Are Fenway Sports Group & Ron Hextall Destined for a Split?

The Curse of the Great Bambino, an 86 year championship drought for the Boston Red Sox, is without argument the single greatest such curse in sports. Its infamy & notoriety emboldened in sports legend, the 2004 Red Sox finally broke free from its grip. The Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight to earn the club's first championship since 1918. Since then, they've secured three additional World Series Championships. So after 86 years of zero success, what changed?

The story isn't short, but in attempt to get it there we'll use a clip from the movie 'Moneyball' starring Brad Pitt & Jonah Hill:

Great flick by the way, available on Netflix. FYI.

This, in a nutshell, is what changed for the Red Sox. After witnessing what Billy Beane (Pitt) & Peter Brant (Hill) pulled off with the Oakland Athletics in the 2002 MLB season, Fenway Sports Group overhauled their entire management structure & adopted the analytical approach known as 'moneyball.' This approach saw the Sox win four championships in 14 years.

Now you might be asking, this is a hockey site what's with the baseball talk?

Well, as we know FSG acquired the Pittsburgh Penguins not long ago. And after their first round defeat to the New York Rangers there's much to consider. It's only natural that when new ownership takes control, evaluations at all positions unfold. Starting at the top. Newly appointed GM Ron Hextall & President Brian Burke haven't exactly made huge splashes since assuming their respective posts. Most notably, they reportedly sent matching offers to pending free agents Evgeni Malkin & Kris Letang. Offers characterized as 'lowballs.' That caused a squall in the media shortly after.

FSG, an analytically driven entity, has a history of low-balling stars as they believe (as mentioned in the clip above) in buying wins, not players. See Mookie Betts. And it doesn't take a hockey wizard to know Malkin isn't contributing like he used to. Letang, on the other hand, has a lot to offer. So speculation has it that the latter will return while the former will walk to free agency.

It's typical for ownership to approach the GM inquiring about his 'plan' for the offseason & beyond. A way of roadmapping the team's outlook, standard practice really. When asked about his plan, Hextall gave something of an interesting answer:

As you'd expect FSG was not content with that response & insisted on further clarification. Per CapFriendly (the greatest free site in all of hockey), the Penguins will have ~$32M in salary cap space going into the summer with 12 expiring contracts (9 UFA, 3 RFA). With all those expiring contracts & all that money, the Pens are left with a grand opportunity to re-craft their team from almost the ground-up. Do they want Ron Hextall, a GM with a fairly poor track record, running the show?

Hextall's only achievement in management is his 2012 Stanley Cup ring with the Los Angeles Kings as an Assistant GM. His tenure with the Flyers (2014-2018) saw two-first round playoff exits & two postseason no-shows. And his dismissal from the organization was...well:

All things considered, it would be entirely predictable for FSG to remove Hextall & possibly Burke heading into the offseason. With so much crafting to do & only 3 years left on Sidney Crosby's contract AKA their 'win-now window,' the only luxury Pittsburgh's currently without is time. Are they willing to rely on Ron Hextall to oversee such a critical period for the Penguins?

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