It feels like a good day for the Philadelphia Flyers. Paul Holmgren will step aside -- er, move up to team president -- to make room for Flyers' legend Ron Hextall to be the team's new General Manager. He was previously the assitant to Homer and had won a Stanley Cup as a front office man with the L.A. Kings, an experience many believe gave him an outside perspective to bring fresh ideas to the Flyers' culture.
Hexy said all the right things at his press conference this morning in South Philadelphia. He's going to savor draft picks and attempt to build from within. Turning your young players into veterans is important to him. No more throwing money at an aging vet in an attempt to solve current woes. And, and, and... ANALYTICS!
I get the initial reaction to say the move is more of the same from the Flyers, but for some reason, Hextall as GM just feels different. Only time will tell.
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Some highlights from this morning:
Hextall making it clear his goal is to build the Flyers from within - a different view from current "acquire the best guys via trade" method
— Sarah Baicker (@sbaickerCSN) May 7, 2014
Hextall, ''I like young players and draft picks and we'll try and build through the draft.'' #Flyers
— sportsology (@sportsology) May 7, 2014
News
'splosion RT @sbaickerCSN: Hextall will use analytics in making decisions.
— Ryan Bright (@philabright) May 7, 2014
The best part of Hextall using analytics is that he’ll slash the shit out of media who question it (likely with a sliding ruler).
— Rev (@Rev215) May 7, 2014
Hextall on analytics: "That's where we're going. It's going to be a huge part of what we do going forward."
— Frank Seravalli (@DNFlyers) May 7, 2014