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Penguins Tab Ron Hextall as GM

Brian Burke is Pittsburgh’s new President of Hockey Ops

2 min read
FILE - In this May 7, 2014, file photo, Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall laughs during an NHL hockey news conference in Philadelphia. Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins are turning to a former rival to help them keep the Stanley Cup window open for Sidney Crosby and company. The team hired former Philadelphia Flyer goaltender and general manager Ron Hextall as the team's general manager on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

By WILL GRAVES

AP Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Ron Hextall's relationship with the Pittsburgh Penguins is complicated. His mandate as the team's new general manager is not.

The Penguins hired Hextall on Tuesday to build a team capable of winning the Stanley Cup. Not in five years.

Not in three years. This year.

It's a level of pressure Hextall -- whose father Bryan Hextall Jr. played for Pittsburgh in the early 1970s and who clashed with Mario Lemieux and the Penguins repeatedly during his lengthy run as the top goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers -- can live with.

"You've got players, (Evgeni) Malkin and (Sidney) Crosby and (Kris) Letang, we want to be as good as we can be right now with three of the best players in the world," Hextall said Tuesday afternoon following a whirlwind courtship that began in earnest last week.

The Penguins also lured longtime NHL executive Brian Burke out of a cushy gig as a TV analyst to become Pittsburgh's president of hockey operations. It's a role Burke accepted following a nudge from Lemieux.

Burke actually consulted with Lemieux and team president and CEO David Morehouse during the general manager search. Talk eventually turned to Burke's own interest in joining the organization in a role that will report directly to Morehouse.

Starting at /week.