It was a refreshing change for the Philadelphia Flyers when
Ron Hextall took over as the team’s general manager in the spring of 2014. The
team was coming off of a loss in the first round of the playoffs in seven games
to the New York Rangers and opted to entrust Hextall with the future of the
franchise.
While the Flyers qualified for the playoffs in 2013-2014
after missing the postseason the year before, it was evident that the team had
reached its potential and many were surprised the series against the Rangers
even got to a seventh game. Previous general manager Paul Holmgren drove the
team into salary cap hell with lots of big contracts that were either too long,
too expensive, or in some cases, both. It started with the signing of
goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year contract worth $51 million in the
summer of 2011. Just two years later, the team bought out Bryzgalov after a
woeful tenure between the pipes.
But, Hextall was still left with plenty of dead weight when
he was promoted two years ago. Players like Luke Schenn, Vincent Lecavalier and
Andrew MacDonald were all under contract for many years to come and giving the
team marginal production at best. Scott Hartnell was signed through the 2018-19
season and while Hartnell was giving the team better production than some of
Holmgren’s other acquisitions, Hartnell will be in his late 30s at the end of
his contract and expecting similar production would be delusional.
Additionally, the Flyers were still paying Chris Pronger despite the
defensemen’s career being over.
In his time as general manager, Hextall has released the
Flyers from many of their financial handcuffs moving Schenn, Lecavalier,
Hartnell and Pronger’s contract while also getting good value in the trades of Braydon
Coburn and Zac Rinaldo. Hextall has focused on player development both of the
young players that were on the NHL roster when he took over, and of the few
prospects Holmgren left him with. To do this, Hextall hired former University
of North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol as his coach after the Flyers
unsurprisingly missed the playoffs in 2014-2015 and Craig Berube was dismissed.
Hakstol coached T.J. Oshie, Zach Parise and Jonathan Toews among others at
North Dakota so he seemed like the right guy to develop young talent.
Matt Slocum/Associated Press Hextall has brought a new philosophy to the Flyers that has the organization in good hands. |
In Hakstol’s first season, 24-year old Brayden Schenn posted
a career high in points, while 23-year old Sean Couturier despite an injury
this year, was in the middle of the Flyers’ second line for most of the season
and continues to blossom as a two-way forward. One of the prospects in the
system, Shayne Gostisbehere came up this season and set the record for longest
scoring streak by a rookie defenseman. Hextall has placed a premium on building a roster with a strong foundation of draft picks and prospects and
many experts now rate the Flyers as one of the 10 best farm systems in the NHL.
So when you consider Hextall’s long view as opposed to
Holmgren’s willingness to spend big in free agency and frequently look for
trades that had the Flyers better off in the short term than the long term, the
consensus seemed to be the Flyers were headed down the right path. But
2015-2016 would likely be another year out of the playoffs. When you consider
Jakub Voracek missed a crucial stretch in March, it seemed even harder for the
Flyers to make the playoffs in an Eastern Conference with lots of good teams.
But the play of leaders like Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux coupled with some
of the aforementioned younger players contributing has the Flyers where they
are today, preparing for the Washington Capitals in the first round of the
Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Hakstol may not win the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach
of the year, and Gostisbehere may not even win the Calder Trophy as the
league’s top rookie. But this was a roster that was similar to last year’s but
had 12 more points largely due to Hakstol’s presence behind the bench and the
energy that Gostisbehere seemed to provide everyone with upon being called up. While
the term rebuild wasn’t really thrown around as much with the Flyers as
compared to other teams in the city, this season had the feel of a transition
year that would allow Hextall’s plan to start to play out. Hextall’s
fingerprints are only beginning to touch the franchise and the team is already
in the playoffs. For a city that’s been through lots of pain the last three
years, that seems like a good silver lining.
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