Hextall firing - Carey Price

[Baksfamous112]

This is just the Montreal media trying to present Price as the top goalie in the league despite failing to win about 90 % of his starts over the last month

Yet last month the players (You know, the ones that faces the NHL goalies, not like us, fans) still voted Carey Price as the hardest goalie to score on (a little over 40% voted for Price).

The players seems to disagree with you

 

[Starat327]

we know for a fact that Giroux was an asset our GM was trying to trade for.

Id like to try and trade for John Gibson, too. That doesnt mean hes available.

 

[Boxscore]

This is a very good take from a non-Flyers fan. Pretty much sums up how I and a lot of Flyers fans have felt.

We get it, the Flyers are rebuilding. They were shedding salary and building through the draft. That's fine, its actually great. The problem is, you confuse your fanbase when you preach the future but then you trade away Schenn for more future pieces but keep guys like Voracek and Simmonds. When you keep an aging core you're telling your fanbase that you're not giving up on winning now which is fine but don't half ass it. Maybe they wouldn't have won the Cup but when you have a solid core of players you at least give yourself a shot at a bit of a run each year if you can fill in the roster with other solid pieces without giving out long term contracts. If Hexy would have traded Simmonds (a couple years ago his value was sky high) and Voracek and maybe even Giroux he could have preached a full rebuild and people would have understood a few years at the bottom of the standings. When you keep an older core but you don't sign a decent goalie to a length that makes sense to bridge to Hart, you're absolutely wasting time.

I feel for a guy like Giroux. He essentially came into the league and was on a contender but as soon as he hit his peak they decided to tear it down and start over but not fully tear it down. Now that it's building back up he's past his peak and by the time the team is a contender he may be a complimentary piece. Age 26-32 was wasted for Giroux and that sucks because people on a national stage will never understand how truly great he is. What he did in the playoffs from '10-'12 was no fluke and with the right pieces around him he could have continued that. I just hope he gets at least one or two shots at a Cup run before he retires.

Correct. You either go full rebuild or you don't. No dancing in the middle, which is what Hextall did. By year 2 of his tenure, I was confused on what he was doing - he wanted the best of both worlds and the Flyers had a clear identity crisis.

At the end of losing seasons they were trying to win meaningless games, instead of be content with better draft placement. At the very least, Voracek and Simmonds should have been traded for high-end picks, prospects and youth - perhaps even Giroux, if he then said he didn't want to be part of a rebuild.

When you faux rebuild, you end up with picks like Sanheim, Provorov, Patrick and Konecny - who are real nice players, especially Provorov. But when you legit rebuild, you end up with picks like Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, McDavid, Matthews, Eichel, Laine, Dahlin, etc. Big difference. The worst thing to do if half-play a rebuild... you only confuse your team, fans and media. That's what Hextall did. No wonder why Comcast became impatient - they're saying, "how could you perform like this with Giroux, Voracek, Simmonds, Couturier, Ghost, Provorov and JVR on the team?" Also, "why haven't you made ONE impact trade in close to five years?"

 

[Habs Halifax]

49 games and his stats are basically identical to this year.

Nevermind that we already have a rotating crop of injured goalies. We're all good here. Price for Giroux is a terrible deal for the Flyers now, and it would have been in the past as well. That's all that needs to be said.

Not trying to force Price in Philly. I get that it don't make sense. But you did try to devalue Price which is BS. Same defense you yourself talked about in terms of when Girioux was not producing to his normal self two years ago.

Don't be a hypocrite!

 

[Starat327]

Not trying to force Price in Philly. I get that it don't make sense. But you did try to devalue Price which is BS. Same defense you yourself talked about in terms of when Girioux was not producing to his normal self two years ago.

Don't be a hypocrite!

Im not trying to devalue him. I made an observation that his stats this year are identical to his stats last year when he was injured. I was also told he got on to a better diet that was going to make him less sleepy, or whatever the problem was, and yet here we are, with the same results.

Im not saying he cant turn it around - and i hope he does, because hes so fun to watch - but of any position in the game, Goalies are very much a "what have you done for me lately" position - and i say this comfortably because i play(ed) as one. Im not interested in what Price did in the past, im interested in what hes doing right now, and right now, hes not playing well. Plain and simple.

 

[BrindamoursNose]

Makes zero sense to go with an interim coach unless he’s going to last the rest of the season.

It makes perfect sense if Hextall was fired because he wouldn't fire Hakstol. That would mean they hated Hakstol so much that they'd fire Hextall just to have him fired. Since Hakstol isn't fired yet, it means Hextall definitely wasn't fired because he wouldn't fire Hakstol.

I agree an interim coach would be silly, but this whole situation is silly so far so why even bother trying to apply too much logic to it?

 

[LMFAO]

Martin McGuire is an idiot

 

[beowulf]

What makes me laugh the most is that in the article the author suggests that Hextall should have offered Carter Hart, Claude Giroux AND/or Wayne Simmonds...lol if only Price could fetch all that.

 

[JABEE]

No one in the press and fanbase has paid attention to Carey Price for a long time. People might mention him if he is in town, but there hasn't been a rumor-fest about him since before he signed his deal.

You may have seen a few scattered takes around him on HFBoards, but most people don't think about Carey Price or anyone on the Montreal Canadiens at all.

The fanbase turning on Hextall for not getting Price is pure fiction.

 

[Jim Bob]

They can assign Interim coaches. If they really wanted Hakstol gone, he'd be gone already.

The rumor is that they wanted Q over Hakstol.

Gassing Hakstol to insert an interim coach with the hope of getting Q doesn't make sense.

