Ron Hextall

Ronald Jeffrey Hextall (born May 3, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and executive. He was most recently the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hextall was a goaltender for 13 seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers, Quebec Nordiques, and New York Islanders from 1986 to 1999. He served as assistant general manager for the Flyers for one season, and was promoted to general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, replacing Paul Holmgren on May 7, 2014. He held this position for four and a half seasons. Before this he served as assistant general manager for the Los Angeles Kings, who won the Stanley Cup in 2012.

Hextall played 11 of his 13 seasons over two stints with the Flyers. He holds several team records and is a member of the Flyers Hall of Fame. During his rookie season in , he was awarded the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender and led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final. Despite the Flyers' loss to the Edmonton Oilers in seven games, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player, making him one of only six players to win the trophy in a losing effort. Injuries in the middle of his career contributed to a drop in his playing ability; as a result, he was traded on three occasions in the off-seasons between 1992 and 1994 to the Nordiques, the Islanders and then back to the Flyers. Upon his return to Philadelphia, Hextall regained confidence and form, recording goals against averages (GAA) below 3.00 in each of his five subsequent seasons – the lowest of his career. He retired from the NHL at the end of the season.

Hextall became the first NHL goaltender to score a goal by shooting the puck into the opponent's empty net, against the Boston Bruins in the season. The following season, he became the first goaltender to score in the playoffs, by shooting the puck into the Washington Capitals' empty net. His mobile style of play, in which he provided support to his defencemen by coming out of the goal area to play the puck was revolutionary, and inspired future generations of goaltenders, such as Martin Brodeur. He was also known for being one of the NHL's most aggressive goaltenders: he was suspended for six or more games on three occasions, had more than 100 penalty minutes in each of his first three seasons, and set new records for the number of penalty minutes recorded by a goaltender in the NHL.

Early life Ron Hextall was born on May 3, 1964, in Brandon, Manitoba, the third and youngest child of Bryan and Fay Hextall. Hextall is a third-generation NHL player – his grandfather, Hall of Famer Bryan Hextall, played 11 seasons with the New York Rangers, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969. His father, Bryan Hextall, Jr., played in the NHL for 10 seasons, most notably for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and his uncle, Dennis Hextall, played 14 seasons of NHL hockey, not staying with any one club for longer than five years. During his youth, Hextall saw his father and uncle often roughed up by the Philadelphia Flyers, whose aggressive style of play for much of the 1970s gave the team the name "Broad Street Bullies". Hextall later reflected that during this period he "hated the Flyers." In the 1980–81 season, his solitary season with the club, he played 37 games with a goals against average (GAA) of 6.57. Millionaires teammate Mark Odnokon praised his performance, particularly the way "he lived up to his responsibilities and stayed in there until the end." In 2009, Hextall was inducted as one of the inaugural members of the SJHL Hall of Fame.

After his selection, Hextall remained with Brandon for two further seasons. He played 44 games in 1982–83, recording a GAA of 5.77 during a season in which the Wheat Kings did not qualify for the playoffs. The following year was his most successful in the WHL: a GAA of 4.29 across his 46 regular season games, which included 29 wins – more than in the previous two seasons combined. He played in ten of the twelve playoff games, recording five wins and five losses, with a GAA of 3.75.

Professional hockey Hextall arrived at the Philadelphia Flyers training camp in 1984 with the expectation of playing in the NHL. However, the Flyers subsequently sent him to their farm team in the International Hockey League (IHL), the Kalamazoo Wings. Although disappointed, Hextall was now playing at a higher level than at WHL and made his debut in professional hockey. He played 19 games for Kalamazoo, recording six wins and a GAA of 4.35. During the season, he moved to the Flyers' other farm team; Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), where he played 11 times, with four wins, and a GAA of 3.68. Hextall lived up to his aggressive reputation in the Conference final, played against the St. Catharines Saints, fighting three different members of the opposition side during a single bench-clearing brawl. The Bears advanced to the Calder Cup final, having beaten the New Haven Nighthawks 4–1 and the St. Catharines Saints 4–3. In the final, they faced the Adirondack Red Wings, who won the championship by four games to two. Hextall played 13 games in the playoffs, of which his team won five, and his GAA was 3.23. He was named as the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award winner, as the AHL's outstanding rookie player. Looking back on his time in the AHL, Hextall reflected that despite his initial disappointment at not being selected to play for the Flyers straight away, "the two years that I spent in the American League got me to the point where I was sure I could be a No. 1 goaltender at the NHL level." Two months after making these comments, Hextall was involved in a fight with opposing New Jersey Devils goaltender Alain Chevrier. Having lost to the Devils, the Flyers wanted revenge for Steve Richmond's punch on Kjell Samuelsson at the end of the game; Hextall targeted Chevrier in a fight labelled by Chico Resch as "like a heavyweight against a lightweight." Hextall and seven other players were fined $300 each for their part in the brawl.

Hextall's play in his rookie year in the NHL earned him the Vezina Trophy and the pictured Conn Smythe Trophy. In 66 regular season games during his rookie year, Hextall posted a GAA of 3.00 and recorded 37 wins. He was awarded the Vezina Trophy for the most outstanding goaltender by the NHL general managers, but he was second in the voting to Luc Robitaille for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the "player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition". Hextall led the Flyers to top their Conference, and win the Prince of Wales Trophy. The Flyers progressed to face the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final, having beaten the New York Rangers 4–2, the New York Islanders 4–3, and the Montreal Canadiens 4–2. Following their series victory over Montreal, Flyers captain Dave Poulin identified Hextall as the team's leading performer. In the fourth game of the Finals, Hextall received two penalties, first a ten-minute misconduct penalty for "expressing his displeasure at the fourth Oiler goal," and later a five-minute penalty for slashing Kent Nilsson. In the latter incident, Hextall had received a slash from Glenn Anderson for which there was no call from the referees, and Hextall sought revenge by striking the back of Nilsson's knees. After the game Hextall expressed remorse for striking the wrong player but not for his action:

If somebody slaps you in the face, you're going to slap him back, it's not like he gave me a touch to jar the puck. What's he going to do next, break my arm? I'm sorry it was Nilsson and not Anderson I hit, but I just reacted. At the time, it seemed the right thing to do.

The performance of Hextall in the next game tied the series and forced a seventh game; at the end, the Flyers team surrounded Hextall in congratulation and the Oilers player Kevin Lowe said that Hextall "held them in it". Between the sixth and seventh games, the Oilers' forward Wayne Gretzky described Hextall as "probably the best goaltender I've ever played against in the NHL." Edmonton won the final game of the series to take the Stanley Cup. Robin Finn, writing in The New York Times, said that the team won the title "without their trademark, those endless waves of madcap scoring", primarily due to the "heroics of Hextall". Flyers teammate Rick Tocchet said that when he realised his side were going to lose, his "first thought was to feel sorry for Ronny Hextall, because he did everything he could to get us here and keep us in it." becoming only the fourth player from a losing side to be awarded the trophy.

