Hurting defense puts Hextall on the spot

The lights went down at the Wells Fargo Center, and at the call of his name, Braydon Coburn emerged from a tunnel next to the Flyers bench Thursday night, a pair of crutches propping him up.

Lou Nolan's voice was ringing out over the arena's public-address system during the player introductions before the Flyers' home opener, and Coburn - the best among a questionable corps of defensemen - could only watch as his teammates took the ice and tried to survive against the Devils. He had suffered some kind of lower-body injury Wednesday night in Boston, a mysterious setback at a terrible time, providing a test of Ron Hextall's patience and resolve just two games into his first season as a general manager.

There were too many costly Flyers breakdowns to count as the Devils raced out to a three-goal lead and, eventually, a 6-4 victory. And though the Flyers showed no small amount of moxie and firepower by rallying to tie the game twice, already Hextall has to answer the question that he and the organization had hoped to put off for at least a few months: whether he would dip into that pool of talented defensive prospects and get Shayne Gostisbehere up here before spring.

Since becoming GM in May, Hextall has insisted that he will stick to the prudent plan of waiting for Gostisbehere, Samuel Morin, and Robert Hagg to develop at lower levels of hockey. Only then, when each one was ready, would the Flyers call him up to the NHL. At the moment, Gostisbehere is the only feasible option to join the team anytime soon, in part because he was so impressive during the preseason. Nevertheless, despite all temptation, Hextall and coach Craig Berube held firm, keeping Gostisbehere at Lehigh Valley to start the season in the American Hockey League.

The problem is that Coburn, for all his inconsistencies, really is the top defenseman on the Flyers roster, and after Wednesday there's no telling how long he'll be unavailable.

"I don't think I'll be sitting here tomorrow telling you it's day to day," Hextall said. Coburn had blocked a shot by Bruins defenseman Torey Krug, so it's possible that play caused the injury. But Hextall wouldn't confirm or deny that, and per hockey's culture of caginess about injuries and ailments, he didn't provide much detail.

He did make it clear, though, that's he's leaning toward calling up someone other than Gostisbehere. Between Kimmo Timonen's blood clots and Coburn's injury, Hextall has been hit with some kind of bad fortune, losing the two players who would have made up the Flyers' No. 1 pair on defense. Still, he sounded as if he would stick to his plan for as long as he can.

"We'll look at all our options, and we'll pick the best option," Hextall said. "I don't have an answer for you right now. I don't know how long Coby's going to be. That'll play into it. . . .

"It's a tough question to answer because those guys haven't played [yet this season]. They play on Saturday. It's a hard question, but I don't really have a problem calling on . . . I can't say older guys, but one of the guys who's been down there for a year or two."

Those guys would likely include Mark Alt, Brandon Manning, and Oliver Lauridsen, each of whom has been with the Phantoms for two seasons or more. Of course, if Hextall and Berube had considered any of those three an upgrade over anyone on the roster, Alt, Manning, or Lauridsen would already have been playing Thursday night. As it is, adding one of them could hardly make things worse, based on how much freedom and room the Devils had in the Flyers zone.

"Overall, just a bad day at the office," said Luke Schenn, who was a minus-5 in the game. "I've had games like this, when things don't go your way, but to this extent, it's a tough one to swallow. But the last thing you can do is get frustrated and hang your head at this point."

Fine, but what other recourse do the Flyers have? Gostisbehere might represent the only way for them to stabilize the situation on defense, the only chance at cleaning up this mess, but is that possible short-term payoff worth sacrificing the first sign of long-term thinking out of this franchise's front office in years? So far, Hextall is saying no, and that's admirable, but that pressure to push for a playoff berth at all costs can be so strong around here. It always has been.

So here comes an early and most challenging test of a rookie general manager's mettle. Those lights went down Thursday night for opening night at the Wells Fargo Center, and Ron Hextall was left in the dark.