VOORHEES — If the playoffs are when players do their best work, the offseason is the time for general managers.

It’s about time for Ron Hextall to get busy. Even the architect of the Flyers himself thinks he has his work cut out for him.

“I'm not going to throw any rose petals around,” he said. “We still lost out in the first round and I'm not thrilled about that and I don't think our players are necessarily, either. We did take steps. I think the leadership group for sure, the leadership of all our players, but particularly the small group. I think in terms of the commitment needed to be an NHL player, to perform at a high level, I think our guys have a better understanding now than they did a year ago.”

Growing from within is one of the key parts to Hextall’s vision for the Flyers’ future. Getting to the playoffs, albeit for only six games, adds more experience than there was a year ago.

He also improved the salary cap situation from a year ago and can address some of the needs his team has, specifically adding some size at forward. Assuming the Flyers buy out R.J. Umberger — the player certainly assumes it — and don’t re-sign defenseman Evgeny Medvedev or forward Sam Gagner and the cap goes up to $74 million, as was commissioner Gary Bettman’s projection in December, Hextall would have roughly $15.35 million of cap space.

 

 

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