The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Hextall’s no-frills draft approach still effective
Ron Hextall has been around long enough to have been at draft tables when this annual league weekend party meant something outside of its intended purpose.
Like any sport, it’s there to restock league teams seeking to get better by developing players from within.
And no, the Flyers never really played the development game that way until Ron Hextall took on the role of general manager. Perhaps not-so coincidentally, that occurred at about the same time that the NHL Draft weekend turned boring as hell.
For the Flyers ... maybe that’s been a good thing?
Asked after adding two more kids to his prospect pool Friday night if he’d considered moving up in the first round, Hextall answered, “There wasn’t really much there.” Really? No more Eric Lindrosstyle draft weekend bidding wars for a player wanting out?
No more summer unloading of unwanted contracts?
No more major rental players from the previous spring needing his rights to be sprung elsewhere before the opening of free agency?
Not when dealing with the recent-years realities of payroll max, individual team salary caps and several post-draft days of allowable activity to prepare for the July 1 bell, all of which has conspired to make the draft more of a weekend to get your house in order rather than a weekend to bring the drafting house down with major moves.
More boring? Yes, but effective — for the long haul. By taking two smart forward picks on the first night of the draft, then a handful of mostly defensive wannabes in Saturday’s second round, Hextall is still restocking the Flyers’ system. But by doing nothing to acquire another player at the draft, then not making a major free agent acquisition, he’d only frustrate his currently aging core players and fans alike.
Flush with cap space (about $20 million or so) under the $79,5 million payroll max, it remains to be seen if Hextall does what he should as far as acquiring free agent help for this season’s team.
For right now, at least ... there’s still the kids to consider.
“We are excited,” Hextall said in summarizing his first round. “This is a good draft. There’s going to be a lot of good players (to) come out of this draft. You look back in 10 years from now and you’re kind of like, ‘Oh boy.’
“That’s why people look at it and go, ‘Wow, geez, you took a guy from a lower level.’ Then you look back in 10 years, and I’m not saying this is true with Jay, and you go, ‘You should’ve taken that shot at him despite the fact that the hockey world felt like he should go later.’”
Well, of course he’s saying that’s true with Jay.
Hextall signed off on O’Brien at No. 19 overall despite the kid from Thayer Academy being ranked in the low-tomid 30s of North American prospects on most draft boards. But there’s a pedigree at work here: Thayer once produced a pair of friends and eventually Flyers teammates by the names of Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte. Current NHL defender Brooks Orpik also went there. In O’Brien, Hextall said he sees a true center with strength, grit, skill and Southy-Boston savvy in one intriguing package.
What he doesn’t see is much size (5-11, 175).
“He’s a really smart player, really good hockey sense,” Hextall said. “He’s competitive, he’s strong, he’s got a little agitator in him. He’s got a really good shot and sees the ice well. He’s a really good hockey player. He’s a little bit undersized but we think he’s going to be a fit kid and a strong kid. We really liked him.”
For Hextall and his team of scouts, a group he likes to refer to as risk takers — which is exactly what these boring parties need — there might not have been a great difference in the order of Farabee (6-0 and maybe 165 with weighted ankle socks) and O’Brien. Both are undersized but skilled forwards, both can play center (though Farabee is a true scoring left winger), both are shining products of the U.S. National Team Development Program.
Both are also playing next year in Hockey East, Farabee at Boston University, O’Brien at Providence.
In three years’ time (or maybe two?), maybe they’ll be thinking pro thoughts together.
As it is, with Hextall’s two latest first-round additions to what had been a pretty thin forward development system just a couple of years ago, he’s thinking grand thoughts for a couple of seasons down the road.
By then, Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere should be an elite top NHL defensive pair. Travis Sanheim should be a two-way second-pair stalwart, maybe with Robert Hagg by his side. Carter Hart can be seen as the starting goalie, and a good one. And up front, Travis Konecny and Nolan Patrick continue to supplant people like Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek as forward leaders.
Hextall has indeed spent this draft and his four previous ones rebuilding the Flyers’ system. It’s what he’s done best as a hockey executive.
Yes, he’s fallen somewhat short in trades and has yet to prove ready, willing or able to play the free agent market the way it could be played. But he’s also provided the Flyers with something their previous front office leaders somehow couldn’t — a sense of fiscal responsibility in the cap era.
It might be boring, but it’s effective. And with a week to go before July 1, who knows?
Maybe Hextall will loosen up a bit, drop the veil of boring fiscal manager ... and get the free agent physical defenseman and third-line center the Flyers need to wake up their fan base sooner rather than later.