On the Ice with Isaac: Why Hextall Stood Pat at Deadline

PHILADELPHIA — Despite his inactivity, Ron Hextall’s phone was busy Monday.

No, he wasn’t golfing on a particularly warm day for February. The Flyers went without making a trade at deadline and the general manager wasn’t particularly in a rush to make one.

“There were a lot of conversations like lots of other teams,” Hextall said. “You never get too much of a sense how close (you are to making one). There’s certain things you talk about over and over so you believe it, but in the end nothing made sense.”

Over the past week, the Flyers have won two of three and were the better team in their loss, too. So close to a playoff spot, Hextall decided to keep his group together instead of letting assets go.

“We’re three points out,” he said before Monday’s game against the Calgary Flames. “Our guys have played well. You owe your players, you owe the organization, you owe the fans a certain amount. Were we gonna just start letting bodies fly out? No. Again, if something made sense long-term that overwhelmed us…we looked at everything.”

Not making a move was comforting to some players who were on the rumor block.

(Listen to Flyers insider Dave Isaac discuss the Flyers at the trade deadline)