The longest active playoff streak in the 4 major North American sports leagues came to an end earlier this week when the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from playoff contention after suffering a devastating defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks.
That was coupled with a victory by the New York Islanders against the Montreal Canadiens, signalling the first time in 17 years that Sidney Crosby would not be playing postseason hockey. Earlier today, the Penguins were swift in their movements as they fired general manager, Ron Hextall, assistant general manager, Chris Pryor, and director of hockey operations, Brian Burke, after just 2 years at the helm.
The Penguins also lost on Thursday to the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime, a victory that ended up pushing Columbus from 32nd to 31st and decreasing their odds for Connor Bedard. The Penguins finished the season 9th in the Eastern Conference with a 40-31-11 record and ended up missing out on the playoffs by 1 point, as the Florida Panthers secured the second Wild Card spot after a torrid run at the end of the season catapulted them into contention.
What the Penguins of old used to have was depth, secondary, and tertiary scoring in abundance, mixed in with decent-to-good goaltending. At the age of 35, Sidney Crosby quietly put up 30 goals and 93 points in a full 82-game season. Evgeni Malkin also played a full 82-game season – the first time he completed a full season since 2008-09 – and he added 27 goals and 83 points himself.
Jake Guentzel scored 36 goals and 73 points in 78 games, Rickard Rakell added 28 goals and 60 points in 82 games, and Jason Zucker rounded out the top-5 with 27 goals and 48 points. Kris Letang dealt with issues throughout the season but managed to produce elite numbers with 41 points in just 64 games.
Bryan Rust had a down season compared to his last 3 years, where he scored 73 goals and 156 points in 171 games. He added 20 goals and 46 points in 81 games this year. Jeff Carter went from 19 goals and 45 points in 76 games last year to 13 goals and 29 points in 79 games this season. Danton Heinen was a key producer last year with 18 goals and 33 points but he dropped to 8 goals and 22 points this year.
Offensively, the Penguins finished 16th in the NHL with 3.18 goals per game, 10th in the league with 63 power play goals, were 2nd in the NHL with 290 power play opportunities, had the 14th best power play, and 19th best shooting percentage. Defensively, they were 14th last with 3.21 goals against per game, had the 17th best penalty kill, and the 14th best team save percentage at .902.
It’s been reported by Inside AHL Hockey’s Tony Androckitis that he heard from a source to NOT rule out the possibility of Ron Hextall making a return to the Flyers’ front office as they look to restructure their offices this summer.
In case the Flyers have forgotten what Hextall did for them between 2014 to 2018, let’s look at what he did with a playoff contending Penguins team that had the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang from February 2021 to April 2023
Trades
In 2021:
- Traded a 2022 3rd round pick and a 2022 4th round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for Jeff Carter
- Traded Jared McCann to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Filip Hallander and a 2023 7th round pick.
In 2022:
- Traded Sam Lafferty to the Chicago Blackhawks for Alexander Nylander
- He traded a 7th round pick to the Winnipeg Jets for Nathan Beaulieu
- Acquired Rickard Rakell from the Anaheim Duck for Dominik Simon, Zach Aston-Reese, Calle Clang, and a 2nd round pick in 2022
- Traded John Marino to the New Jersey Devils for Ty Smith
- Shipped Michael Matheson and 2023 4th round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for Ryan Poehling and Jeff Petry.
In 2023:
- Traded a 2023 2nd round pick to the Nashville Predators for Mikael Granlund
- Shipped Brock McGinn and 2024 3rd round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for Dmitry Kulikov
- Acquired Nick Bonino as part of a 3-team trade.
Free Agent Signings
In 2021:
- Signed Brock McGinn to a 4-year contract that was worth 11 million dollars
- Signed Evan Rodrigues to a one-year deal worth 1 million dollars
- Signed Dominik Simon to a one-year deal that was worth $750,000
- Signed Danton Heinen to a one-year deal that was worth $1.1 million
- Signed Brian Boyle to a one-year deal that was worth $750,000
In 2022:
- Signed Danton Heinen again to a one-year deal that was worth $1 million
- Signed Josh Archibald to a one-year deal that was worth $900,000
- Signed Jan Rutta to a 3-year deal that was worth $8.25 million
- Signed Drake Caggiula to a one-year deal that was worth $750,000
Contract Extensions
In 2022:
- Extended Jeff Carter to a 2-year deal that was worth $6.25 million
- Mark Friedman to a 2-year deal that was worth $1.55 million
- Bryan Rust to a 6-year deal that was worth $30.75 million
- Casey DeSmith to a 2-year deal that was worth $3.6 million
- Kris Letang to a 6-year deal that was worth $36.6 million
- Rickard Rakell to a 6-year deal that was worth $30 million
- Evgeni Malkin to a 4-year deal that was worth $24.4 million
- Kasperi Kapanen to a 2-year deal that was worth $6.4 million.
Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft
Hextall protected:
- Teddy Blueger
- Jeff Carter
- Sidney Crosby
- Jake Guentzel
- Kasperi Kapanen
- Evgeni Malkin
- Bryan Rust
- Brian Dumoulin
- Kris Letang
- Mike Matheson
- Tristan Jarry
He chose not to protect Jared McCann and eventually traded him to the Maple Leafs for assets. He decided to protect Jeff Carter instead and allowed McCann to go free, while exposing Jason Zucker and Brandon Tanev.
Lets also not forget what he did as GM of the Flyers:
Trades:
In 2014:
- R.J. Umberger and a 2015 4th round pick was acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Scott Hartnell
In 2015:
- Traded Kimmo Timonen to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2015 2nd round pick and a 2016 4th round pick
- Acquired Radko Gudas, a 2015 first round pick, and a 2015 3rd round pick from the Tampa Bay Lightning for Braydon Coburn
- Traded Nicklas Grossmann and Chris Pronger to the Arizona Coyotes for Sam Gagner and 2016 4th round pick
- Traded Zac Rinaldo to the Boston Bruins for a 3rd round pick in 2017
In 2016:
- Jordan Weal and a 2016 3rd round pick were acquired from the Los Angeles Kings for Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn
In 2017:
- Acquired Valtteri Filppula, a 2017 4th round pick, and a 2017 7th round pick from the Tampa Bay Lightning for Mark Streit
- Acquired Jori Lehterä, a 2018 first round pick, and a 2017 first round pick from the St. Louis Blues for Brayden Schenn
In 2018:
- Traded Cooper Marody for a 3rd round pick in 2019 from the Edmonton Oilers
- Traded a 2019 3rd round pick and a 2018 3rd round pick to the Detroit Red Wings for Petr Mrázek
Signings
In 2014:
- Ray Emery signed a one-year deal worth 1 million dollars
- Nick Schultz signed a one-year deal worth $1.25 million
- Andrew Gordon signed a one-year deal worth $550,000
- Ryan White signed a one-year deal worth $575,000
- Michael Del Zotto signed a one-year deal worth $1.3 million
- Brandon Manning signed a one-year deal worth $700,000
- Carlo Colaiacovo signed a one-year deal worth $625,000
In 2015:
- Michal Neuvirth signed a 2-year deal worth $3.25 million
- Colin McDonald signed a one-year deal worth $650,000
- Jay Rosehill signed a one-year deal
- Ray Emery signed a one-year deal worth $600,000
In 2016:
- Boyd Gordon signed a one-year deal worth $950,000
- Dale Weise signed a 4-year deal worth $9.4 million
- Jordan Weal signed a one-year deal worth $650,000
- Nick Cousins signed a one-year deal worth $840,000
- Petr Straka signed a one-year deal worth $650,000
- Brayden Schenn signed a 4-year deal worth $20.5 million
- Brandon Manning signed a 2-year deal worth $1.95 million
In 2017:
- Brian Elliott signed a 2-year deal worth $5.5 million
- Mike Vecchione signed a 2-year deal worth $1.8 million
- Corban Knight signed a 2-year deal worth $1.3 million
- Taylor Leier signed a one-year deal worth $806,588
- Alex Lyon signed a 0ne-year deal worth $874,125
- Anthony Stolarz signed a one-year deal worth $725,000
- Scott Laughton signed a 2-year deal worth $1.925 million
In 2018:
- James van Riemsdyk signed a 5-year deal worth $35 million
- Christian Folin signed a one-year deal worth $800,000
- Alex Lyon signed a 2-year deal worth $1.5 million
- Robert Hägg signed a 2-year deal worth $2.3 million
- Anthony Stolarz signed a one-year deal worth $761,250
Extensions:
In 2014:
- Kimmo Timonen signed a one-year deal worth $3.5 million
- Brayden Schenn signed a 2-year deal worth $5 million
- Zac Rinaldo signed a 2-year deal worth $1.7 million
In 2o15:
- Nick Schultz signed a 2-year deal worth $4.5 million
- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare signed a 2-year deal worth $1.425 million
- Brandon Manning signed a one-year deal worth $625,000
- Chris Vandevelde signed a 2-year deal worth $1.425 million
- Ryan White signed a one-year deal worth $800,000
- Michael Del Zotto signed a 2-year deal worth $7.75 million
- Sean Couturier signed a 6-year deal worth $26 million
- Jakub Voracek signed an 8-year deal worth $66 million
In 2016:
- Michael Raffl signed a 3-year deal worth $7.05 million
- Radko Gudas signed a 4-year deal worth $13.4 million
