Rossi: Why Penguins’ Ron Hextall’s latest move should be his last as GM

PITTSBURGH — Ron Hextall wasted a season that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin played every game for the Penguins.

It’s worrying that possessions might allow him to waste another day.

Hextall, who was hired as general manager just two years ago, messed up the NHL-era flagship salary cap franchise. In 24 months, he’s jeopardized the on-ice product to the point that, despite spending all but pennies, the Penguins are no longer a Stanley Cup contender — and maybe not even a playoff team.

The Penguins have lost four straight games, including Thursday’s 7-2 loss to the Oilers. They are 8-12-5 since late December.

Hextall’s faults are numerous.

The last was his forced placement of Kasperi Kapanen on Friday afternoon.

That would be the same Kapanen that Hextall inexplicably re-signed for two years with a whopping $3.2 million cap hit last summer — a questionable hiring decision that has followed some others.

But why repeat all the old misses when Hextall’s latest sour notes are still ringing all over Pittsburgh? All everyone needs to know is that Hextall’s roster and cap mismanagement this season has meant the Penguins are unable to bring two of their big offseason acquisitions — defensemen Jan Rutta and Ty Smith — into the active roster , apart from injuries to other players.

Smith, who was acquired for John Marino last summer, may or may not be an NHL defenseman. No one can say for sure how he will fit in with the Penguins as Smith has worked in the AHL for most of this season, where he was drafted on a waiver and the Penguins don’t have the space needed to make him a regular.

Speaking of Rutta, he will return to the Penguins this weekend after a stint on the long-term injury list. He can only do so because Kapanen was lifted by Hextall in a painfully desperate move on Friday.

If Kapanen is unclaimed and reassigned to the AHL, the Penguins will save a total of $1.125 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia. That means not even Kapanen’s exclusion from the Penguins’ NHL dynamic will yield enough Cap savings to bring Rutta into the active roster.

In other words, on Friday, Hextall had to throw two of its players overboard to get one back. Essentially, he forced himself to blaze his trail in order to accomplish a GM’s most basic duty – iron a team.

It’s true that many teams have had to do some cap gymnastics this season – a symptom of many years in a row in which the salary cap has remained relatively flat. As a result, several high-profile players across the league were placed on waivers. But the Penguins’ situation is different in that their problems stem not from big deals with their key performers, but from deals Hextall signed with the supporting cast.

It was as embarrassing a management exposure as any in franchise history. And this is a franchise that has gone bankrupt twice.

The Penguins’ current state doesn’t feel much better than a third bust.

Responsibility now rests with Fenway Sports Group, which is facing a severe test in its first full season as the Penguins’ principal owner.

Whoever calls the big shots for the Penguins, who have no CEO but separate presidents for business and hockey operations, must decide Hextall’s fate immediately.

At least the decision should be easy. He failed too many tests.

He botched Seattle’s draft extension during his first offseason and somehow lost two players, Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev, at the expense of protecting Jeff Carter, who received a two-year extension last season.

Most of his free-agent signings, Brock McGinn in particular, have hurt the Penguins by turning needs into problems.

Many of his professional scouts’ player ratings fell short of the target. Too many discarded players have proven productive elsewhere, while not enough acquisitions have improved Penguins.

Utterly unassuming — and oddly enough given his reputation as a former standout at the position — Hextall has never strayed from a Tristan Jarry-Casey DeSmith goalie duo that have failed the Penguins in the last two postseasons and may not stand a chance in the upcoming playoffs receives .

Increasingly, as this report shows the athlete Hextall doesn’t appear to be on the same page as his two-time Cup Winners coach Mike Sullivan on a potential trade hesitation towards Jakob Chychrun.

Of course, Hextall has also made its share of good moves.

He traded a legitimate top-six winger in Rickard Rakell last season and Hextall then signed him on a long-term deal at a maximum acceptable amount. Last summer, he improbably brought Malkin and Kris Letang back against the cap for a combined $4.55 million less than they had anticipated on previous deals.

Also, he hasn’t willingly given up draft picks and prospects – which the Penguins have few of the latter anyway – like his predecessor Jim Rutherford.

Hextall also deserves credit for taking on the music amid a public outcry for his termination. He posed some tough questions Friday afternoon, including about fans repeatedly chanting “Fire Hextall” amid what seemed a bottomless home loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

Hextall provided thoughtful, honest answers. He admitted to making some mistakes. He promised to keep working to make things right. He seemed up for the enormous challenge of rectifying the mess he had made.

It was admirable what with the circumstances.

The Penguins are full of employees who have privately shared how much they enjoy working with and for Hextall. He is said to have shown a genuine interest in making the Penguins an inclusive, progressive work environment, particularly for women on the hockey operational side.

Hextall is very popular with the penguins. Even people who don’t agree with him praise him.

Had he done an average job managing their on-ice product, many of his recent mistakes would have been forgiven.

Unfortunately, he didn’t do an average job. He did a really, really bad job.

The penguins are no better now than they were two years ago. They are demonstrably worse.

Leaving him more important decisions would be a mistake for FSG, which needs to find a Pittsburgh-based CEO and provide a sorely absent structure that existed under previous owners.

This era of unprecedented success for the penguins need not come to an abrupt halt. Crosby, Malkin and Letang have at least a few more seasons to lay the foundation for a Cup contender.

They will need help from a better supporting cast on the ice, and that will only come from leading a new GM with a fresh approach and innovative ideas.

The penguins are at a turning point as the close of trading approaches. Their biggest step must be that they take firm control of the franchise and not allow an inherited GM to do any more damage.

It’s time.

(Photo: Justin Berl / Getty Images)