Flyers: Hextall Should’ve Kept A Defensive Prospect

By Gus Richardson | Oct 6, 2015

The vast majority of Flyers fans with a brain would agree, Hextall is making the right move in sending back the kid defensemen and letting them grow a year older before considering them for NHL time (Shayne Gostisbehere and Sam Morin excluded). Yet, let me play devil’s advocate here, and say Hextall made the wrong move in doing that.

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For starters, the defense is looking like a joke right now. We just waived an expensive bum to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and the team is deciding on whom to make a healthy scratch for opening night- Luke Schenn or Radko Gudas. We do, however, seemingly have a great defenseman in Evgeny Medvedev, but he can’t save this corps by himself.

Mark Streit is starting to show his age even more so, which leaves Michael Del Zotto and Nick Schultz as the only other two solid defensemen on this squad, which is fairly scary. That leaves us at three solid defensemen, four if you want to throw Streit in there as well.

Sep 22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov (79) in a game against the New York Rangers at Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

So you’re telling me, with a straight face, that Ivan Provorov was not going to help this team more than those other four guys? Please. The kid looked like one of the best players out there in preseason every shift, and was complimented publicly daily for his work ethic and maturity off the ice in training camp.

I do not buy that Hextall thinks none of the prospects could have helped the team this year. I do believe that he could subscribe to the notion that the Flyers wouldn’t have helped them at all this year, and sending them back was sparing them all the trials and tribulation of having to play with this set of defensemen this season.

And it’s true, “rushing” a kid more times than not is dangerous and could stunt the development of a young star. Yet, that’s mostly true when that player’s team is already log jammed at the players’ position, and they don’t get proper playing time to contribute to the team’s success.

If any of the prospects were able to make this team, and let’s face it Gostisbehere and Morin will be here faster than we once thought, they’ll log a ton of minutes. This team needs young energy and talent in the locker room, and at least Laughton will try to bring that this year. Ghost and Morin will get their shot eventually up here, and then we’ll really be cooking.

Next season can’t come fast enough, as Travis Sanheim will be turning professional and Provorov will almost undoubtedly stay a lot longer in camp and hopefully make the team. Let’s not forget Travis Konecny will be a year older, and will look to out perform his stellar from camp this year. 2016-17 is the season we’ve all been waiting for, the year the majority of our top prospects will all have a chance to compete for rosters roles.

The present is grey, but the future is bright. Brighter than most teams I would argue, maybe even the brightest! Even if this team does terribly this year, we’ll still get to add a blue chip prospect to our stacked farm system. If not, then we’re on the right track and will still have great players coming into roster contention next season. It’s a win-win no matter how you look at it.

But who wants to think of next season when we haven’t even begun this season? The Flyers begin their season Thursday, and hopefully they can overcome their woes on defense and with their bottom six forwards. I believe Dave Hakstol and Ron Hextall are the men for the job, so all we have to do is sit back and watch.

Next: Brandon Manning Thrust Into Spotlight

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