Flyers' Hextall: Bye-week schedule 'most asinine thing I've ever seen'
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock isn't the only one picking a bone with the league's five-day bye week.
The Philadelphia Flyers will enjoy their five-day break starting next Monday, but they'll first play back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday, then face another back-to-back scenario coming out of the break, a scheduling method general manager Ron Hextall doesn't exactly agree with.
Hexy on league mandated 5-day break Flyers have between two sets of back to backs: "Most asinine thing I've ever seen."
— Rob Parent (@ReluctantSE) January 11, 2017
Scheduling aside, Hextall has also become quite infuriated with his team's play of late. After winning 10 straight games from Nov. 27-Dec. 14, the team has dropped nine of its past 11.
"It's driving me nuts," Hextall said, according to Sam Carchidi of Philly.com. "I hope it is for everybody else, too.
"Every night you have to be on top of your game. You don't play good, you don't win. We're not playing well enough right now."
Given the team's current slide - that still has them clinging to the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference - trade rumors are sure to rise, but Hextall insists he won't make a deal just for the sake of it.
"I'm not going to make a trade to send a message," Hextall said. "I'm (only) going to make a trade to make us better."
The Flyers will look to get back in the win column on Thursday when they take on the Vancouver Canucks to kick off their first set of back-to-back contests.