If there's one thing we know about Philadelphia Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol, it's that he takes his new job very seriously. Hakstol, hired by Flyers GM Ron Hextall this offseason after the team parted ways with Craig "Chief" Berube, came to the franchise as a highly touted college coach who was said to focus greatly on his players and mold his attack to the assets available to him on the ice.
Hakstol has, per a recent anecdote from Jeff Neiburg of the Philadelphia Daily News, already lived up to the billing. Haktsol, who has been "making the rounds," in an attempt to get to know his new team, made a bit of an extra effort where star forward Jakub Voracek - he of the new eight-year, $66 million contract extension - is concerned.
Prior to Voracek signing on the dotted line, Hakstol took a trip to visit the big winger in his native Czech Republic - for a single night. That's right, Hakstol flew more than 4,000 miles to dine with Voracek, then flew back early the next morning.
"I talked to him over the phone and he told me that he would like to see me in the middle of June," Voracek said Thursday, via Neiburg. "I was like, 'Yeah that's perfect, but I'll be still in Czech.' He was like, 'Yeah I know, I'm just going to fly to Czech to have dinner with you.'
The meeting, per Neiburg, came "well before" Voracek's agent Petr Svoboda and Hextall began closing in on a new deal for the man teammates once lovingly dubbed "Baby Jagr."
"When he came down, I asked him what was his next plan, if he's staying for the week or going somewhere else," Voracek said. "He was like, 'No, no. I'm flying back tomorrow morning.' I told him that's a long trip for one dinner, but it meant a lot to me and it was great to talk to him eye-to-eye."
Whatever was said in that meeting clearly made both men happy as Voracek's new deal will keep him with the Flyers through the 2023-24 season, meaning he and Hakstol will have plenty of time to get to know one another further and ample opportunity to bring another Stanley Cup to Philadelphia.
