Flyers general manager Ron Hextall offered his take on a number of issues at the mid-point of the season this week.
Here's a partial transcript of the Q&A with reporters at Skate Zone on Thursday afternoon:
HEXTALL
Ghost Saturday… "Right now it looks like he’ll play.
Keep him out for injury or Zac Rinaldo? "No, it was because of the injury.
Biggest improvement? “I think if you look at it in a nutshell I think our group has really come together. You get that feeling of a team right now. Everybody buys into their roles. Everybody’s accepted their roles. Everyone’s done a good job. I think some nights guys play real well and help pick the team up offensively. The next night it might be another group. The Read-Laughton-Umberger line has given us some good minutes. Belly, Vandy and Whitey have given us some good minutes. We’re getting contributions from our whole group and typically individuals don’t win games. Teams do. And right now we’ve got the feel of a decent team.
Can that happen all second half… “You’re gonna have your ups and downs throughout the year. I think our biggest flaw has been our ups and downs have been a little too high and low. I think we’ve got to strike a balance and right now it looks like it, but if you get complacent you’re gonna go back to the other place. Complacency can’t creep in here.
Looking to add offense? “I think Coots and Brayden we’ve seen some good signs in terms of stepping up offensively. Hopefully they continue what they’ve been doing. If G and Jake and Simmer and some other guys pick it up, G’s been through a little bit of a dry spell here, you hope that that improves from within. If we could add something at the right price, you’re always looking to improve your team, but we’re not going against what we set out to do in the first place. I’m not giving a young player, young prospect, young player, picks, we’re not going that route. We’re gonna try to add something for one year. We’ve obviously got Sam sitting in Allentown there. He’s an option and a pretty damn good option. At some point I would expect him to be back. We’re just gonna let him play day-to-day right now and let him go here.
Re-sign Brayden Schenn? “We’ll wait until summer. Typically now is not really the time to look at things like that. We’ll let it play out. He’ll let it play out. He’s restricted. Restricted guys you’re never too concerned about and typically the deadline for them is later in the summer or next year. In saying that, I don’t see Brayden going anywhere.
On Drouin being available? "We're not supposed to talk about another team's players."
On Ryan Johansen...were you in on him? "Don't believe rumors. I laugh and I think a lot of other managers laugh when you see rumors out there. Don't believe a lot of them. I won't comment on it.....I will say this: If we can improve our team in any way without mortgaging the future, we'll look at it. I mean, if young players can make us better, of course we'll look at it. But I won't get into any specifics."
Paramount to get more scoring? "If you can find me a guy that will score for us and help us, without giving up part of our future, let me know."
Fair to say you don't want to deal one of your hotshot young D-men? “That's fair. You have to look at everything. My job is to look at everything that's out there, look at the whole landscape, and to the best of my ability, make our team better. So u can never say never with everything, but we're not going to deal our young players for middle-aged or older players. That's not going to happen."
Konecny was traded b/c junior club expects to be with the Flyers next season? “Doesn’t make any sense to me. Does the deal make sense? I have no idea. I don’t know. I know there are a lot of draft picks. Obviously, both teams felt that was a need for them. But in terms of next year, I don’t know, so they don’t know.
Lotta Flyers say Neuvirth is their MVP. Who is yours? “I’m not sure we have one. I talked earlier. Our team really has a team feel right now when you see guys step up. Last night, our big guys stepped up. Before that, Coots is stepping up and Brayden is stepping up. And Mace is stepping up and Michal is stepping up. Belly. We’ve had a real good feel from the group. I’m not sure we have one guy you can say is the MVP.
Take away Neuvirth you are nowhere in the hunt? “He’s been good. Really good. We’re really happy with Michael. Don’t get me wrong. He’s been terrific. He’s played well and he’s given us a chance to win pretty much every game he’s played. That’s huge. It’s huge for any goalie, whether it’s your No. 1 or No. 2 or you 1-A or 1-B. For a goalie to give you a chance every night, it’s huge.
Special teams are in the bottom five. Do you feel fortunate to be where you are right now? “I don’t know if I feel fortunate. I think when you look at it sensibly, at the start of the year, if you said our special teams would be as low as they are, would you have guessed we’d be as low as we are? Probably not. I think there’s been an emphasis on five-on-five. We’ve gotten better. We’re not where we want to be but we’ve gotten better. That’s a huge positive. The other parts, the PK and PP, they can be fixed and hopefully, they will get better in the second half. Again, there’s a lot of areas in the game where I think we’ve improved.
Can you be a playoff team without a top 10 special teams? “Based on the first half, I’d say, yes. Is it likely without them getting better? I’d say we’re more likely to be out. We have to get better on special teams, no doubt about it. It’s the one area of the game where you say, to make the playoffs, you want to be in the upper half on both of them. It’s where we’ve been in the past. And also, we have the personnel. If you look at our power play and say, ‘maybe we don’t have the personnel.’ Well, it’s the same personnel. I look for our power play to be better for sure and the PK, as well. Those two elements of the game win you a lot of games over the course of the season. We clearly need to get better.
What has to happen for Sam Gagner to come up? Is it just a matter of more production from him in that league? “Not necessarily. But the way I view it right now. . .well, Sam doesn’t deserve to be there. The fact of the matter is, we have an opportunity now to let him play some games and with the way we’re goin’, he’s probably not going to be in right now. “So, it’s kind of like a day to day thing where we’ll monitor it. If he’s going to be in the lineup, we’ll get him up. We have a roster spot, we have space. We’re good to go. Like I said, it’s an opportunity, so why not take advantage of it and play some games.’’ Do you think having Weal here is like a motivator? The guys know he’s itching to get in and a bad game or two, they may be out. In a sense, do you think he’s an (option)? “No, you like at that. But then you say before Christmas we were playing pretty good when he wasn’t here. So I think, you know, Jordan’s a capable guy. He gives us another option, which is great. He can play the middle, he can play the wing. Both wings actually this year, if I remember correctly. So he’s a good option for us. At some point here, I’m sure he’ll get in.’’