Truth of Ron Hextall's controversial time in Pittsburgh finally comes out.

During his tenure as general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, former National Hockey League goaltender Ron Hextall was the target of a ton of criticism. Hextall's tenure with the Penguins has been viewed by most, including myself, as a total failure of management, but as it turns out that may have been entirely unfair.

Over the weekend, National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that people were speaking out in defense of Hextall as a result of Fenway Sports Group's rumored exit from the NHL following the rumored sale of the Penguins.

"I got a couple of interesting calls in defense of Ron Hextall," revealed Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. "I had a couple of people reach out and say that 'If Fenway Sports does sell the team, that there should be a bigger conversation into how Hextall's GM term went.'"

According to the sources that reached out to the NHL insider, it sounds like Hextall was hired by one ownership group to perform an entirely different job than the one he ended up having under Fenway Sports Group.

"I had people who really defend him saying 'When Hextall was hired, it was before Fenway bought the team,'" revealed Friedman. "They took over a few months later, this was all in 2021, but Hextall was hired under the idea of the team was gonna get rebuilt."

It even sounds like Hextall may have been instructed by ownership to make moves that he himself would not have made as a general manager had the choice been entirely his own.

"Then when push came to shove, and remember there was that day when it looked like Malkin was going to hit free agency and the fans spoke up and it was clear that not everybody was ready for that group to be over, the plan changed," said Friedman.

It sounds like we might be hearing more about this situation if Fenway Sports Group does indeed sell the team.

"They just felt that it should be known that what he was hired to do and what he got instructed to do when the moment came were two very different things," said Friedman.

While we still don't have all the details at this time, I wonder if this information alone will be enough to at least soften some of the highly negative viewpoints fans have had about Hextall's time as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins.