Here's some excerpts form Yohe's article interviewing Hextall.
https://theathletic.com/2504000/2021/04 ... -injuries/But are these Penguins a Stanley Cup contender right now if Hextall doesn’t make a move before the April 12 deadline? And along those lines, are the Penguins better than Hextall realized when he and Brian Burke took over hockey operations two months ago?
“That’s a good question,” Hextall said. “I thought it was a good team when we took over. Obviously, at the time, we weren’t playing up to the capability that we could. All of a sudden, we turned it around and played very good hockey. To me, every year you say, ‘Look, how many Cup contenders are there?’ I think there are a lot this year. There is balance in the league. A lot of teams have a chance to win. We are one of those teams. I think our players believe that as well. In the last six weeks, guys have played really well.”
“Probably a month ago, we were more active looking for a center,” he said. “The way things have flushed out, we’ve had some guys do some pretty good jobs in the middle. Jared (McCann) and Freddy Gaudreau have really stepped up for us. There isn’t quite as much urgency now.
“We would like a big, physical forward,” he said. “We’ve said that right from the start. The right guy has to be out there at the right price. Sometimes you have to wait for something to come along that a team is willing to part with. You can always use depth in the middle. It’s reality. There’s a lot of centers that can play the wing. There aren’t a lot of wings that can play the middle. You always like having depth at center. But in the past four or five weeks, a couple of guys have proven they can be effective for us down the middle.”
“When we get those guys back, the danger is that we tend to sit back a little bit,” he said. “Geno and Kappy are back — guys can sit back now. No. So, we’ll have to fight that a bit. But I like our team. I like our depth. I don’t like the past two games. We have some things to clean up. But I like where we are right now.”
“The one thing the injuries have done, they’ve made us feel more comfortable with the depth that we have,” he said. “Evan Rodrigues, Freddy, Anthony Angello and (Colton) Sceviour have done a good job for us. Then (Radim) Zohorna comes in and has given us some depth. But again, if we can find something that makes us better and the price is right, we’ll certainly act on it.”
No prospects are untouchable, but Hextall doesn’t plan on parting with Samuel Poulin, Nathan Legare or Pierre-Olivier Joseph.
“It would really have to make us a noticeably better team to part with future assets,” Hextall said. “If it’s there, we will weigh it out. But it would have to give us a good jolt as a team. I like our team. We have balance now and into the future. But we aren’t going to give future assets away for players that will make us minimally better. We’re as banged up now as hopefully we can be. Guys have filled in admirably. If there’s an impact player and the price is right, we’ll look at it.”
Hextall loves the flexibility McCann gives the Penguins. He can play center or wing. Hextall was asked if he prefers McCann at one spot over the other.
“He’s been very good in the middle, but I think over his career he’s played well on the wing also,” Hextall said. “Having those guys that can play both positions is critical, as we saw when Geno and Teddy (Blueger) went down. We said, ‘OK, how are we going to fill this hole?’ Those were pretty big holes to fill. Jared has done a good job.”
A rental player isn’t out of the question.
“When you’re a manager, you’ve got to consider everything, but I do like the chemistry that we’ve built over the last six or seven weeks,” Hextall said. “You can’t overlook that. I’d anticipate a hockey deal. If there’s anything, it would be a move to help us right now. We do have a cap issue next summer. You’ve got to be cognizant of that. There’s expansion. You’ve got to be cognizant of that. But we’d like to get better right now.”
