The Athletic Pittsburgh unveils how incompetent and disliked the Hextall-Burke duo was in PIT

[Johnny Rifle]

Hextall wasn’t a good fit, but this borders on propaganda as opposed to journalism.

 

[eojsmada]

The Malkin story definitely seems contrived to be hyperbolic over the idea that Crosby (and maybe Sullivan) probably went straight to FSG to get the extensions for Malkin and Letang and it made sense for FSG to do so, because trading them away would have tanked ticket sales and left Crosby out on an island of mediocrity. Hextall is bad, but characterizing him as having a plan "only in my head" is comical. He could have easily just spit out some believable nonsense on a napkin in no time flat.

 

[bossram]

Hextall wasn’t a good fit, but this borders on propaganda as opposed to journalism.

The piece is clearly slanted, but Hextall's record as a GM is all the evidence anyone needs to make a conclusion. He's awful.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I dunno nothing in here seems that bad albeit it's a bit sensationalized by the reporter. Should Malkin get a blank check for past performance? They eventually reached a deal... Sullivan didn't have much success in a while, a player got traded and it's unfortunate that social media broke it but that's pretty common these days.

I don't really understand the purpose behind the paragraph OP labeled "my favorite"... he was asked to put together a written proposal and it sounds like he did that. It's slanted in a way that makes him look like a clown, but sounds like he just did what he was asked. Is the idea that he looks like a buffoon because he didn't already have something written up?

Hextalll is a bad GM but I dunno if he's literal Satan

 

[Johnny Rifle]

The piece is clearly slanted, but Hextall's record as a GM is all the evidence anyone needs to make a conclusion. He's awful.

I’m not saying that he’s a good general manager, but he was most likely handcuffed by ownership in Philadelphia and he did what ownership and a majority of fans desired in Pittsburgh bringing the core back.

He’s not great, but he’s not incompetent to the degree that the article makes him out to be.

 

[rt]

They want to make him seem equal parts super villain and complete buffoon.

But there’s a throw away in the middle of the article that hints at another side to this story, where Hextall says he was brought in to rebuild but then contrary to that, he was forced to re-sign the big three. It’s couched in the article as him yet again whining and complaining. It’s a terribly unfair article.

If they hired him so that he could blow it up and rebuild, then they did a 180 and told him he has to retain all the star players and old favorites, what’s he supposed to do? Of course his subsequent moves seemed erratic and without a concrete vision. His hands were tied and he was forced to operate in the no man’s land of big contracts to older star players.

Granted, much of the interpersonal stuff seems really bad. But a coach and an older player leadership group expecting to call the shots with a GM is a recipe for those kinds of disasters. Of course, the article lionizes them. A very ugly article. Bordering on tabloid or even propaganda. Smear job on Hextall.

Sounds like the owners are afraid of the players and the coach. And the GM was caught in the middle. His bosses are wafflers and his coaches and players are stuck in the past.

Maybe he does suck at his job. Maybe he is a jerk. But even if he was really likable and truly brilliant, he was in a no-win situation. And it sounds like the next guy will be too. Good luck to Dubas if that’s where he ends up. At least he’s got the personal relationship with ownership already. He maybe Pittsburgh’s best hope if that’s true.

 

[Spawn]

None of the selected quotes from the article seem that bad lol. Edit: with the exception of not communicating with your coach regularly. That seems pretty inexcusable.

Not defending any of Hextall or Burkes moves. Pens fans will be more than able to speak to that. I trust their analysis of how their team has been run.

But something like a player finding out they’ve been traded via social media a day or two before the deadline is not a new phenomenon. Maybe the Pens leadership shouldn’t have planned a fathers trip/dinner the week of the trade deadline?

 

[HTFN]

damn that hit me right in the feels

 

[bossram]

I’m not saying that he’s a good general manager, but he was most likely handcuffed by ownership in Philadelphia and he did what ownership and a majority of fans desired in Pittsburgh bringing the core back.

He’s not great, but he’s not incompetent to the degree that the article makes him out to be.

No one forced him to trade for Granlund.

It sounded like he wanted to take a step back for a retool/rebuild, so why did re-sign Kapanen? No one forced him. No one forced him to re-sign Carter for 2 years.

These are awful moves. And all indications are they were completely his.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Hextall wasn’t a good fit, but this borders on propaganda as opposed to journalism.

It's because it is propaganda.

Rossi and Yohe have had such an obvious anti-Hextall bias ever since Hextall was hired because he didn't leak out any information. They became WILDLY unprofessional about him, and this story seems right up that path.

I'm just glad others are pointing out how bullshit this is.

 

[Johnny Rifle]

No one forced him to trade for Granlund.

It sounded like he wanted to take a step back for a retool/rebuild, so why did re-sign Kapanen? No one forced him. No one forced him to re-sign Carter for 2 years.