- Colin McDonald signed a 2-year deal worth $1.275 million
In 2017:
- Michal Neuvirth signed a 2-year deal worth $5 million
- Shayne Gostisbehere signed a 6-year deal worth $27 million
- Jordan Weal signed a 2-year deal worth $3.5 million
In 2018:
- Samuel Morin signed a 3-year deal worth $2.1 million
- T.J. Brennan signed a 2-year deal worth $1.35 million
It wasn’t all bad when he was at the forefront of the Flyers but he sat back, and waited, waited, and waited for his process to take shape, but it never did. He accumulated a lot of draft picks and future assets over the course of his tenure. He drafted 42 players between the 2014 NHL Entry Draft to the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, including 19 picks between 2016 and 2017. Of those 19 picks, only 6 have played in 50+ games, 5 never made it, and an additional 5 played 10 games or less.
He did get some games played out of his 2014 and 2015 drafts in Travis Sanheim (416), Nicolas Aubé-Kubel (102), Oskar Lindblom (263), Ivan Provorov (532), and Travis Konecny (488). However, he also had 5 players never make it and an additional 5 players who played in 35 games or less for the Flyers.
As for his 2018 draft class, of the 8 draft picks, only 3 have stepped foot on NHL ice in Joel Farabee (252), Samuel Ersson (12), and recently Adam Ginning (1). The rest were either not signed or extended, or in the case of Wyatte Wylie, he remains in the AHL for the time being.
The Penguins have not had the same amount of success – or any for that matter – from their draft picks since at least 2014, however that’s mostly because they’ve been Stanley Cup contenders for well over a decade. Going back to 2019 alone, they’ve selected 20 players and only 2 have played an NHL game, and they’ve combined for 4.
While in Philadelphia, Hextall took a slow approach that resulted in a rebuild of sorts. It looked good on paper for the first few seasons, they had one of the best farm systems for years on end, and Hextall was thinking about the future when he was making trades as he was alleviating the team from the cap space hell that Paul Holmgren put them in. Unfortunately, the Flyers still managed to claw their way into the playoffs twice and were ousted very quickly, easily, and without much trouble.
That put the rebuild truly at bay, Hextall wouldn’t move on from his hand-picked coach, and ultimately his draft picks weren’t as successful as we once thought they’d be. Sure, they have Provorov, Konecny, Farabee, and Carter Hart but one is most likely traded this summer after 3-4 years of middling play, one has been on the trade block for 3 years but put together a fantastic season amidst all the rumours of changes ahead, one struggled with injuries, and the other is a goaltender playing behind some very bad defensemen.
It was also reported by Josh Yohe of the Athletic that Hextall became a “laughing stock” after trading a 2nd round pick for Granlund. Pittsburgh quickly learned from the Flyers mistakes as they didn’t wait on firing Hextall, Burke, and Pryor. Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Guentzel, and Rakell are a solid group to build around for a team that still has Stanley Cup aspirations.
However they have term and money tied around Rust, Granlund, Carter, Petry, Marcus Pettersson, and Jan Rutta. Rust, Granlund, Carter, and Petry are going to count against the cap at 19.5 million for at least next season. Not to mention that Evgeni Malkin is signed until he’s 40-years-old (3 more years) and Kris Letang until he’s 41-years-old (5 more years). They also need to figure out their goaltending situation and shore up their defense as soon as possible.
The Flyers are supposed to make big changes this summer in their front office and many names have been thrown around like Robert Esche, Ray Shero, Scott Mellanby, Dave Poulin, Chris Pronger, and Eric Lindros – which is fine. However, they should not even re-consider for one second in bringing back Ron Hextall because they need to move forward, not backwards. Oust the senior advisors, stay away from Hextall, and look for more modern names that have done well in their most recent stints.
