gold star for USAHOF

12. Ron Hextall

12. Ron Hextall

Ron Hextall made history in many ways.  First off he was the first grandson of a former NHLer to lace up in the league.  He was the first Goalie to score a Goal and not because he was credited with one but because his shot went into the net.  He was the first Goalie to accrue 100 Penalty Minutes in a season.  All of that is impressive enough but we haven’t even discussed that rookie season.

Hextall’s first season would see his win the Vezina, a First Team All Star Selection and he was ninth in Hart Trophy voting.  He was the league leader in Save Percentage, Wins, Goalie Point Shares and he was third in Goals Against Average.  Amazingly, he did not win the Calder Trophy as that went to Luc Robitaille of the Los Angeles Kings.  That was a great regular season but Hextall continued that brilliance through the playoffs where he backstopped the Philadelphia Flyers to a Stanley Cup Final where he had a playoff high 15 Wins and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner even though Philly lost to the Edmonton Oilers. 

Ron Hextall may have never had a season like that again but this doesn’t mean that he was done.  A Goalie who was not afraid to leave his net and act as a third Defenseman, Hextall would win 240 Wins over his Flyers career, which spanned 11 seasons over two runs.  He would also finish first in Goals Against Average in the 1995-96 season.

There has never been a netminder like him before or since, and frankly we likely won’t ever.  The Flyers knew this and enshrined Hextall into tehir franchise Hall of Fame in 2008.

The Bullet Points

  • Position: Goalie
  • Acquired: Selected in the 6th Round, 119th Overall in the Amateur Draft 6/9/82.
  • Departed: Traded to the Quebec Nordiques with Steve Duchesne, Peter Forsberg, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Philadelphia’s 1993 1st Round Pick (which would be Jocelyn Thibault) 1994 1st Round Pick (which would be Nolan Baumgartner) Future Considerations (which would be Chris Simon & $15,000,000 for Eric Lindros 6/30/92.

    Acquired (2): Traded from the Philadelphia Flyers with the previously acquired 1995 6th Round Pick (which would be Dmitri Tertyshny) for Tommy Soderstrom 9/22/94.

    Departed (2): Retired 9/6/99.
  • Games Played: 489
  • Notable Statistics: 240 Wins
    172 Losses
    58 Ties
    18 Shutouts
    2.91 Goals Against Average
    .895 Save Percentage
    76.5 Goalie Point Shares

    84 Playoff Games
    45 Wins
    36 Losses
    2 Shutouts
    2.95 Goals Against Average
    .898 Save Percentage
  • Major Accolades and Awards:

    Vezina Trophy (1987)
    First Team All-Star (1987)
    Conn Smythe Trophy (1987)
    All-Star (1988)
    Most Games Played by a Goalie (1987)
    Most Wins (1987)
    Most Saves (1987)
    Highest Save Percentage (1987)
    Lowest Goals Against Average (1996)
    Most Minutes Played (1987)
    Most Goalie Point Shares (1987 & 1989)

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