The Philadelphia Flyers (14-18-7) aren't ready to pull the plug on the current campaign and begin assessing the organization from tip to toe - starting with a number of their underachieving young forwards - for the future, according to general manager Ron Hextall.
But he also cautioned that they're not far off from that program and season-defining juncture.
"No, we're not at that point yet, where we're looking at getting rid of guys," Hextall said, per Frank Seravalli of The Philadelphia Inquirer. "But I will say we're probably not far from the point where, if we don't get it going, we're going to have to start thinking about those things.
"But, in saying that, I look at those things every day: who can help us now, who can help us in the future, and we will move forward with it. Obviously, we're not happy with the performance of the team."
Hextall recently told Sam Carchidi, also of the Inquirer, that despite the team's unexpected failures this season, his overarching plan for the organization hasn't changed
"My plan and thoughts with the franchise moving forward are no different than last summer," Hextall said. ". . . Is it going to be altered if we continue to go the way we are? Probably a little bit. But if we win 10 games in a row right now, we're not going to trade young players for older players to try to get incrementally better right now. We're staying on the right path."
Should things continue as they have been for the flailing Flyers franchise though, that "right path" may indeed involve the movement of a handful of players - perhaps expensive veterans Vinny Lecavalier and R.J. Umberger, who have played much better of late, or younger vets like Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn, who haven't yet blossomed as the team hoped - and the promotion of some of the organizations more promising prospects, of which there are admittedly, few.
The Flyers, losers of five in a row and seven of their last 10, would need to post a mark of 27-11-5 the rest of the way just to end up with a 50 percent chance of making the playoffs.
Hextall may not be ready to pack it in, but he's inching ever closer to the Restart button.
"We'll continue to look at it hard and try to make the moves that we think are right to get better," Hextall promised.
