Philadelphia Flyers: Ron Hextall’s GM draft grades
Overall Grade
It’s not great.
With eight first round picks in five years, Hextall only managed to supply the Flyers with four legitimate NHL players, with Frost hopefully establishing himself as a fifth. He also found good value in selecting Lindblom where he did, and maybe Allison will prove that he has something to offer.
But there were too many early whiffs, with Patrick of course being the crippling blow to any claim that Hextall defenders might make. I look around the NHL with a tinge of jealousy at other clubs who have useful bottom-6 forwards who they drafted in the later rounds, players on low-money contracts that provide great value for their team in more ways than one. And the Flyers don’t really have any of those guys. Producing this kind of depth seems to be yet another Hextall shortcoming.
Once Carter Hart becomes a finished product, we can suitably shift his grade up or down. But it is what it is, for now.
Grade: C
Next. The Flyers look clueless on and off the ice. dark
The Philadelphia Flyers were in no way the worst-drafting team in the league during Ron Hextall’s five cracks at the draft. But either Hart needs to fully realize his potential or a few of the skaters must up their games to make Hextall’s ultimate draft record with the Flyers look anything more than average. And average just doesn’t cut it. Let’s hope that he didn’t learn all that much from his first stint as a GM and leaves the Penguins as stuck in neutral as he seems to have done to the Flyers.