Ron Hextall

Ronald Jeffrey Hextall (born May 3, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender and executive.

He was most recently the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Hextall played 13 seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers, Quebec Nordiques, and New York Islanders.

Ron Hextall was born on May 3, 1964 in Brandon, Manitoba, the third and youngest child of Bryan and Fay Hextall.

Hextall is a third-generation NHL player - his grandfather, Hall of Famer Bryan Hextall, played 11 seasons with the New York Rangers, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969.

His father, Bryan Hextall, Jr., played in the NHL for 10 seasons, most notably for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and his uncle, Dennis Hextall, played 14 seasons of NHL hockey, not staying with any one club for longer than five years.

During his youth, Hextall saw his father and uncle often roughed up by the Philadelphia Flyers, whose aggressive style of play for much of the 1970s gave the team the name "Broad Street Bullies".

Hextall later reflected that during this period he "hated the Flyers."

Because of his father's career, Hextall's education was far from stable; each year began at Brandon, and once the hockey season commenced in October, he moved to a school nearer to where his father was playing.

At school, he achieved B and C grades, putting in the minimum amount of effort, but his mind remained on hockey, and specifically goaltending.

"Everybody else would be working and I'd be drawing pictures of Tony Esposito and Jimmy Rutherford," he recalled.

Hextall came to mostly enjoy the constant moving, later saying "I got to hang around NHL rinks. What more would I have wanted?"

Although both his father and grandfather played as forwards, his father was happy for him to play in goal, but insisted that he try other positions to improve his skating: Bryan believed his son would have made a good defenceman.

Hextall's mother thought her son's love for hockey exceeded that of her husband's teammates and believed it would drive him to achieve his aim of goaltending in the NHL.

Each summer, Hextall received training at the hockey school at which his father taught, but the hockey programs in Pittsburgh and Atlanta were sub-standard, and meant that during his teenage years, he was behind many of his fellow players.

He describes himself as "[not] what you would call real polished" in his first year of junior hockey, aged 17.

Hextall began his junior hockey career in 1980 with the Melville Millionaires in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).

In the 1980-81 season, his solitary season with the club, he played 37 games with a goals against average (GAA) of 6.57.

In one game that season, against the Prince Albert Raiders, Hextall faced 105 shots, and made 84 saves, a performance described as brilliant by the Regina Leader-Post.

Although the Millionaires lost 21–2, the reporter noted that if it was not for Hextall, the Raiders could have scored "34 or 35".

Millionaires teammate Mark Odnokon praised his performance, particularly the way "he lived up to his responsibilities and stayed in there until the end."

Hextall returned to Brandon for the 1981–82 season, playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings in the Western Hockey League (WHL).

He played 30 regular season games for the Wheat Kings, during which he recorded a GAA of 5.71.

The Wheat Kings reached the playoffs but were swept four games to none (4–0) in the first-round by the Regina Pats.

Hextall played in three of the games, but completed only two and had a GAA of 9.32.

Injuries in the middle of his career contributed to a drop in his playing ability; as a result, he was traded on three occasions in the off-seasons between 1992 and 1994 to the Nordiques, the Islanders and then back to the Flyers.

Upon his return to Philadelphia, Hextall regained confidence and form, recording goals against averages (GAA) below 3.00 in each of his five subsequent seasons – the lowest of his career.

He retired from the NHL at the end of the season.

Hextall became the first NHL goaltender to score a goal by shooting the puck into the opponent's empty net, against the Boston Bruins in the season.

The following season, he became the first goaltender to score in the playoffs, by shooting the puck into the Washington Capitals' empty net.

His mobile style of play, in which he provided support to his defencemen by coming out of the goal area to play the puck was revolutionary, and inspired future generations of goaltenders, such as Martin Brodeur.

He was also known for being one of the NHL's most aggressive goaltenders: he was suspended for six or more games on three occasions, had more than 100 penalty minutes in each of his first three seasons, and set new records for the number of penalty minutes recorded by a goaltender in the NHL.

In 2009, Hextall was inducted as one of the inaugural members of the SJHL Hall of Fame.

Before this he served as assistant general manager for the Los Angeles Kings, who won the Stanley Cup in 2012.

Hextall played 11 of his 13 seasons over two stints with the Flyers.

He holds several team records and is a member of the Flyers Hall of Fame.

During his rookie season in, he was awarded the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender and led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Despite the Flyers' loss to the Edmonton Oilers in seven games, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player, making him one of only five players to win the trophy in a losing effort.

He served as assistant general manager for the Flyers for one season, and was promoted to general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, replacing Paul Holmgren on May 7, 2014.

He held this position for four and a half seasons.