What about the Philadelphia Flyers? The Flyers have been a bit dysfunctional of late and finally, have decided to part ways with General Manager Ron Hextall. Hextall was reluctant to make a coaching change for the broad street bullies and paid the price himself.
The Flyers just haven’t gotten enough out of Brian Elliott. They have a 20-year-old phenom in Carter Hart in the minors, but he is just now adapting to that level of play and is not ready to contribute to the NHL club just yet. They have also just waived goaltender Calvin Pickard who was claimed by the Arizona Coyotes. The Flyers claimed Pickard earlier in the season from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jimmy Howard could buy Hart and the Flyers time.
As Ron Hextall headed to the unemployment line, Dave Hakstol isn’t far behind. Did Ron hire Dave just because his name was so similar to his? Probably not but I like to think that went into some of Ron’s consideration during the interviewing process.
Hakstol hasn’t been a disaster by any means in Hextall’s defense. Actually, the 50-year-old head coach has never finished with a below .500 record through his first full three seasons with the Flyers. They just seem to constantly disappoint fans with shaky goaltending and their up and down performances from the defense corps.
The Flyers are 10-12-2 this season which is dead last in the Metropolitan Division and are desperate to right the ship before the vessel sinks to the bottom of the ocean. It seems the Flyers are set to bring in Chuck Fletcher to be their new general manager.
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The first order of duty apparently is to acquire a center and goaltender. Are the Flyers willing to make another deal with the Detroit Red Wings with a goaltender being the centerpiece of a deal after Petr Mrazek didn’t work out for them last season? I mean Jimmy Howard isn’t precisely Petr Mrazek, he is much more established although he’s never been an “elite” netminder he’s been a lot more than just serviceable.
It may be a blessing in disguise that Hextall has been canned, a fresh face in the front office with a little pressure from the organization to make a deal should be a bit more willing to make a move with the Detroit Red Wings. Hextall could have still had that bad taste in his mouth from the deal he made last season.