Penguins Update: Ron Hextall Revisited

We all know the narrative regarding Ron Hextall’s brief tenure as the Penguins’ general manager. In the eyes of many, Hexy single-handedly brought the black-and-gold to their present low state. One scribe went as far as to describe his 26-month run as GM a “reign of error.”

While there’s no disputing the fact that Hextall made his share of blunders, if we’re going to excoriate him for his mistakes then we also need to credit him for the things he did right.

What brought this on, you ask?

I was pondering the dual successes of top-line wingers Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust, both of whom enjoyed career seasons, when a light bulb turned on.

The former represents an incredibly astute acquisition by Hextall, arguably one of the best in franchise history. Indeed, plucking Rakell from the Ducks ahead of the 2022 trade deadline for Zach Aston-Reese, goalie prospect Calle Clang, Dominik Simon and a second-round pick is a fleecing bordering on grand larceny. Or in the words of Mike Lange, “He should get five-to-ten.”

Hextall proceeded to sign Rakell and frequent linemate Rust to long-term contracts during the summer of ’22 at ultra-affordable rates. Five million per for RikRak and slightly more ($5.125 million AAV) for Rusty.

At the time, the signings drew considerable flak due to the length of term, particularly Rust for his age, hell-bent style and history of injuries. Concerns that are proving unfounded.

Since then, trading off term to keep a lid on the annual cap hit in the flat-cap era has become the norm. So you might say Hextall was ahead of the game in that regard.

That same summer, he inked franchise cornerstones Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang to long-term deals with matching cap hits of $6.1 million. Okay, you can argue that those contracts aren’t aging quite so well and that perhaps we should’ve gone in another direction. A lot easier said than done, all things considered. And as recently as last season Geno was a 67-point man and Letang a 51-point producer despite ceding power-play duty to high-profile newcomer Erik Karlsson.

The time to deal one (or both) would’ve come during the latter stages of the Jim Rutherford era, an option apparently nixed from higher up. Which, come to think of it, is rumored to be the reason the venerable exec abruptly resigned.

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while, you say?

Consider this. Arguably the most promising prospect in the organizational pipeline aside from Ville Koivunen is Russian goalie Sergei Murashov, selected 118^th overall in 2022 by none other than GMRH. Although a bit of a stretch pick at 21^st overall, Owen Pickering’s developing nicely at the pro level and seems a lock to earn a spot with the Pens next season. Tristan Broz is another Hextall pick who promises to make the leap to the bigs in relatively short order.

That’s a fair amount of hits at the draft table, especially considering his brief tenure and the fact that he had precious few picks to work with.

Acquired at the ’23 deadline under heavy criticism, Mikael Granlund and Dmitry Kulikov have since proved Hextall more right than wrong. Since being dealt in the Karlsson blockbuster, Granlund has revived his career, most recently with the Stars. Kulikov anchored the Panthers’ third pairing during last season’s Cup run.

To be sure, Hextall had his failures. Most notably, his moves to add physicality to the defense (still an issue) in the summer of ’22, acquiring a declining Jeff Petry for puck-mover Mike Matheson and signing free-agent Jan Rutta, to say nothing of dealing John Marino to the Devils for Ty Smith, served to accelerate the team’s decline. Hexy had the right idea, if the wrong execution.

His failure to lockdown useful and affordable role players like Evan Rodrigues and Frédérick Gaudreau, opting instead to re-sign enigmatic underachiever Kasperi Kapanen, also backfired. As did extending old friend Jeff Carter (initially very productive) precisely when the wheels began to fall off the big guy’s wagon.

However, a trade that was perceived as his greatest blunder, Jared McCann to Toronto for Filip Hållander on the eve of the ’22 Expansion Draft, may yet turn in the Pens’ favor. A pending RFA, Hållander has emerged as a top scorer in the Swedish Hockey League. There’s been talk in some circles of bringing him back across the pond for another go at the NHL.

Hindsight as they say, is always 20/20. Looking back, it’s fair to say Hextall was probably in over his head as GM. Given his introverted personality and leanings toward drafting and player development, he’s likely better suited for the role of assistant GM, a position he filled (and quite capably) with the Cup-winning Kings and Flyers.

Still, when you compare his performance to that of his successor Kyle Dubas, especially at the big-league level, maybe Hextall wasn’t quite as horrible as we think.

Who knows? One day, in the hopefully not-too-distant future when players like Murashov, Pickering and Broz are helping to lead a black-and-gold revival, we might even be singing his praises.