Laughlin: Ron Hextall Has Pushed All The Right Buttons

With 16 games remaining for the Flyers this season, they are sitting in third place in the Metropolitan Division and en route to the team's third playoff appearance in the last five seasons.  The team features four players 25 years old and younger who have tallied at least 30 Points this season: Sean Couturier (63), Shayne Gostisbehere (50), Travis Konecny (36), and Ivan Provorov (32).  General Manager Ron Hextall's commitment to bringing along the young players has been paying off instead of trading away prospects for veteran players.

SiriusXM NHL Radio Host Scott Laughlin joined Rich Quinones on Tuesday discussing Ron Hextall's patience with the Flyers development:

“You have seen first hand how patient Ron Hextall has been since he got back to Philadelphia a few seasons ago and I think he deserves a lot of credit for not folding under the pressure of trying to go out and put a band aid on a situation that doesn’t really require a band aid, what it requires is patience.  I know fans don’t want to hear that especially in a city where the team wants to win and wants to win a championship for the first time since 1975.  But I think Ron Hextall has pushed all the right buttons since he’s been there; He easily could have pulled the trigger and fired Dave Hakstol earlier this season – but he stuck with the Head Coach and it started to pay off and pay some dividends for the Philadelphia Flyers…..I know (Travis) Sanheim’s name came up and he was a guy many teams were looking at, perhaps pry away from the Flyers organization; But to Ron Hextall’s credit he stood by his guns –Be patient for these young Blue Liners because the next two or three years are going to be a lot of fun in Philadelphia.”

Hear what Laughlin had to say about Flyers play in recent weeks, perspective on Eastern Conference top teams, and Vegas Golden Knights