quote=I don't mean to sound cocky, but I knew it was just a matter of time before I flipped one in. — — Hextall addresses the media after scoring his first NHL goal Hextall returned to the Flyers line-up against the New York Rangers, and made over 40 saves in a 2–2 tie. Just over a month later, on December 8, 1987, Hextall became the first goaltender to shoot at goal and score in the NHL when he scored an empty net goal towards the end of a game against the Boston Bruins. The Flyers led 4–2 which prompted the Bruins to pull their goaltender in favour of an extra attacker. The puck was dumped into the Philadelphia zone by the Bruins, and Hextall picked it up without any players near him; his shot fired into the air, bounced and rolled into the net. Hextall had targeted becoming the "first NHL goaltender to score a true goal" over a year earlier, Hextall played 62 of the 67 games for which he was available during the regular season. He recorded 30 wins, and a GAA of 3.50, slightly higher than during his rookie year. In the final two games of the series, which the Capitals won 4–3, Hextall gave up a further 12 goals, and completed the playoffs with a GAA of 4.75. the first time that a goaltender had collected over 100. Hextall completed the 1988–89 regular season with 30 wins, the third consecutive season in which he had recorded so many, and the first time a goaltender had recorded 30 wins in each of their first three seasons in the NHL. The Flyers finished fourth in the Patrick Division and qualified for the playoffs. They faced the Washington Capitals in the first round, and the teams shared the first four games. The Flyers won the fifth, despite being 5–4 down in the third period. Flyers' defenceman Mark Howe credited their victory to Hextall. Late in the game, the Capitals pulled their goaltender, and Hextall scored the second goal of his career. The puck was shot into the Flyers' left defensive zone by Scott Stevens, and Hextall went around the back of his net, controlled the puck and shot at the goal. He became the first goaltender to score a goal in the NHL playoffs. The Flyers won 8–5, and went on to win the series 4–2, which Joe Sexton of The New York Times attributed primarily to Hextall's return to form.

Against the Penguins in the Patrick Division Final, Hextall's performances were mixed: he under-performed early in the series, and in game five was swapped out of the net and then reinstated twice during a 10–7 defeat for the Flyers. Hextall faced 17 shots in the game, conceding nine of the Penguins goals. After the game, he denied being out of control, despite having assaulted one of the officials and chasing Rob Brown around the ice. He said, "I like to think I'm strong mentally. Hey, if I was as out of control as people say I am, I wouldn't be in the National Hockey League." The Penguins coach, Gene Ubriaco, agreed with Hextall's assessment, and believed the goaltender lost control intentionally: "He uses a loss of control to his advantage, in a way. He's the extreme example of controlled violence. And they [the Flyers] live and die with it." Hextall's injury kept him out of the first three games of the series against the Canadiens, during which the Canadiens took a 2–1 lead. He returned for the fourth game, but could not prevent his side losing 3–0. The Flyers won the following game to extend the series to six games, but lost the next game 4–2, and were eliminated. Hextall displayed his violent side during the final minutes of game six, skating out of his crease to attack Chris Chelios. Hextall claimed that the attack was in retaliation for Chelios' hit on his Flyer teammate Brian Propp in game one, when Chelios caught Flyer Propp with a "flying elbow" to the side of the head, rendering him unconscious. Hextall was given a 12-game suspension for his actions, at the beginning of the 1989–90 season. Following the announcement of the suspension, Hextall stated his disappointment, and added that his intention was to fight rather than hurt Chelios.

Contract rebel and injury troubles Prior to the 1989–90 season, Hextall became unhappy that his eight-year, $4 million contract was only earning him $325,000 a year, and hired a confrontational agent, Ritch Winter, to renegotiate his contract. The Flyers refused to deal with the agent, and at a tearful press conference, Hextall declared his contract invalid and announced that he would not take part in the team's training camp. After negotiations about which neither side revealed details, Hextall returned to practice with the team on October 20, 42 days later. Hextall suffered a slight groin pull during his first game back, and in his second, he hurt his left hamstring. Just under a month later, while playing for the Hershey Bears in an attempt to establish his fitness, he was carried off the ice after once more hurting his groin. In total that season, Hextall appeared nine times; once for the Bears in the AHL, and eight times for the Flyers. In the NHL, he recorded a GAA of 4.15, the highest he averaged during any single season of the NHL. The Flyers' orthopaedist, Dr. Arthur Bartolozzi, suggested a possible reason for his series of injuries:

He is in motion anticipating the shot before the guy even hits the puck. So he's already on the ice or doing a split or anticipating the shot well before it's made. That's probably what makes him a great goaltender. But it's also what may predispose him to injury.