These are awful moves. And all indications are they were completely his.

Granlund was awful, but Carter and Kapenen were at least somewhat well-received at the time.

I’m not saying Hextall was great, but he’s not the sole reason the Pens folded at the end of the season.

The success of ex-Penguins in this year’s playoffs leads me to believe that maybe the coaching staff might share some of the blame as well.

 

[Kimota]

That doesn't sound too bad. Although Hextall is a bad GM and never understood why he kept being hired.

 

[Cup or Bust]

At least Hextall didn't miss an opportunity to trade Mike Comrie for a young Corey Perry and a 1st round draft pick because he wanted to take some of Comrie's bonus money back and after 7 years of missing the playoffs claim in a press conference to know a thing or two about winning.

 

[eXile3]

I don’t need to pay $7 to know Hextall was incompetent.

 

[Zen Arcade]

I like how pay to click authors have to manufacture drama in order to generate clicks.

THE NEGOTIONS BETWEEN HEXTALL AND MALKIN WERE SO BITTER AND SO ACRIMINOUS THAT...THAT...THEY ULTIMATELY CAME TO AN AGREEMENT FOR AN EXTENSION.

Like if they were that bad, one side would have balked and Malkin would be a Panther today.

Rossi insisted Malkin was gone until he signed. This is his way of going "no, see? I was totally right you guys!"

 

[Voight]

Given its a Rob Rossi piece I'm weary of its truthfulness.

Guys an absolute hack journalist.

Hextall wasn’t a good fit, but this borders on propaganda as opposed to journalism.

Rossi's been holding the Penguins bag ever since Crosby came to town.

 

[Gurglesons]

This is like the fourth article in two months about how awful, no good and bad Hextall is.

 

[Oddbob]

How do they have Crosby, Letang and Malkin's text convos, are they all on a Pens Phone Plan? Hextall is supposed to stop all GM business if players are having dinner together that night. I dislike both Hextall and Burke quite a bit, but the little tidbits sound made up or heavily fabricated.

 

[Oddbob]

lmao. "Me, Malkin not care, me say Hextall ugly."

"Me fall down go boom"

 

[rt]

No one forced him to trade for Granlund.

It sounded like he wanted to take a step back for a retool/rebuild, so why did re-sign Kapanen? No one forced him. No one forced him to re-sign Carter for 2 years.

These are awful moves. And all indications are they were completely his.

Sounds like he wasn’t allowed to trade the valuable older players. So it’s not like he could rebuild. Yet he didn’t want to trade his valuable futures assets either because he wanted to rebuild but couldn’t. So what are you left with? Middling deals for middling players.

I should mention again that I’m not saying Hextall did a good job. Just that this story sucks.

 

[bossram]

Sounds like he wasn’t allowed to trade the valuable older players. So it’s not like he could rebuild. Yet he didn’t want to trade his valuable futures assets either because he wanted to rebuild but couldn’t. So what are you left with? Middling deals for middling players.

I should mention again that I’m not saying Hextall did a good job. Just that this story sucks.

Those aren't middling deals. Those are bad deals. The Granlund trade is an immediately fireable offense.

It's like Benning in Vancouver. We know ownership pushed him to make the playoffs every year. That didn't mean they forced him to execute that plan in the dumbest possible way and trade for Gudbranson, Sutter, OEL, sign Eriksson, etc.

If Hextall had the mandate of "don't rebuild", there's still a lot of latitude in there that doesn't involve making immediately stupid moves.

The story is one-sided. But reflects Hextall's incompetence.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I dont think not wanting to sign a soon to be 35 year old, injury probe Malkin is incompetence at all..

 

[BigVegas17]

As others have said, Hextall sucked.

That said, anything that has Rossi and/or Yohe's name attached to it is a waste of time, energy, and money. Two hacks who are butthurt that they never got anything remotely close to insider access.

 

[#37]

I’m a Liverpool fan (FSG owned) and I’d say Dubss is exactly a FSG fit. They’ve used modified money ball in Liverpool ( obviously baseball too) and Dubas’ approach and background will fit. I’d expect though that they’ll ultimately have a back room team aligned with that approach.

They moved too fast in Liverpool and made mistakes as a result, which is why I think they’ve taken their time to understand the NHL properly before making big changes.

FSG is in an interesting place. Last year Liverpool were close to pulling off a Quadruple for a minute. 4 cup finals. Won 2 lost 2. Chose not to reinvest in the club because, well... who could imagine the wheels would fall off so soon? So, they buy an NHL team while embarking on a major construction project to redevelop the Anfield Road End.

The result is that none of the fans of any of their teams are happy. The Red Sox, Liverpool, and now the Penguins are all in the same exact spot with very similar problems.

FSG has over-extended itself.

 

[edog37]

Hextall & Burke needed to be fired, but it’s also true the team set them up to fail.