Ron Hextall, one year in as Flyers GM

ONE YEAR ago today, Ed Snider and Paul Holmgren waltzed into the wood-paneled Hall of Fame room at Wells Fargo Center to announce the promotion of Ron Hextall to general manager.

Three hundred and sixty-five days later, what have we learned?

There has been the bizarre, like last month, when Hextall left head coach and friend Craig Berube dangling for two days before finally cutting him down.

There has been the bungled, like on Feb. 26, when the Flyers skated by the $69 million salary cap with just $48,000 to spare, forcing Steve Mason into the lineup and eventually into the net in Toronto after 60 percent of the meniscus in his right knee was removed 16 days earlier.

There has been the shrewd, like on Feb. 27, when Hextall allowed Kimmo Timonen to not only handpick his trade destination, but brought back what could turn out to be two second-round picks (if the Blackhawks advance to the Conference Final) for a 40-year-old with a life-threatening medical condition who had not competed in 10 months. The Flyers also didn't have a second-round pick in this year's draft.

 Three days later, Hextall followed that deal up with a middle-of-the-night moving of Braydon Coburn to Tampa Bay, in exchange for the Lightning's first- and third-round picks in this year's draft and promising defenseman Radko Gudas. It was considered one of the steals of the March 2 deadline day; Tampa Bay was one of a few teams with two first-rounders, one of the few other teams who felt they were a defenseman short of a Cup run.​

There also has been the surreal, like three weeks ago, when Hextall reiterated he would do his same straight-up swap of Scott Hartnell for R.J. Umberger again in a heartbeat. Umberger and Hartnell both have two more seasons at nearly the exact salary-cap number and Hartnell had 13 more goals than Umberger had points.

And . . . remember that time Hextall signed Zac Rinaldo to a two-year, $1.7 million contract extension in September, a full nine months before his current deal expired? Even Rinaldo, in the team's press release, admitted he was "surprised" the Flyers were interested in negotiating so early.

In a word, Hextall's first year at the helm was complicated.

He's been forced to sift through seemingly miles of red tape, walking that tightrope of undoing the team president's mistakes while juggling Snider's ever-present expectations.

Just this week, Snider felt the need to clarify (again) his comments from a March story in the Daily News about "contending now," saying that it really is readers misinterpreting Hextall's words, not his. It was yet another reminder that running Snider's hockey empire is not easy, as fellow beloved players Bob Clarke and Holmgren have discovered.

As Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said last month: "The challenge here in Toronto is not to come up with the plan. The challenge in Toronto is to stick to it."

One year later, what more do we know about Hextall's plan?

Most obviously, it is to build the backbone of the Flyers with young defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Sanheim, Samuel Morin and Robert Hagg. It is to build with patience and development and time.

We do not know what changes will be coming in the short term. The Flyers need to strengthen their thin secondary scoring. Does the future mean holding onto Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier? Does it mean buying out Umberger?

The Flyers need to reduce the glut of mediocre defensemen under contract. Does that mean parting ways with Nick Grossmann? Does that mean moving Luke Schenn, who has proven to be a capable player and is still just 25 years old? Restricted free agent Michael Del Zotto, 24, still needs to be re-signed - and he would bump the Flyers to eight defensemen on the depth chart with one-way contracts for next season.

No, as Year 2 of the Hextall regime begins today, the next hint at the master plan won't come until a new head coach is hired. Can Hextall lure Mike Babcock away from Detroit? Will Todd McLellan be intrigued enough by the Flyers he's coaching at the World Championships in Prague to consider Philadelphia? Couturier scored his second even-strength goal in four games under McLellan for Team Canada yesterday.

Short of a blockbuster trade ahead of June's draft, this coaching hire - Hextall's first real franchise-altering move since taking over - will tell us a lot after a tumultuous first year.

Brayden Schenn was a healthy scratch for Team Canada's fourth consecutive game yesterday at the World Championships . . . Claude Giroux has four points in four games for Canada (4-0-0) . . . Jakub Voracek has four points in three games as team captain for Czech Republic (1-1-1) . . . Mark Streit is scoreless in four games for Switzerland (2-0-2) . . . Michael Raffl has one goal for Austria (0-2-1) . . . Sewell, N.J., native Anthony DeAngelo - a first-round pick of Tampa Bay last June - was named OHL defenseman of the year yesterday, as voted by the league's general managers. Chris Pronger (1993) and Drew Doughty (2008) are past winners.

Blog: ph.ly/FrequentFlyers