JVR on Flyers return, Hextall on remaining offseason goals July 25, 2018, 2:15 PM ET [515 Comments] Bill Meltzer

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On Wednesday morning, the Flyers held a formal "reintroduction" press conference to welcome James van Riemsdyk back to the organization. Afterwards, general manager Ron Hextall spoke about JVR as well as his remaining objectives for the rest of the offseason.



Courtesy of the Flyers, here are transcripts of JVR and Hextall's media sessions.



James van Riemsdyk



What was your best offer to Scott Laughton for 21?



I was thinking about that and what I ended up deciding on. It’s a new time, new change, new challenge so I wanted to have something to reflect that and obviously I switched in Toronto, so I’m just going to continue on with that and go from there. There was no jockeying for that.



James, when you look at this roster that you’re going to be playing with, can you already envision yourself in different lines, different places you might play? Is it exciting?



Yeah, you know I think again, the great thing is there’s lots of great options. There’s lots of talented players and for me, there’s lots of good right shot players, being a lefty it’s fun to play with right shot players. I think that chemistry comes a little more naturally with that sort of stuff. Again, there’s going to be lots of different things that I’m sure that we’ll go through in training camp and to start the season and we’ll find out what works best but certainly, like you said, there’s lots of different things that can be tried.



Your game has evolved, you’ve grown as a player, as a person from the first three years when you were here the first time around. Talk about how that has happened. Was there a coach in Toronto that helped take your game and helped you become a more well-rounded player?



That’s a good question. I think certainly you get the experience you figure out more as the years go on what works and what doesn’t work and how to best prepare yourself every single day to have good practices and good games and just keep being more consistent in that sense. Certainly, you learn with that sort of stuff, but I think when I got to Toronto we had an injury right away to Joffrey Lupul and I was able to take a bigger role on. I got a chance to play some more power play and a little bit more five-on-five, so I just wanted to kind of run with that and go from there. I think you get some confidence when you get a chance to be out there more in those key situations and I tried to just take that and run with it.



Has the league changed as well? Besides you changing since you were here last, do you feel that the game itself has made it more conducive for your ability, your way of playing?



I think certainly the game gets fast and faster it seems like every year and that’s not only guys being fast skaters but decision-making and how the coaches want to play the game now. I think that’s conducive for guys that are skilled and smart and that’s what I like to consider myself as a player. Off the ice I think too, the teams tend to be a little bit younger now too so that’s a little bit different. I remember walking in here my first training camp and you had guys like Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen and Ian Laperrière, guys like that. It’s interesting to see the shift in the average age of guys over the course of my career.



You mentioned when you were signed as a free agent too about the decision-making, I found that interesting. Do you feel like things took you a millisecond longer or a second longer to get to in terms of making plays and decisions quicker?



As far as growing as a player? Yeah, I think you have a feel for different plays out there on the ice that are available and not available, and you get that through experience. Again, there’s different things that you pick up on that you kind of tend to progress through faster that I think is with the more experience that you get. I think that definitely becomes apparent as guys get more experience and have more games played.



You had quite a few offers on the table leading up to July 1st. What convinced you that this team is ready to take the next step to [Cup] competition?



Everything about the fit here seemed to be great. Lots of talented players to play with and I think a lot of good youth too on the way, which is exciting. The thing about the Flyers, the first thing I noticed ever since I was drafted here is that they’ll do whatever it takes to win so that’s every resource you could possibly want and need to hopefully find an edge. That’s kind of the way it’s been here forever so you want to be in a situation like that where every year, no matter what it is, we’re going to do what it takes to find a way to win.



When you were playing against the Flyers the last, let’s say two years, what stood out about playing against them that is a thing that will work for you the way you play?



That’s a good question, too. You see lots of talented players. You see some guys on the blue line, and for a forward it’s nice to have guys back there that can break the puck up pretty efficiently and make good plays. You see up front too, there’s lots of talent and lots of depth to play with, so there’s different sort of options and different things to try. Again, I think my skill set definitely compliments some of the guys that have been here already and I’m excited to get started with that.



When you were going through the process of free agency and looking at the Flyers roster, you saw Sean Couturier, you saw Nolan Patrick and you’ve had the opportunity to play also with Austin Matthews. In terms of when you were looking at that type of skilled player obviously was important for you in terms of coming in here?



As a good player you want to play with other good players. That makes it fun and that gives you a chance to win. There’s lots to like about the guys that are on the team here and I’m excited to get started with that.



