Hextall has big dreams for Flyers

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This article was published 16/11/2016 (3277 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VOORHEES, N.J. — Ron Hextall has his dream job in the NHL, but with it comes the immense responsibility of making the wishes of long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fans come true.

The Flyers haven’t won a Stanley Cup since the team captured back-to-back championships in 1974 and ’75. Intensifying that hurt is the fact the team has lost in six return trips to the final, the last time coming in 2010 when the Chicago Blackhawks dumped the Flyers in six games.

Hextall, in his third year as Flyers general manager, is keenly aware generations of hockey diehards daydream about either returning to the streets of Philadelphia for a Stanley Cup victory parade or revelling in their first championship celebration.

The native of Brandon, speaking Wednesday from the club’s practice facility about 30 minutes from downtown Philadelphia, said the loyalty of those fans, young and old, deserves to be rewarded.

“Our fans are as passionate as any fans in all of pro sports. They live and die with the Flyers and we couldn’t be more appreciative of them,” Hextall said. “Philly is a blue-collar, hard-working city. That’s how this team, when you look back all the way to the ’70s, has been, and we’re going to continue that.

“We want to be a modern-day version of the Philadelphia Flyers. The grit, the will, the physical play, we’re not going to let that go. That’s our identity, and, under my watch, that vision is not going to leave.”

Despite those words, forget all the images of the stick-swinging hothead who once guarded the goal of the Flyers in the 1980s and ’90s while winning the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie during his rookie season in 1987 and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.

The Ron Hextall of today is soft-spoken and cerebral, a solid talent evaluator who is now in his second stint in management with Philadelphia.

He joined the team’s front office, with the legendary Bob Clarke at the helm, after his retirement in 1999 following a 13-year playing career and rose to the position of director of player personnel. He moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and won a championship with the Kings in 2012 before returning to Philadelphia in 2013 as assistant GM to Paul Holmgren.

Hextall, who was promoted to general manager in May 2014, said his bond with the City of Brotherly Love remains unshakable.

“For me, with such deep roots in Philadelphia, winning would be even more special. These people support us, they’ve been there through it all for 50 years now and they deserve another Cup,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to bring one here.”

At the moment, his club shows little resemblance to a legitimate Cup contender. The Flyers (7-7-3) are in sixth spot in the Metropolitan Division, just four points up on the New York Islanders (5-8-3), who occupy last place in the entire Eastern Conference.

The biggest issue, Hextall said, is a lack of consistency — and the numbers back that up.

Philadelphia scores in bunches. The club has netted 57 goals, second-most in the NHL behind only the red-hot New York Rangers (72). But no team has surrendered more goals (62), and the goaltending duo of Steve Mason and now-injured Michal Neuvirth has combined on an NHL-worst 3.53 goals-against average.

Meanwhile, the power play is cruising at a 27.4 per cent efficiency rating, second only to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but the Flyers penalty killers are 25th in the league (78.8 per cent).

Hextall, just the organization’s seventh GM since the Flyers joined the league in 1967, said he likes the makeup of the squad, but doesn’t like some of its early work or the record its produced.

He refuses to lay the blame solely at the skates of his goalies.

“It is a six-man effort. We’ve got to clean that part of our game up, the turnovers in the neutral zone, the missed assignments defensively. We’ve got to be better there,” said Hextall, whose grandfather, Bryan Hextall Sr., had a 10-year career in the NHL and is in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Hextall’s father, Bryan Jr., spent 13 years in the NHL.

“Have our goalies played their best? No. But it’s certainly not anywhere close to being on all them. Look at the ‘A’ scoring chances. That’s where we’ve had our biggest issue is the mistakes, the big blunder where you give up that 2-on-1 or guy alone in the slot. We’ve given up too many of those.”

Philadelphia, coming off a 3-2 shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators, plays host to the Winnipeg Jets tonight at Wells Fargo Center (6 p.m.).

Hextall said another Manitoban, the legendary Clarke, the club’s senior vice-president, remains a trusted advisor to both the management staff and the guys on the ice.

“I talk to (Clarke) on a regular basis. He’s in Florida a lot of the time, but he comes up and sits with me in the box, will come in the morning and talk hockey. I trust his opinion, his core beliefs are on the money,” he said. “He actually goes on the ice with our team… He’s got an awful lot of knowledge.”

Hextall said while his family comes first — he’s a father to four grown children — hockey is his only other real passion. The GM’s job — and the pressure that comes with it — is a blessing, not a burden.

“From the time I was three years old when I would throw a sock up the stairs and try and stop it, there was something in my blood about this game. This game, it’s something I envisioned spending the rest of my life doing,” he said. “Quite frankly, not a day goes by that I don’t feel fortunate to be in this great game. This is the dream job.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell