Hextall, Hakstol energized to restore identity
PHILADELPHIA » Through the good, through the bad, through the concussions and the goalie switches, through two parades and through a choking situation, the Flyers spent 50 hockey seasons crafting an identity.
Then came Season 51. And then came what Ron Hextall would mention Thursday. “The energy thing,” is what he called it.
The implication: There wasn’t one.
The league, as he realized, had changed from the time when he would spend entire playoff series swinging his goalie stick toward anyone he’d determine to be an annoyance. The sport is different. The rules are different. The players are different. Some things, though, are eternal, not just in hockey, but in any sport. “The energy thing” is one. And before the Flyers would play Game 40 of their 82-game schedule against the New York Islanders Thursday, Hextall made that a point, both in words and actions.
Just days after an unacceptable four-goal loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, Hextall came as close as he had since replacing Paul Holmgren as general manager in 2014 to pushing the Flyers back to what had always made them different. He put in an emergency call to the Phantoms and ordered up a player widely characterized as a goon.
The name is Tyrell Goulbourne, and, it is said, he is gifted at most hockey skills. But he fights, too. And for a team that sloshed to the ugly end of the Metro Division standings with inconsistent, uninspiring, ordinary and unfulfilling hockey, that was meaningful.
Goulbourne, a 23-yearold left wing, is hardly the first player to join the Flyers with a reputation of onice crankiness. Nor are the Flyers alone in occasionally looking to add toughness. But there was something about the way not only Hextall but Dave Hakstol characterized the decision that made it more than the typical hockey version of a guzzled can of Red Bull. Goulbourne, who had six goals for the Phantoms, was not summoned to instantly reset the standings. He was summoned to reset an identity.
“I thought we were too quiet in our own building the other night,” said Hakstol, in a refreshing if uncharacteristic burst of candor. “And it’s all about guys working hard for one another. And he’s kind of been the epitome of that down in Lehigh this year.”
If the Flyers lacked that, there were reasons. One was that Hextall has been determined to build a winner by being patient, allowing young players to ripen at lower levels, refusing to make franchise-defining signings or trades. Another was that the core veteran players, while occasionally productive, were too often flat and too seldom outwardly disturbed by losses. While the Flyers have the ability to uncork the odd winning streak, they are neither deep nor energized enough to pull themselves out of that ditch. Hextall has made it clear that he does not blame Hakstol for any of that. So if that means he has to start blaming himself, his behavior in recent days suggested a renewed trust in how own professional gut.
“There are nights,” he said, “where we need more energy as a group.”
As it has gone for the Flyers this season, even the Goulbourne recall itself was messy, with the left wing unable to make it to the Wells Fargo Center from Toronto in time for the game Thursday because of the weather conditions. The word of his pending arrival, however, might have shot a chill into that dressing room. Or was it just a coincidence Thursday that, before the end of the first period, Travis Konecny had already used several long right hands to win a TKO over the Islanders’ Shane Prince?
“I think he’s a hardnosed player,” said Hakstol of Goulbourne. “I think you see that in what he’s done at Lehigh Valley. He’s done everything asked of him there. He’s been a hardnosed, two-way player. He’s been going to those dirty areas. And because of that, he’s had a couple scraps. He is playing good, consistent hockey. And when need be, he is answering the call there as well.”
The Flyers haven’t done enough since 1975, at least not in the spring. But they rarely lacked for players with Goulbourne’s reputation. That the head coach and the general manager would so openly stress that Thursday was proof that they’ve had enough of doing it the other way.
“The identity of any team in the National Hockey League right now is not like it used to be,” Hextall said. “You had the big, bruising team, or the real skilled team. Now, it’s not as definitive as it used to be. It’s no different than a hockey player. Used to be every player had an identity, whether he was a tough guy, a checker, a scorer. Now there are a lot of players who are just good, two-way players. The same with the identity of a team.
“Our foundation, though, is work ethic, of being hard to play against. And we need to be that on a more consistent basis.”
For 50 years, it was. It still has a chance to be so in Year 51, too.