You were pretty young when you left here. The player that you are now coming back here, are you maybe able to take more of a leadership role within this dressing room?



Yes. I think, for me, it’s just always about doing it right every single day. Whether that’s practicing hard, preparing the right way, just always being ready to play every single night I think that’s certainly something as you get older you want to set that right example. Again, I was lucky enough when I was coming in the league I had guys like that around me and it’s just natural to want to follow their lead. You learn things from them that you carry with you for your whole career.



Yankees or Mets?



Yankees.



Why I ask that is you kind of played, a number of years now, for Canada’s version of [the Yankees]. It’s 24/7, twelve months a year. Is it possible that for the first time ever we’re asking a player about coming to a team with less of that?



You know, that’s kind of funny to think about but certainly, Philadelphia is a passionate sports town, a great hockey town. Some of my fondest memories playing, I remember that first year in particular, making that run that we went on. How excited the team was about hockey, how excited the city was excited about hockey. Again, it’s fun to play in an environment like that.



How different is pressure level between when you first came here and this time around? The expectation level was really high, you were the number two pick. Here you’re more of an established player, you’re older and so forth. Are you more equipped to handle the situation here?



The more experience you have with this sort of stuff, the day-to-day of what your life is like and that sort of thing, you figure out how to stay even-keeled through everything. I mean, obviously over the course of a long season there’s going to be some high points and some low points and again, you just have to keep picking yourself up when things aren’t going your way. Keep approaching the same day with the same mindset and mentality. Usually you dig yourself out of it and find some success.



John Tavares talked about how it was a dream to go back to his hometown and play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. You grew up close to here. A lot of people look at free agency and they gauge the money, but so much of it is about the right fit. Talk about that for you, how knowing the organization, you come back here- facilities have changed a little bit- but to come back here and to know it’s not just about the money when you get to July 1st.



Yeah exactly, I think you said it. I think there’s lots of factors that come into play when you’re going through free agency and figuring out where would be the best place to go. Obviously fit on the ice, different things about the organization, how committed they are to winning and stuff like that, the players that they have there, the city that you’re in. I think there were all great reasons to come to Philly for that reason to me.





Ron Hextall on the remaining off-season



[Term being discussed with RFA Robert Hägg]



We are looking at two, so we’ll see where it goes.



Do you think you’d be pretty much done after that in terms of things you want to do [in free agency]? Things can come out of nowhere, I guess.



Yeah, I think we’re probably done. Otherwise, hard to say.



Did you say two years?



Yes. We’re looking at a two-year deal. Seems to be where Hagger’s at in his career, that seems like a fair deal. If he decides to sign his deal, that’s up to him.



I think you had mentioned, in regards to Wayne, you had preliminary discussions. If I read right, terms are the sticking point. Do you expect to kind of be trying to find that middle ground would be tough?



I’m not going to discuss negotiations publicly. I don’t think it’s good for anybody. Simmer, like I’ve said, we’d like to keep Simmer. Whether we can or not, I don’t have the answer to that. Long term, I guess we’ll find out in the future. If we get something done before training camp or going into the year, I don’t have the answer for that.



There are quite a few RFAs for next year that you guys can start negotiating with before next July 1st. Do you envision any of them getting locked up long term before the start of next season?



That’s a hard question. Certainly we’ve talked about it internally. We’ll continue to talk about it, evaluate it and see where it goes. Those guys are a year out. There’s no rush. If we can start talking and get something done, great. If we can’t, it’s not a huge deal. You still have control of the players.



So with Wayne, there’s not like you want to have something figured out one way or another by training camp. No kind of internal deadline.



No, not necessarily. Simmer’s got character that something like that is not going to affect him. It’s not going to affect our team. I can certainly live with it. I’m sure he can, too.



What seems obvious to anybody over the last couple years with this team is what will affect him is coming off that infamous injury? Do you plan for that or do you kind of hope he’s an outlier in terms of that?



No, that’s not an outlier. His surgery was six weeks before Giroux’s or Gostisbehere’s. Six week in the summer is a lifetime. We have zero concerns about Simmer or about how he’s going to come back in training camp.



Has he been around, doing stuff?



He’s been around. He’s been in and out. He got married. I think he’s going on his honeymoon today. He’s been in and out.



Is it safe to say some guys respond better than others? I think Jamie Benn had it and he’s the guy that came back quick, right?



MVP. Double. You can’t look at one or two isolated cases and say, “Okay, guy’s going to struggle at the start because of this.” There’s a lot of different cases and they are all over the map. Like I said, his was six weeks prior to Giroux’s. And remember, G was also training for the World Cup there, which we knew at the time was going to hurt him. But what do you tell a player? You can’t play in the World Cup? Rather that focusing on early October or the first game of the year, he was focusing on being in game shape for the World Cup.



You mentioned in April about keeping an eye on Michal Neuvirth this summer with regards to his surgery and then training. Have you been satisfied with kind of how his summer has went?



Yeah, he’s doing extremely well. He’s actually here. He’s been here. He was here for a while after the surgery. Went home. He’s been back, I want to say, for a week or 10 days. And he’s here for the rest of the summer. He talked about going out to Kelowna there to train. That’s still up in the air. He’s doing well here so he’s kind of re-thinking whether he goes or not. He’s doing great.



So he didn’t do that? Because he talked about being with this new trainer.



He was doing that. Then because of the surgery, it just got pushed back. When he was medically cleared to do everything, we pushed it back a couple weeks. And then he’s doing so well here. It’s kind of like, "I don’t know whether to go or not." It’s still up in the air.



Considering you’ve said you’re probably done in free agency, you have your kind of penciled in depth chart. Things could change in training camp. Who do you envision James playing with?



I really don’t know. I’m sure he’s going to be in our top six. I guess wisdom would tell you that probably G and Coots would start together.



Yeah, that’s kind of where I was going. Is it really two candidates, Couturier or Patrick?



Yeah, with Giroux or with Patty. Kind of makes sense. I’m not the coach. We’ll see how things play out.



In that same line, third line center is maybe where you might look outside the organization unless you think Scott or Jori could be that guy? I know Scott’s also played on the wing, Jori’s played some on the wing. Do you have an internal candidate? Could it be one of the youngsters? Or will you look outside the organization?



We’re going to look at everything. You'll look outside as much as you can if you can upgrade. But Jordan Weal too is a that I’ve mentioned. Nobody else seems to want to [mention it], but he’s played center. He’s a good centerman. He’s good on face-offs. He’s good defensively. He makes plays. I suspect Jordan’s going to bounce back. I don’t think he had a terrific year last year, so he’s certainly a candidate. Obviously, Scotty and all the young guys, if there is somebody ready to step up. That will play out. But if we can upgrade in the meantime, we will. We’re pretty comfortable also with what we have from within. You’re always looking to upgrade every position. If we can upgrade, we’re going to try and do it. We also have internal candidates we feel comfortable with.



Without getting into specifics, what was the message that you maybe gave to Weal at the exit interview? Did you just tell him to keep doing what he’s doing?



I think I said this a while ago: Jordan cares so much. Sometimes he can be his worst enemy. He’s the last guy on the ice every day. He works his tail off. Sometimes you just want to go, “Jordan, get off the ice and relax a little bit.” He’s so driven to be the best he can be. It’s something he can get better at, in terms of the mental part of it where sometimes you’ve got to let things go. When he gets on a roll, he’s a good player. I suspect Jordan’s going to come in really ready to play and focused and ready to show us what he showed us two years ago.



You mentioned in April, wanting in this offseason to add two guys to help out on the penalty kill. James does a lot, but PK isn’t really one of them. Christian could help but he may not be in the lineup every night. How do you guys plan to improve the penalty kill if you’re not having outside help coming in?



First of all, the coaching staff obviously has looked long and hard at it. Talked about it at the end of the season. I think the last twenty-two or twenty-three games we were pretty good at it. If we don’t add something from the outside, we’ll certainly systematically. The coaches have looked hard at it. Again, we were good the last quarter of the season. We are comfortable in some degree. In say that, I’d like to add a forward. Christian Folin is a good penalty-killer. He’s a right shot, which is important. Whether he’s in the lineup or not, who knows. That’s an upgrade there, we feel. Internally, our guys have got to get better. That’s the bottom line there.



Possibility of a PTO possibly? Maybe someone coming in on a tryout contract during training camp?



Yeah, possibly. You got the contract issue. We've got a lot of young kids. We've got 47 contracts right now. Hagger would be 48. We got to be careful there. There’s more to it than simply adding a body. We’ll monitor it again as we go along here and if there’s something that makes sense, we’ll act on it. ​