Morning Flurries: Another dismissal

The late night move in the NHL on Sunday night was the Arizona-Chicago trade, with both teams making sure that their respective media beats were ready to jump back into the swing of things with both feet following the holiday weekend.

The Philadelphia Flyers, at the very least, gave their fans the courtesy of dropping their own bomb Monday morning — but what a bomb it was.

It was announced that the Flyers have dismissed general manager Ron Hextall, one of the team’s best goaltenders arguably since their inception.

Hextall’s time with the team was mercurial at best once he assumed his role in the front office, and the reactions to his dismissal were just as mixed. On one hand, he drafted well, made some excellent trades to free up the atrocious contracts he was saddled with upon his arrival, and actively made his team better with each on-ice move he seemed to make.

On the other hand, he never found the team a starting goaltender, despite going through them at a near-alarming rate during his tenure. And although some were willing to blame the goaltending more than the coaching, head coach Dave Hakstol’s tenure was never all that well received — and Hextall was willing to go down for his hire. His lack of big-trigger moves when the team went through some absolutely horrendous patches in the last few seasons eventually soured on the higher-ups, and now he’s out. [Broad Street Hockey]

Reports are that Ron Francis could be in line to take the job, which could have some interesting ramifications - especially for this poor dude, who just wants the next GM to not be named Ron. [Deadspin]

In some fun AHL news, Cory Conacher (which is not, contrary to what some believe, pronounced Cona-shay! Who knew!) is tearing it up in the AHL. Here’s a look at how he’s been so good. [Raw Charge]

In the world of Dads Trips, this one for the Avalanche is easily one of the best ever, by the way:

In other news, YES PLEASE:

I’m aware that this is technically a Coyotes throwback? I guess? Maybe? The NHL needs to figure out its franchise relocation situations. Anyways. These jerseys are number one.

Finally, I ASPIRE to be Patrik Laine: