Flyers' next general manager to decide Hakstol's fate, president says

PHILADELPHIA --Dave Hakstol's future as coach of the Philadelphia Flyers will be determined by the next general manager, president Paul Holmgren said Tuesday.

Holmgren fired Ron Hextall as GM on Monday.
"I hate to keep kicking the can down the road but that's what I'm going to do," Holmgren said. "That's up to the next GM. I hate to say Dave Hakstol's fate is in the next GM's hands, but it is. I'm not going to make that decision. That's the next GM's job."
Hakstol said he agreed with that assessment.
"Given the scenario we're in that's a pretty reasonable process," he said. "They'll make a hire on a new GM, and whoever that is will come in and evaluate me as a head coach and whether or not he likes what he sees and I'm the right guy to work with him. That's a pretty reasonable scenario. Pretty sensible process to go through."
Hakstol, 50, is 132-97-40 in four seasons. His 269 regular-season games are fourth among Flyers coaches behind Fred Shero (554), Mike Keenan (320) and Peter Laviolette (272).
RELATED: [Hextall fired as general manager of Flyers]
The Flyers reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs twice in Hakstol's first three seasons but were eliminated in the Eastern Conference First Round in six games each time, by the Pittsburgh Penguins last season and the Washington Capitals in 2016.
Philadelphia (10-11-2) enters its game against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV) last in the Metropolitan Division with 22 points. The Flyers are six points behind the third-place New York Rangers and five back of the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
They have allowed 3.57 goals per game, third-most in the NHL after the Senators (4.33) and Florida Panthers (3.59), have the worst penalty kill (69.7 percent) and are 25th on the power play (15.7 percent).
However, Holmgren believes there are extenuating circumstances, particularly goaltending issues. Anthony Stolarz will start on Tuesday and become the NHL-high fifth goalie to start a game for the Flyers this season.

Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth, expected to play most of the games this season, each is on injured reserve with a lower-lower-body injury. Calvin Pickard, claimed on waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 2, has a 4.01 goals-against average in 11 games (eight starts). Stolarz, who last started an NHL game April 9, 2017, was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Friday when Alex Lyon sustained a lower-body injury. Lyon was sent to the AHL on Monday.
"My feeling right now is that under the circumstances, with the injuries in particular to our goaltenders, you can question it if you want but I think the coaching staff has done a decent job under the situations they're in," Holmgren said.
Holmgren said Hakstol's job status was not a factor in Hextall's firing.
"Are there areas we can get better? Absolutely," Holmgren said. "Our special teams aren't very good right now. Can't just blame the coach for that, you've got to blame the players a little bit too. They know. Everyone's aware of where we're at. Everyone's aware things have to get better. It's a period right now where we're going to just ... I'm going to try to find the next GM and we have a game tonight and we'll see how it goes.
"I like [Hakstol]. I think he's a good coach. I hope the new GM gives him every opportunity to evaluate everything, from how he prepares to how he coaches to how he does his matchups. Gives him a fair shot because I think he deserves it."
The next GM likely doesn't work for the Flyers.
"Preferably I would love to go outside our organization," said Holmgren, who stressed the need for a fresh outlook. "I can probably guarantee it will come from outside our organization."
Dean Lombardi, 60, a senior adviser with the Flyers and a two-time Stanley Cup champion as GM of the Los Angeles Kings, is not a candidate for the position but will remain with the organization.
"We're looking for bright, energetic, strategic thinkers," said Dave Scott, chairman of Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Flyers. "But also balancing that with a bias for action and making things happen."
It's a lack of action that likely led to Hextall's firing during his fifth season.
Hextall was lauded for stocking the Flyers with top-end young players, including forwards Travis Konecny and Nolan Patrick, and defenseman Ivan Provorov, and a highly regarded group of prospects.

But Hextall might have held onto the promise of a future that includes goalie Carter Hart, defensemen Philippe Myers and Samuel Morin, and forwards Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee and Isaac Ratcliffe, among others, too tightly.
His bosses were more concerned about the present.
"That was a big question," Scott said. "What can we do now, today, to make the team better now, not two years or three years from now?"
Holmgren, who installed Hextall as his replacement May 7, 2014, made the decision to remove him, citing Hextall's willingness to stick to what he believed was his best plan for running the Flyers.
"I felt it was necessary in order to push our team forward to have a different mindset in that chair," Holmgren said. "Are there things Ron was thinking about doing to the team? I don't know. He was unyielding in his plan and remained that way. ... He's a well thought out, deep-thinking guy. He put us in good position. But in order to put the team in a better position going forward, we needed to do what we did."