Ron Hextall

There was something different, something odd about the first scrimmages of the Flyers' training camp, and it wasn't just that Ron Hextall was sitting up in a high corner of Peterborough Memorial Centre with the other scouts, instead of clanging his stick against the goal posts. Unless you were there well before the first scrimmage, which started a little after 9 a.m., you didn't see Eric Lindros or John LeClair. The Flyers' top two scorers, rehabbing back injuries, skated for about 40 minutes with a few coaches and some other injured players.

Assistant general manager Hextall? GM Hextall, even? Down the road a ways, it could happen. The team's current president and GM, Bob Clarke, left no doubt yesterday he saw his newest pro scout as someone with a future on the management side. And that scout, Ron Hextall, left no doubt he was interested in such a future. "His family has been in the NHL since his grandfather [Bryan Sr.], his dad [Bryan Jr.], his uncle [Dennis]. They know hockey, their life has been hockey.

In the end, Ron Hextall chose a dignified exit. The Flyers' all-time winningest goalie (240 victories) ended his 13-year NHL career by announcing his retirement yesterday. He will accept a position with the team in the scouting department. "I thought about it all summer," said Hextall, 35. "In the end, I felt the right thing to do was call it a career. " Hextall was placed on waivers in June to allow the Flyers a roster spot for the upcoming season in which either Brian Boucher or Jean-Marc Pelletier is expected to succeed him as backup to John Vanbiesbrouck.

Former Flyers goalie Ron Hextall still might have a chance to play hockey next season, but he will be starting from scratch when it comes to a new contract. Hextall, who was placed on waivers by the Flyers last week, went unclaimed over the weekend. According to team president and general manager Bob Clarke, the team will buy out the last year of Hextall's existing contract. "He cleared waivers and he's been removed from our reserve list," Clarke said yesterday. "Now we buy out the last year of his contract.

Ron Hextall has cleared waivers. Now the only thing left for the Flyers and their goaltender to do is reach a buyout arrangement. Flyers general manager Bob Clarke said again yesterday that he would buy back Hextall's contract at two-thirds the face value as allowed under the NHL Players Association's collective bargaining agreement. "It's two-thirds over two years," said Clarke, who added that he would first try to keep Hextall in the organization. "He's a really good person, a hard worker, a good guy. " Hextall can shop himself around because he is an unrestricted free agent, but it's not likely that many teams would take on a 35-year-old backup goalie unless he signed for much less than he has earned in the last few years.

Ron Hextall's status with the Flyers remains muddled. Yesterday was 48 hours from the time the Flyers said they placed the veteran goalie on NHL waivers. Yet when the club called the league office at noon to see if Hextall had been claimed or had cleared waivers, they were informed that Hextall wouldn't clear until noon on Sunday, July 4. "I guess we were all under the wrong assumption on the timing," said assistant general manager Paul Holmgren. Under the league's collective bargaining agreement, the 48-hour waiver rule applies only between Sept.

Brian Boucher will get his chance. That's the bottom line after the Flyers placed goalie Ron Hextall on waivers. "This is what we have to do," general manager Bob Clarke said yesterday. "We have to go with a younger goalie as a backup, especially with another expansion draft coming up next year. " The move wasn't unexpected as Clarke had been hinting all summer of buying out Hextall's contract if the veteran was not taken in the expansion draft. Hextall, who could not be reached for comment, has a no-trade clause.

The Flyers career of the team's all-time winningest goalie is officially over. General manager Bob Clarke said yesterday he has put Ron Hextall on waivers, and that if Hextall passes through unclaimed, he will then buy out the final year of Hextall's contract, to make room for 22-year-old Brian Boucher as John Vanbiesbrouck's backup. Hextall, 35, could not be reached for comment yesterday. He has played in and won more games than any other Flyers goalie, going 240-172-58 with a 2.91 goals-against in 489 career Flyers games over 11 seasons.

One complaint from Flyers fans over the years has been about the club's reluctance to draft Europeans. Since Bob Clarke's second tenure as general manager began in 1994, the Flyers have selected just five European players in the top five rounds of the NHL amateur draft. Their highest choice was Dainius Zubrus, a first-rounder in 1996, and he was traded to Montreal last season for Mark Recchi. Zubrus is the only European player the Flyers have drafted in the first round under Clarke, including his first stint at GM from 1984 to '89. Although they did not draft a European in the first five rounds of Saturday's draft, four of the club's six picks were from overseas.

The Flyers' long-range picture in goal hasn't been clear, and it became fuzzier yesterday with the selection of Maxime Ouellet during the NHL amateur draft at the FleetCenter. The 6-foot, 180-pound Canadian goaltender was the Flyers' first-round pick at No. 22. His selection created a logjam of young goalies, with Brian Boucher and Jean-Marc Pelletier in the system and the organization struggling to get one into a backup role at the NHL level. "He was the best player available, in our opinion," Flyers general manager Bob Clarke said, explaining the decision to take a goalie even though the club is thin at forward.