Hextall fired by Flyers

[blny]

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[folatre]

This is at least a mild surprise. Most people assumed Comcast and Holmgren were on board with the slow, methodical rebuild favored by Hextall and through his first four seasons at the helm the fans seemed pretty patient and satisfied. I guess all that changed this season in year five. Perhaps it was Hextall's loyalty to Hakstol that irritated his bosses. Or maybe it was just his cautious nature (did not want to give up prospects or picks even in year five of the process to fix problems on the roster) that became exasperating to the people that mattered.

[Polarice]

Nov 26, 2018 16:36:22 GMT -5 folatre said:

This is at least a mild surprise. Most people assumed Comcast and Holmgren were on board with the slow, methodical rebuild favored by Hextall and through his first four seasons at the helm the fans seemed pretty patient and satisfied. I guess all that changed this season in year five. Perhaps it was Hextall's loyalty to Hakstol that irritated his bosses. Or maybe it was just his cautious nature (did not want to give up prospects or picks even in year five of the process to fix problems on the roster) that became exasperating to the people that mattered.

I think it was more the style they were playing that the fans hated. Only 2 fights all season, zero penalties the last game etc....not the style of play Flyer fans are accustomed to.

[blny]

Bunch of fans are claiming that Hextall wouldn't fire Hakstol - who those that watch claim is holding back a lot of the younger players. Ron accrued a fairly extensive and deep prospect pool during his tenure. Goal tending is a persistent issue.

[Willie Dog]

I wonder if Hextall was fired because of this guy?

[folatre]

Polarice, I had not thought of that. It is entirely possible that those optics made a lot of people feel as though the guys in orange and black were just going through the motions.

You are right, blny. Goalie play has been a problem for years and Hextall did not come up with any short term solutions there. I am not quite sure what to make of the Flyers' kids. The system is deep like you say but watching them it is not entirely crazy to say they are short on big time difference makers in that pool. I believe that Provorov is a top-pair talent and I like Konecny a lot too. They are likely going to be good NHLers, but I am not that high on Patrick, Lindblom, Sanheim, Vorobyov, and Morin. Most people think Hart is a tremendous goalie prospect, but with goalies it is much trickier to see a kid as a lock. And the youngest kids in the system like Frost, Farabee, O'Brien are prospects with some good qualities to their games but it is probably likelier that none of them are future top six guys than it is that two of them will be.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Nov 26, 2018 16:39:50 GMT -5 Polarice said:

Nov 26, 2018 16:36:22 GMT -5 folatre said:

This is at least a mild surprise. Most people assumed Comcast and Holmgren were on board with the slow, methodical rebuild favored by Hextall and through his first four seasons at the helm the fans seemed pretty patient and satisfied. I guess all that changed this season in year five. Perhaps it was Hextall's loyalty to Hakstol that irritated his bosses. Or maybe it was just his cautious nature (did not want to give up prospects or picks even in year five of the process to fix problems on the roster) that became exasperating to the people that mattered.

I think it was more the style they were playing that the fans hated. Only 2 fights all season, zero penalties the last game etc....not the style of play Flyer fans are accustomed to.

It's not the way the game is played, for the most part, any more ... I don't like using "how the game has evolved" because the NHL game is now looking more and more like the European leagues, less the stick-work ... one area where the 'new game' becomes advantageous is when you get a kid like Jesperi Kotkaniemi who makes the team at 18 years on talent, yes, but also because there aren't as many headhunters on the ice as before ... the game is now based on speed and skill, and the Milan Lucic, Shaw Thornton days are pretty much gone now ... that said, the game is still tough and aggressive ... I'm waiting to see what happens to JK if/when he ever gets his knocked into a different time zone by having his head down as he crosses the blue line ... I think his team would rally around him, sure, but it will be interesting to see if the 'new game' forces players, in general, to start picking up for themselves ...

Cheers.

[blny]

Gord Murphy, coach of the defense, and the AGM responsible for the amateur draft have been let go today.

[jkr]

The Flyers never seem to get it right with goalies any more. I know they made it to the Finals with Leighton but that was just a fluke, a one off.

When they do get their hands on a top flight goalie (Bobrovsky) they trade him away for a 2nd and two fourths. Not sure who that was that made the deal. Was it Holmgren , who fired Hextall today?

Interesting how different teams have different levels of patience with their GMs.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Nov 28, 2018 14:11:07 GMT -5 jkr said:

The Flyers never seem to get it right with goalies any more. I know they made it to the Finals with Leighton but that was just a fluke, a one off.

When they do get their hands on a top flight goalie (Bobrovsky) they trade him away for a 2nd and two fourths. Not sure who that was that made the deal. Was it Holmgren , who fired Hextall today?

Interesting how different teams have different levels of patience with their GMs.

Micheal Leighton not only had a good team in front of him, but he went up against a completely-gassed Montreal Canadiens team that had just finished eliminating Pittsburgh (7 games) and Washington (7 games) ... his playoff performance earned him a new 3-year deal but it was Paul Holmgren who eventually moved him out of Philly in exchange for Steve Mason ... it was also Holmgren who traded Sergei Bobrovsky, as well ... a list of Holmgren's trades can be found here ...

Cheers.

[Disgruntled70sHab]