Mario Lemieux called out Hextall for knocking his teeth out before GM interview

It all ended well for Ron Hextall as he was named the Pittsburgh Penguins’ new general manager earlier this week. 

However, when he met with Penguins’ owner Mario Lemieux, he didn’t have the feeling he would get the job. That’s because, as he was making small talk ahead of his second interview with team management, Lemieux reminded him how he knocked out some of his teeth when the two men played one another back in the day. 

“I was on the second interview with Mario and we were making small talk at the start, and he reminded me I knocked out four of his teeth on a follow-through. I was like, oh boy. This hasn’t started very well (laughs),” Hextall revealed on Thursday in a pregame interview. 

That must have been awkward and we bet Hextall thought his chances weren’t as good, but we bet Lemieux wants a guy that works hard and is willing to break some teeth in the process. 

Hextall also mentioned that Lemieux got him back more than once, so he might have felt like things were even. 

“I think he probably lit me up for seven or eight points one night, so he certainly got me back.”

The former Flyers netminder played 11 seasons over two separate tenures with Philadelphia. The Flyers were division rivals with Lemieux’s Penguins throughout the 1980s and 90s and faced off in several heated postseason series.

Now Hextall is in Pittsburgh to replace former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford, who stepped down due to personal reasons. The team also hired Brian Burke as president of hockey operations.