In 1990–91, Hextall appeared in 36 NHL games, less than half of those played by the Flyers that season. He recorded 13 wins, with a GAA of 3.13. Suspension, further injuries, and a lack of form meant Hextall appeared 45 times for the Flyers. He recorded 16 wins during the season, resulting in his lowest win percentage in the NHL, 35.56%. While negotiating to get the best possible deal, Aubut traded Lindros to both the Flyers and the Rangers, meaning an arbitrator had to rule which club should receive him. During the ten days between the trades being made and the arbitrator's ruling, there was a lot of speculation about which Flyers' and Rangers' players were involved in the potential trades. On July 30, the arbitrator ruled in favour of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Hextall was traded to Quebec, along with five other players, two first round selections (in 1993 and 1994), and $15,000,000 cash for Lindros. Hextall regained some of the confidence he displayed during his first years in Philadelphia, and although a strained thigh muscle kept him out towards the end of the regular season, he helped the Nordiques to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1987. Quebec were eliminated 4–2 by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, during which Hextall was praised as being "at the top of his game".

New York Islanders (1993–1994) After only one season with the Nordiques, Hextall was traded to the New York Islanders in return for Mark Fitzpatrick on June 20, 1993, a move made because the Nordiques could only protect one goalie for the expansion draft and instead of losing him chose to trade him to Long Island. The two teams also traded first-round draft picks. The move was a surprise for Hextall, who had settled in well in Quebec with his family. Don Maloney, the Islanders' general manager, described the trade as "too good to pass up". The trade was praised on the Islanders' side by The New York Times as possibly "the best in the league over the off season". Hextall had a poor beginning to his career as an Islander, conceding 23 goals in 14 periods at the start of the 1993–94 season, resulting in his replacement prior to the third period against the New Jersey Devils in mid-October. During that game, in which the Islanders were playing at home, Hextall was jeered by the crowd, something to which he had become accustomed during his time with Philadelphia. In contrast to the fans' derision, Hextall's teammates backed him, taking some of the blame themselves, and expressing their belief in their new colleague. Steve Thomas suggested that Hextall was "one of the best goalies in the league, easily in the top five or 10," while coach Al Arbour dismissed dropping Hextall, saying that "We're not playing well in front of the goaltender and he can only be as good as the guys in front of him." Any thoughts that Arbour might have had of replacing Hextall as the team's number-one goaltender were limited by the play of his back-up, Tom Draper, who recorded a GAA of 4.23 in the seven NHL games he played that season. This, coupled with the lack of experienced goaltenders at the club's IHL affiliate, the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, resulted in Hextall starting 20 games in a row until Jamie McLennan was called up from the Golden Eagles.

The break, and challenge, that Hextall was afforded by McLennan's call-up helped him to recover his form, and in February, he made consecutive shutouts against the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals. He recorded another shutout in his next home game, against the Flyers, and was shortly thereafter named as the NHL's player of the week. During the regular season with the Islanders, Hextall recorded a career-best five shutouts, and a GAA of 3.08, the best since his rookie year. The Islanders reached the playoffs, but were swept 4–0 by their rivals, the New York Rangers. Hextall played three of the four games, conceding 16 goals for a GAA of 6.08, the worst average of his NHL career by some distance. but five months later, Maloney traded Hextall back to Philadelphia. He described the move as being two-pronged: it would appease the fans and prevent the derisory calls when the team was struggling, and it would give McLennan a chance to establish himself as the number-one goaltender. Hextall was traded with a sixth-round draft pick to the Flyers for goaltender Tommy Söderström on September 22, 1994.

