Ron Hextall named Flyers GM

The Philadelphia Flyers promoted two former players within the organization on Wednesday.

The team named Paul Holmgren president and Ron Hextall general manager. Hextall will become the team's seventh GM, a position Holmgren held for eight years. Holmgren will assume the role vacated by Peter Luukko this past December. 

Hextall played 11 seasons for Philadelphia and is the franchise leader in games played by a goaltender (489) and wins (240). He became the first goalie to score a goal in a playoff game, against the Bruins during the 1987-88 season.

Holmgren played for the Flyers from 1976 to 1984 and became an assistant coach in 1985. 

"I'm extremely excited about this new opportunity to manage the Philadelphia Flyers," Hextall said. "I look forward to working closely with Paul in our new hockey structure and working towards our ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup."

After retiring, Hextall served in the Flyers' front office as a pro scout and as director of player personnel. He headed to California in 2006, becoming vice president and assistant general manager for the Los Angeles Kings. On Hextall's watch, the Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012.

Hextall returned to Philadelphia last summer, when he was named assistant GM and director of hockey operations.

"Ron is one of the league's bright young stars on the management side, and we're very fortunate to have him," Flyers chairman Ed Snider said in a statement released by the team. "He's had success in Los Angeles and will now put that experience to work for us as general manager. We all remember the enthusiasm, work ethic and personality he had as a player, and we're excited to watch him bring those qualities to building a team that will contend for the Stanley Cup."

Holmgren, 58, will oversee the team's business and hockey operations. He became the first former Flyers player to be named coach of the team in June 1988 and served until December 1991.

After four seasons with the Hartford Whalers organization, Holmgren returned to Philadelphia as a scout in November 1995. He became director of pro scouting in 1997 and assistant GM in 1999.

"Over the past eight seasons, Paul has done an outstanding job," Snider said. "He picked up the pieces of our disastrous season in 2006 and immediately made changes that took us to the conference finals the very next year, and we have consistently been in contention ever since. He's been a Flyer for 35 years and has earned the opportunity to run our entire organization."