Is the Penguins’ (Draft) Future in Good Hands with Ron Hextall?

Originally, this was going to be a team comparison between the Penguins and our hated state rivals, the Flyers, along the lines of my recent article about the Hurricanes. However, a quick scan of the Flyers’ stats changed my focus. Ah, the best laid plains of mice and men…

Before I begin, I’ll digress a bit. The friendship between Pens bench boss Mike Sullivan and Flyers skipper John Tortorella is well documented, dating back to the late ‘90s when the former played for the Coyotes and the latter was an assistant. Sully went on to serve as an associate coach under Torts with the Lightning, Rangers and Canucks. During a first-round clash in 2017, the pupil famously beat his mentor while guiding the Pens to a second-straight Cup.

This season it’s been a different story.

Often touted as a candidate for the Jack Adams, Sullivan’s struggled to get the most out of a veteran-laden (and still highly skilled) black-and-gold squad. Given what most experts considered a dead-man’s hand to work with, Tortorella’s somehow coaxed and cajoled a rag-tag and injury-plagued Philly team into playing with fire, passion and purpose.

Since December 29, the Flyers have gone 9-4-2 (the Pens are 5-6-3) to creep within six points of the Pens. This despite the fact that arguably their three best players, Sean Couturier, Cam Atkinson and Ryan Ellis, have missed the entire season.

While we were being embarrassed by lowly San Jose in our final game before the All-Star break? The Flyers shut out the very tough Winnipeg Jets by a 4-0 count.

That’s coaching, folks.

Tortorella probably won’t win the Adams…that honor will likely go to Jim Montgomery, who’s done a fabulous job with the Bruins. But Torts is perhaps the most deserving.

Anyway, back to the intended thrust of my article. Inspired by Other Rick’s recent prospects summary, I scanned Philly’s scoring list to identify which players were Ron Hextall draft picks. After all, Hexy’s ultimately in charge of restocking the Pens’ prospect cupboard.

I discovered that 13 of the 33 players who’ve dressed for the Flyers this season, including the three goalies, were either Hextall draft picks or free-agent signings. For the record, Hextall served as the Flyers’ assistant GM and director of hockey operations from July 15, 2013 until May 7, 2014, when he was promoted to GM. He was fired on November 26, 2018. So he officially oversaw five drafts, from 2014-18.

The following table displays the players he selected or signed.

Granted, he had some first- and second-round picks to work with. But when you compare Hextall’s draft record to that of former GM Jim Rutherford, it’s no contest. Indeed, only four draftees from GMJR era still with the organization have skated for the black and gold. Kasperi Kapanen is one. The others, Filip Hallander, Sam Poulin and Valtteri Puustinen have a combined seven games of NHL experience.

Not much bang for your draft-table buck.

As for Hextall? With the exception of feisty forward Travis Konecny, who’s developed in a point-per-game scorer, most of his Philly draftees fall into the decent-but-not-great range. Former seventh overall pick Ivan Provorov has genuine talent, but appears to have regressed since his flashy 17-goal season back in 2017-18. Players like Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, Noah Cates and Travis Sanheim, while good, are kind of vanilla.

It more of less falls into line with the players Hextall’s drafted or signed since taking the Pens’ helm. Owen Pickering, Nolan Collins, Isaac Belliveau and Ryan McCleary may one day emerge as solid pros, but there’s nothing especially sexy there.

Having drafted Philly’s goalie of the present, Carter Hart, and promising Swede Samuel Ersson in a later round, Hextall does appear to have a good eye for netminding talent. Fueling hopes that one or all of Taylor Gauthier, Filip Lindberg and 18-year-old Russian sensation Sergey Murashov (pictured above) may eventually emerge as bona fide NHLers.

I will say this. Hextall and his right-hand man, assistant GM Chris Pryor, genuinely seem committed to the draft and appear to put plenty of time and energy into evaluating each and every pick, no matter where they fall in the overall order. Hence a potential seventh-round sleeper in McCleary.

My only disappointment? Known for his bellicose nature during his playing days, I was hoping Hextall might nab a player or two possessing a nasty streak. However, during an interview this past summer, Pryor noted that while they do look for a level of aggression, potential draftees “have to be able to play the game.”

Translation…don’t expect the next Tom Wilson or Arber Xhekaj to arrive at our training camp any time soon.

To sum up. While the jury’s still out on Hextall’s overall effectiveness as a GM, from a drafting/player development standpoint it would appear we’re in reasonably good hands.