Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Hextall has no problem not revealing his drafting hand
Blessed by the gods of ping-pong balls, Ron Hextall should be commended for not filling his mouth with them when the media has come calling over the past 10 days. He’s been congenial and repetitive in discussing his good fortune.
It was the night of April 29 that Hextall was just a little into an unwind at home after a flight home from Europe, attending a life celebration for his passed-on former teammate Ilkka Sinisalo in Finland. Perhaps Hextall was only half paying attention to the NHL Draft Lottery, which was on his 19” Zenith but not on his personal itinerary, since the odds of his team moving up from its No. 13 position to anywhere in the top 3 were much slimmer than the odds that Team USA would elect Donald Trump as a president.
Strange couchfellows, sports lotteries and political games.
Or, as Hextall said recently, “I jumped off my couch.”
By a weird bounce of luck Hextall and the Flyers now possess the No. 2 selection in the NHL Draft. But don’t expect him to go all weird when his time to announce his selection comes on the night of June 23 in Chicago. The Flyers will nab either of two centers, Nolan Patrick or Nico Hischier.
Keeping to the script, and still generous with his offseason time, Hextall issued the same draft policy mantra to a few reporters at the Skate Zone Monday that he’s repeated since the draft lottery.
Not quite a no-trade clause, but close to it.
“I expect to pick,” Hextall said. “I don’t expect to move it, but never say never. We would be doing the organization a disservice by not listening. So we’ll listen and if something intriguing comes up we’ll talk about it. But I would anticipate making the pick.”
That’s primarily because of the stature of the top two draft-eligible players, Patrick and Hischier. They are premier prospects.
The top-ranked Patrick is 6-3 and almost 200 pounds, can get down and be physical on the ice or show off skillfully with the puck. He won a junior league title with teammate Ivan Provorov in Brandon in 2016. Both his father Stephen and uncle James played in the NHL, James torturing the Flyers for many years with the Rangers.
Back when Bob Clarke was the general manager here, those traditional Canadian bloodlines might have counted for something for Patrick.
With Hextall in Clarke’s old chair, the guess here is he’d prefer to go with the nimble Nico. Like Patrick, the Switzerland-bred Hischier is 18 years old. But he’s generously listed at 6-0, 174 and plays more of a skill game, one that had the scouts attending the World Junior championships jumping in January. They also like the way he uses what size he has.
Either one of these kids will be welcomed to Philly with open arms.
“Moving to 2, it changes things for sure,” Hextall said. “We’re getting a much better player, obviously. Luck of the draw; it was outstanding.”
But that doesn’t mean either of the two superpicks should start making decorating plans for their locker stall at Wells Fargo Center. Asked if he thought either Patrick or Hischier was NHL-ready, Hextall said, “Good question. We’d all like to think we know that.
“Until a kid comes in and shows you what he can do, you don’t know,” Hextall added. “You make an educated judgement and then you go from there. But in the end the players have to come in and prove that they’re ready, and there’s not a lot that are at that age.”
What a draft party pooper.
Anyway, there has been much speculation that Hischier has a better upside of the two, and then there’s the fact that Patrick only played 33 years in his final year of junior due to injuries. So the current prospect rankings don’t mean much.
“We’re not going to leave any stones unturned,” Hextall said. “That would be silly. There’s some good players, there’s not only two good players in this draft. There’s other good players.”
Barring an unforeseen change of opinion or shift of the hockey world on its axis, Hextall won’t be looking at those “other good players.” His choice is simple, since upset lottery draft winner New Jersey has to decide between the two players.
The Flyers take the guy that’s left, and whichever player it is, he could or even should be considered a game-changer when it comes to Hextall’s ongoing organizational building plans.
Yes, the excitment has really ramped up for Flyers fans ... hey, who needs the playoffs?
Hextall said he was scheduled to leave for Europe Tuesday to take in the final games of the IIHF World Championships. He’s been missing his team captain, Claude Giroux, playing well as captain of Team Canada.
He also missed that stand-up comic of a defenseman Radko Gudas of appropriately named Team Czech one-timing an unsuspecting Giroux to the ice with a gloved jab.
Didn’t look like he was taking it easy on him, either.
Asked if he had plans to talk to Gudas, Hextall playfully responded, “About what?
“G’s probably glad he only gave him a little nudge,” Hextall said. “That’s Radko. That’s what you love about him. So you can’t pick and choose. We love Radko because of the way he plays and he plays that way all the time, no matter who.” Hmmm. Press conference next week?