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Philadelphia Flyers: Ron Hextall’s GM draft grades

By Kevin Lagowski

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JUNE 27: Ron Hextall, General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers (C), looks on prior the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft at the Wells Fargo Center on June 27, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - JUNE 27: Ron Hextall, General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers (C), looks on prior the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft at the Wells Fargo Center on June 27, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The legacy of former Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall has been hotly debated since his surprise firing in late 2018. At the time, many believed that Hextall had done a good job of setting the team up for future success, but that his isolated nature and unwillingness to shift to more of a win-now approach were his undoing. Since then, however, Hextall’s entire GM stint has been put under a microscope, with people taking great issue with a number of his moves.

The team’s uninspiring play on the ice for most of the last few seasons has only served to ratchet things up even more, with the situation seemingly coming to a head thanks to Bob Clarke’s recent inflammatory comments about Hextall’s supposed dictatorial management style.

The final words on Ron Hextall’s time as Flyers GM can’t be penned for some time, and ultimately all of the moves he made have to be taken into consideration. But when you look at just one aspect of the Hextall regime, the entry draft, you can start to get an idea of just how effective he was or wasn’t during his four and a half years at the helm.

Is it fair to criticize former Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall for his draft record?

Let’s take a glimpse at each of the years (2014-2018) that Hextall tried his hand at building the Flyers up through the NHL draft, as we see just how each of those five drafts have panned out to this point. As a rule, we’ll only evaluate the players themselves, without considering the circumstances by which the Flyers ended up with said pick (i.e. trading Brayden Schenn).

So, Mr. Hextall, just how good were your draft skills?

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