Did Ron Hextall Have “Help” Deconstructing the Penguins?

After watching our new president of hockey operations and GM Kyle Dubas remake our favorite hockey team in a shade over two months, it’s clear he operates in an entirely different stratosphere than our previous management team of Brian Burke and Ron Hextall.

In the wake of the Erik Karlsson blockbuster, I have the utmost confidence Dubas will make our Penguins as competitive as humanly possible in the short run. I also have absolute faith in his ability to execute a successful tear-down and rebuild when the time comes.

He’s that good. A brilliant hockey mind and truly a terrific hire by FSG.

By comparison, Burke seemed to be little more than a marble figurehead, subject to an occasional dusting by the PPG Paints Arena cleaning crew. And Hextall has been excoriated by the local media and fan base alike, a convenient scapegoat for every ill that’s befallen the franchise. I truly feel for him.

While there’s no denying Hextall’s culpability, at least to an extent, I can’t help but wonder. Was he totally to blame for the mess Dubas inherited? Or did he have “help?”

I think back to last summer when GMRH signed two-time Cup champion Jan Rutta and swung his defense-altering trades for Jeff Petry and Ty Smith. This on the heels of inking core players Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and key deadline pickup Rickard Rakell to remarkably cost-effective extensions, never mind how it was done.

Aside from a questionable extension doled out to enigmatic Kasperi Kapanen, nobody…including yours truly…was complaining too much then. Indeed, with the acquisitions of bigger players like Petry, Rakell and Rutta, Hextall seemed to be nudging us toward a more playoff-ready blend while fulfilling Burke’s promise to bring long-pants hockey to the ‘Burgh.

Problem is, his coach (Mike Sullivan) was still attempting to play a pure speed game with a team that was no longer built to do so. Most coaches would’ve adjusted their scheme to fit the talent on hand.

Not Sullivan.

The wheels gradually fell off the wagon in a cacophony of blown leads, ugly come-from-in-front losses and sloppy, half-hearted efforts. Leading to a flurry of last-ditch and largely uninspired deadline deals, culminating in the Mikael Granlund debacle.

Those were on Hextall, who by that time was scrambling to save his job. But Sullivan certainly had a hand, and not a small one, in the team’s failure to qualify for the playoffs. Yet like the Teflon Don, he largely avoided blame for the fiasco.

And now?

Dubas appears to be retooling the team in Sullivan’s image. Long on speed and skill, woefully short on muscle and sand. It’s a mix that should carry us to a postseason berth while providing ample thrills along the way.

However, as we all know, the playoffs are an entirely different animal. For all his shortcomings, Hextall seemed to grasp this.

I think Dubas does, too. He spent last spring reinforcing Toronto with a physical presence at the deadline.

Still not sure about our coach.

Au Revoir et Bonne Chance Nathan

I hope the recent trade works out for Nathan Légaré, our once highly touted power forward prospect who was sent to the Canadiens after enduring two tough seasons with the Baby Pens.

When we traded up to draft the Montreal native in the third round of the 2019 Entry Draft I was thrilled. Here was a kid with some size (6’0” 205), a bomb of a shot and an abrasive, fiery nature. Very un-Penguinesque, albeit in a good way.

I had high hopes he’d one day fill Patric Hornqvist’s skates as a net-front nuisance and agitator. Hopes that seemed justified when Nathan struck for two lightning-fast goals within a 23-second span during a preseason game against Columbus back in 2019, triggering the spirited celebration pictured above.

Skating on a line with boyhood chum and fellow Pens draft pick Samuel Poulin, Légaré punctuated his junior career with a flourish by exploding for 14 goals in 15 Quebec League playoff games in the spring of ’21. That doesn’t happen by accident.

I couldn’t wait to see him in a Penguins uniform.

Who would’ve thought a kid with Nathan’s shot, pedigree and willingness to get his fingernails dirty would only score 15 goals combined over his first two pro seasons? Certainly not me.

I don’t know what went wrong for Légaré with the Baby Pens. Apparently skating, never a strength, continues to be a blemish. Perhaps he couldn’t physically dominate the pro game the way he did at times in junior. I’m not sure how he was used in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, although I believe more often than not he toiled in a bottom-six role. An odd place for a kid with his scoring touch, release and nose for the net.

I digress.

I wish Légaré all the best. Hope he finds himself with the Canadiens.