Ron Hextall spent eleven seasons in a Philadelphia uniform during an era when the Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins despised each other, and he was not a goaltender who stayed out of it.
Years later he applied to run the Penguins, and Mario Lemieux sat in on the second interview.
“It was hard when Mario was on the second interview with me there, and we were kinda small talking at the start, and he reminded me that I knocked four of his teeth out on a follow-through,” Hextall told reporters.
His internal reaction was the obvious one.
“So I was like, oh boy, this hasn’t started out very well,” Hextall said.
Ron Hextall as a player:
| Vezina Trophy | Conn Smythe Trophy | Career penalty minutes | Goals scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 1987 | 584 | 2 |
Did Ron Hextall ever score a goal?
December 8, 1987 is the date most people know. Hextall put the puck the length of the ice into an empty Boston net late in the third period of a 5-2 win, becoming the first goaltender to score by shooting it himself. He did it again shorthanded against Washington in April 1989, and remains the only man in the position to manage it twice.
The penalty minutes tell you the rest. Hextall collected 584 across his career, more than any goaltender who has ever played, and his 113 in 1988-89 remains the single-season record for the position. No other NHL goalie has reached even 70 in a year, and he sits 94 minutes clear of Billy Smith on the all-time list.
So Lemieux’s complaint had a reasonable amount of supporting evidence behind it.
Hextall’s consolation was that the ledger had been settled long ago, on the ice rather than at the dentist.
“I think he probably lit me up for seven or eight points one night, so he certainly got me back,” he said.
The interview went fine in the end. Hextall was hired in February 2021, replacing Jim Rutherford, with Brian Burke installed alongside him as president of hockey operations. Burke entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2026.
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