Return to Philadelphia (1994–1999) In the 1994–95 season, his first season back in Philadelphia, Hextall played 31 games and recorded his lowest GAA in a season to that point, 2.89. After defeating the Buffalo Sabres in the first round, the Flyers faced the New York Rangers in the second. Following the Rangers sweep of the Islanders the previous season, the Rangers' fans chanted "We Want Hex-tall!" during their game-six victory in the first round. The Flyers' coach, Terry Murray dismissed the chants, stating that "emotionally he's really under control." The New York Times supported this belief, claiming that "this isn't the same Ron Hextall they remember so fondly". The Flyers won the first two games of the series, and at Madison Square Garden, Hextall had a quiet game in which he even acted as a calming influence to teammates Kevin Haller and Dmitri Yushkevich, a turnaround from the aggressiveness he had displayed earlier in his career. The Flyers swept the Rangers 4–0 and advanced to the Conference Final against the New Jersey Devils, to whom they lost 4–2. Hextall's statistics in the playoffs were his best since his rookie year: he recorded ten wins with a GAA of 2.81. and the best of Hextall's career. Snow started nine of the ten games during the first two rounds, but Hextall replaced him in game two of the Conference Final, and remained the starting goaltender for the remainder of the series. A loss against the Detroit Red Wings in the first game of the Stanley Cup Final resulted in coach Murray switching back to Snow for the second game. Hextall returned for games three and four, but the Flyers were swept 4–0 by the Red Wings.

In his final two playing seasons, both spent at the Flyers, Hextall made fewer appearances; he played 46 games in , and 23 in . He maintained a sub-3.00 GAA in each year, repeating the achievement in each of his final five seasons in the NHL having failed to do so in the previous eight seasons. and after going unclaimed in the expansion draft, he announced his retirement on September 6, 1999.

International career Hextall's first international recognition came when he was named as part of Team Canada's squad for the 1987 Canada Cup. During a practice session, he chopped Sylvain Turgeon's arm with his stick during a scrimmage, claiming that the left wing was too close to the goal. Turgeon missed the tournament with a fractured arm; Hextall was back-up to Grant Fuhr and did not play a single game. He was known for his excellent puck-handling ability. He distinguished himself by using his stick as a defenceman would; for example, he was capable of starting a counterattack, easily lifting the puck or bouncing it off the glass. Hextall's puck-handling ability meant that it was inadvisable to try a dump and chase strategy of sending the puck in a corner, regaining it, and establishing an attack in the offensive zone, because Hextall would invariably get to the puck first and clear it out of his zone towards a waiting player in the neutral zone. He was described by former NHL player Peter McNab as the "original outlet pass goalie". Hextall claims his adventurous style stemmed from his youth, when he played on outdoor ice rinks with a skater's stick, rather than the heftier goaltender's stick. Martin Brodeur modelled his own play on that of Hextall, saying "I love the fact that he was playing the puck. He was one of the first goalies that came out and played the puck. He was a little rough for my liking, but it was entertaining. The playing of the puck was the big thing." In the 1993 playoff series between the Montreal Canadiens and Hextall's Nordiques, the Canadiens' coach Jacques Demers designed a plan to disrupt Hextall's play after Montreal had lost its two first games to Quebec. He noted that Hextall would be off his game if he were disturbed or bumped. Montreal then won four straight games to win the series in six games. Demers felt that Hextall's emotional play lessened his effectiveness; while acknowledging him as a "great competitor", he felt that "he didn't reach the level of a Grant Fuhr or a Martin Brodeur [because] he lost his cool if you got in his face." His view was shared by many, leading Hextall to be tagged as one of the most "revered and reviled" players in the league. In June 2006, Hextall moved to the Los Angeles Kings to take on the role of vice president and assistant general manager. In addition, Hextall served as the general manager of the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL, the Kings' primary minor league affiliate. On May 7, 2014, Hextall was named general manager of the Flyers, following the promotion of Paul Holmgren to team president. On November 26, 2018, the Flyers fired Hextall as general manager. He was an advisor in the hockey operations department for the Kings.

