Fired up to be a Flame: Rolling Meadows’ Hextall ‘just very joyful’ to hear the NHL’s call
With the 30th overall pick of the 2026 National Hockey League draft, the Calgary Flames chose …
Jack Hextall of Rolling Meadows, who was flabbergasted.
“To be honest, it was just kind of a blackout. Just so shocked, and butterflies are in your stomach,” Hextall said of the fortuitous moment June 26 at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center.
It can’t get much better for a prospective Calgary Flame than to hear the legendary Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Lanny McDonald announce your name. Better still, the famously mustachioed McDonald was the favorite player of Hextall’s father, Cory, a Saskatchewan native.
When Jack Hextall came back to earth he had a small army of family and friends to throw his arms around.
“Just very joyful,” the first-round pick said Wednesday from Michigan State University, where he is attending early workouts and summer class. Hextall will be a Spartan for the foreseeable future before signing an NHL contract.
“I definitely felt like immediately hugging my parents and siblings. It just goes through your mind how much they sacrificed and how much they did for you to get you to that point,” Hextall said.
If it doesn’t already, Cory and Jennifer Hextall’s mantle must feature a photo of their 18-year-old son in a Flames sweater, standing between McDonald and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
It’s a rare opportunity to shake the hand of the commissioner of a major sport.
“It was pretty cool. I was just kind of star stuck, I see that guy on TV all the time,” Jack Hextall said.
(And yes, hockey fans, former Vezina Trophy winner Ron Hextall sent his relative text messages of congratulations.)
A little over a week later Jack Hextall was in Calgary from July 1-3 for development camp, getting acclimated to head coach Ryan Huska and his staff, seeing the city and meeting other Flames prospects.
A 6-foot-1, 180-pound center, Hextall considers himself a “200-foot playmaker,” a right-handed shot who takes an equal amount of pride in both his offense and defense.
In 2025-26 he scored 20 goals with 38 assists for 58 points in 59 games for the Youngstown (Ohio) Phantoms of the United States Hockey League.
It was a nice leap after recording 34 points in 53 games for Youngstown in 2024-25.
“It was definitely an adjustment, just moving away from home and playing with and against guys who are two, three, four years older than you. But it was super-fun, I loved my time in Youngstown,” he said.
He spent those two seasons living with hosts Joey and Suzy Deabate, who joined the Hextall family on draft night in Buffalo.
Like many hockey players with his skills and trajectory, Hextall’s youth has been spent on the move on and off the ice.
Only as a freshman did he attend Rolling Meadows High School, where his brother, Quinn, is a rising junior baseball player.
As a sophomore Jack Hextall took online classes “to skate more during the day,” he said, while he was playing his last season in AAA hockey with the Chicago Mission. Then it was off to Youngstown for his junior and senior years.
Introduced to the sport by his father, who played hockey at the University of Illinois-Chicago — also nicknamed the Flames — then stuck around after meeting his future wife, Jack remembers first skating at 4 years old. However, grandfather Bill Martin swears he taught the little guy how to stick handle at 2.
“For little kids growing up, playing hockey, have as much fun as can. You’ve got to love the game,” Hextall said.
He’s still got the love. He also has a mission.
“I’m not even close to making it yet,” Hextall said. “I’m working at it.”
doberhelman@dailyherald.com