If they get a new GM in short order and Hakstol is retained into next season, then I think you can say this rumor around why Hextall was let go was bogus.

But, if Q is the head coach of the Flyers to start next season or earlier...

 

[Kraken Jokes]

Yeah.. it's one thing to say "he never managed to get a good 1st goalie" (god knows we were on bergevin's back for a 1C), but quite another to blame him for specifically not picking up one player.

Philly hasn't had a good goalie since Ron Text all himself. It was a main factor in them never making a cup run even during the Legion of Doom era where they were dominant in the regular seasons.

 

[DaftCaptain]

I would take Philly's situation in net over Montreal's in a second.

we have goalies if you want goalies not named Hart

 

[2Pair]

we have goalies if you want goalies not named Hart

Never said that I would actually ever want to have to play with any of Philadelphia's goalies.

 

[Starat327]

Philly hasn't had a good goalie since Ron Text all himself. It was a main factor in them never making a cup run even during the Legion of Doom era where they were dominant in the regular seasons.

The bolded simply isnt true.

 

[YEM]

But you did try to devalue Price which is BS.

nobody need to devalue Price
his contract takes care of that

 

[DaftCaptain]

Never said that I would actually ever want to have to play with any of Philadelphia's goalies.

Smart!

 

[Habs Halifax]

nobody need to devalue Price
his contract takes care of that

His contract devalues him from being one of the best goalies in the world? This makes no sense

 

[Blaine8797]

Correct. You either go full rebuild or you don't. No dancing in the middle, which is what Hextall did. By year 2 of his tenure, I was confused on what he was doing - he wanted the best of both worlds and the Flyers had a clear identity crisis.

At the end of losing seasons they were trying to win meaningless games, instead of be content with better draft placement. At the very least, Voracek and Simmonds should have been traded for high-end picks, prospects and youth - perhaps even Giroux, if he then said he didn't want to be part of a rebuild.

When you faux rebuild, you end up with picks like Sanheim, Provorov, Patrick and Konecny - who are real nice players, especially Provorov. But when you legit rebuild, you end up with picks like Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, McDavid, Matthews, Eichel, Laine, Dahlin, etc. Big difference. The worst thing to do if half-play a rebuild... you only confuse your team, fans and media. That's what Hextall did. No wonder why Comcast became impatient - they're saying, "how could you perform like this with Giroux, Voracek, Simmonds, Couturier, Ghost, Provorov and JVR on the team?" Also, "why haven't you made ONE impact trade in close to five years?"

This comment was so confusing because you listed about fake rebuilds when most of the guys you listed were top 10 picks or a little higher, you mentioned Nolan Patrick also which was second overall pick I don’t know how you can get much better than second overall when he actually could’ve went first if he wasn’t injured the year prior

 

[CanuckistanFlyerfan]

Philly hasn't had a good goalie since Ron Text all himself. It was a main factor in them never making a cup run even during the Legion of Doom era where they were dominant in the regular seasons.

Flyers went to the finals with the Legion of Doom in 97. They went to the finals again in 2010.

 

[Tanknation]

Correct. You either go full rebuild or you don't. No dancing in the middle, which is what Hextall did. By year 2 of his tenure, I was confused on what he was doing - he wanted the best of both worlds and the Flyers had a clear identity crisis.

At the end of losing seasons they were trying to win meaningless games, instead of be content with better draft placement. At the very least, Voracek and Simmonds should have been traded for high-end picks, prospects and youth - perhaps even Giroux, if he then said he didn't want to be part of a rebuild.

When you faux rebuild, you end up with picks like Sanheim, Provorov, Patrick and Konecny - who are real nice players, especially Provorov. But when you legit rebuild, you end up with picks like Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, McDavid, Matthews, Eichel, Laine, Dahlin, etc. Big difference. The worst thing to do if half-play a rebuild... you only confuse your team, fans and media. That's what Hextall did. No wonder why Comcast became impatient - they're saying, "how could you perform like this with Giroux, Voracek, Simmonds, Couturier, Ghost, Provorov and JVR on the team?" Also, "why haven't you made ONE impact trade in close to five years?"

Montreal's GM's in a nutshell for the last 20+ years ...Sucks

 

[Starat327]

His contract devalues him from being one of the best goalies in the world? This makes no sense

The problem is, hes isnt. He was, and maybe he will be again in the future. But right now, hes not "one of the best in the world". Nobody is undervaluing him , youre just judging him on performance from years ago which simply doesnt hold up anymore, while everyone else is looking at his current performance.

 

[Bob Clarke Fan Club]

Philly hasn't had a good goalie since Ron Text all himself. It was a main factor in them never making a cup run even during the Legion of Doom era where they were dominant in the regular seasons.

Are you sure about all that?

 

[YEM]

His contract devalues him from being one of the best goalies in the world? This makes no sense

because you're misusing or misunderstanding the word devalue, which in context refers to the players stature as a tradeable asset, no necessarily his ability as a player.

 

[Jimmyjets]

So to summarize sounds like Hextall was fired because fans weren't showing up to games and he didn't want to gut his system and potential future Stanley cup contention window for a band aid fix now and eternal mediocrity, but to sell some tickets.

This is just one of those decisions that points out to you that sports is a business about entertainment, advertising and making money and isn't really at all about winning championships. If this organization was willing to stay the course in 2 years they would be scary good with a young franchise goalie in Hart. A young stacked D core with Provorov, Ghost, Sanheim, Hagg, Myers etc. and enough veteran presence to help the young wave of forwards lead by Patrick, Frost, Farabee, etc.

I guess the one mistake was playing a boring brand of hockey and losing. One or the other would have probably been ok.

 

[BHD]

I don't think either side would object to this being closed.