On February 9, 2021, Hextall was announced as the new general manager for the Pittsburgh Penguins. His tenure in Pittsburgh rapidly became controversial among fans and sports journalists, with The Athletic summarizing his tenure by calling him "one of the worst general managers in franchise history. He may well have destroyed the Penguins with his ghastly record of player transactions." Widely faulted moves through the 2022 off-season included trading Mike Matheson for the older and more expensive Jeff Petry, declining to retain John Marino, and re-signing Kasperi Kapanen and an aging Jeff Carter. The Penguins ultimately missed the playoffs, ending their league-best appearance streak, leading to immediate calls for Hextall to be sacked. On April 14, 2023, the Penguins announced that they had fired Hextall and executive Brian Burke.

Personal life Hextall married Diane Ogibowski, a former figure skater,

Ron Hextall's cousin Leah Hextall is an announcer for ESPN.

Awards and honours AwardYear(s) WHL East Second All-Star Team 1984 AHL Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award 1986 Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup champion (as an assistant general manager/vice president) 2012

Records

NHL Most penalty minutes by a goaltender in a single season – 113 (1988–89)

Philadelphia Flyers Most career games played by a goaltender – 489 Most career wins – 240 Most career playoff wins – 45 Most career points by a goaltender – 28 Most career penalty minutes by a goaltender – 476

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Bold indicates led league Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1980–81 Melville Millionaires SJHL 37 7 24 0 2001 219 0 6.57 — — — — — — — — — 1981–82 Brandon Wheat Kings WHL 30 12 11 0 1398 133 0 5.71 .864 3 0 2 103 16 0 9.32 — 1982–83 Brandon Wheat Kings WHL 44 13 30 0 2589 249 0 5.77 — — — — — — — — — 1983–84 Brandon Wheat Kings WHL 46 29 13 2 2670 190 0 4.27 .883 10 5 5 592 37 0 3.75 — 1984–85 Kalamazoo Wings IHL 19 6 11 1 1103 80 0 4.35 — — — — — — — — — 1984–85 Hershey Bears AHL 11 4 6 0 555 34 0 3.68 .888 — — — — — — — — 1985–86 Hershey Bears AHL 53 30 19 2 3061 174 5 3.41 .894 13 5 7 780 42 1 4.27 — 1986–87 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 66 37 21 6 3799 190 1 3.00 .902 26 15 11 1540 71 2 2.77 .908 1987–88 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 62 30 22 7 3560 208 0 3.51 .885 7 2 4 379 30 0 4.75 .847 1988–89 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 64 30 28 6 3756 202 0 3.23 .891 15 8 7 886 49 0 3.32 .890 1989–90 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 8 4 2 1 419 29 0 3.67 .880 — — — — — — — — 1989–90 Hershey Bears AHL 1 1 0 0 49 3 0 3.67 .880 — — — — — — — — 1990–91 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 36 13 16 5 2035 106 0 3.13 .892 — — — — — — — — 1991–92 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 45 16 21 6 2668 151 3 3.40 .883 — — — — — — — — 1992–93 Quebec Nordiques NHL 54 29 16 5 2988 172 0 3.45 .888 6 2 4 372 18 0 2.90 .915 1993–94 New York Islanders NHL 65 27 26 6 3581 184 5 3.08 .898 3 0 3 158 16 0 6.08 .800 1994–95 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 31 17 9 4 1824 88 1 2.89 .890 15 10 5 897 42 0 2.81 .904 1995–96 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 53 31 13 7 3102 112 4 2.17 .913 12 6 6 761 27 0 2.13 .915 1996–97 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 55 31 16 5 3094 132 5 2.56 .897 8 4 3 443 22 0 2.97 .892 1997–98 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 46 21 17 7 2688 97 4 2.17 .911 1 0 0 20 1 0 3.00 .875 1998–99 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 23 10 7 4 1235 52 0 2.53 .888 — — — — — — — — NHL totals 608 296 214 69 34,749 1,723 23 2.98 .895 93 47 43 5,456 276 2 3.03 .897

International Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA 1992 Canada WC 5 1 2 1 273 13 0 2.86 Senior totals 5 1 2 1 273 13 0 2.86