Just to pile on the unremarkable waste of space and time that was the Flyers season, Steve Mason spoke to the media yesterday and decided to pull a power play and COMMAND Ron Hextall to make a decision on his future ASAP k thx bye. From CSN Philly:

“They are well aware of where I stand, they have to make their choice,” Mason said at the team’s breakup day at Flyers Skate Zone. “Hexy kind of left it as we’re not closing the door. They have to figure some things out.

“Whatever those things are, I’m not aware of. I just told Hexy, ‘Do me the favor and make the decision as soon as possible,’ because I have other things to take care of. A house and moving things.”

“Coming into the season, with Neuvy getting the nod as the No. 1 guy, then fine, you just need to have … for both of our sakes, you need to have defined roles,” Mason said.

“Doesn’t work,” Mason said. “And it’s shown throughout the league, it doesn’t work. Tampa got rid of their situation. St. Louis got rid of their situation. It’s got nothing to do with Neuvy and I as people. I’ve got no issues with Neuvy. It doesn’t work for the goaltending position.”

“It’s not mentality, it’s the way the position is played,” Mason said. “You can’t be in and out, in and out. You have to have the flow. I believe, given that flow, I’ve done well with it.

“Every single team needs a defined starter and backup goalie. Just having that clarity would have simplified it a lot. At the end of the season, having that clarity, the results showed.”

“It’s a better question for him,” Mason said. “I don’t believe it’s an effective way. I don’t think it would work out. I think he probably is [open to the idea]. He’s seen the results this year. They weren’t what we wanted or what we needed.”

“I was looking forward to being here a few more years,” he said.

“If there’s a scenario next year where it’s Stolie and myself, I would enjoy working with him,” Mason said.

Goddammit. Flyers goaltending strikes again! Every few years, some guy comes up through the ranks or gets picked off another team’s scrap heap because he’s a headcase or over-the-hill, and then turns in a few incredible weeks or months and we anoint him the possible savior until he inevitably comes crashing back down to Earth because he’s a lunatic or really just wasn’t that good in the first place, and then does something to make us hate him or, better, make Lou Tilley call him a “fruitcake” (he actually said this about Roman Cechmanek and it’s one of my all-time favorite sports moments) and departs unceremoniously. Is that a run-on sentence? Probably. But Mason playing his Chase Daniel card is just the latest notch on the ol’ belt, which at this point has more holes in it than every sad sack Flyers goaltender’s five-hole combined. Thanks, Mase, for the great run of sheer mediocrity and being the latest Flyers goalie to rear-end our expectations with maddening inconsistency.

Side note: I’m not defending Dave Hakstol, Peter Laviolette and basically every Flyers coach ever for yo-yo-ing goalies in and out of the lineup, but, really, what have they had to work with? Every chance Mason had to grab the job by the horns he’d throw in a few clunkers and basically force Hakstol to play Neuvy and vice versa. Please, make it stop– I can’t take it anymore.