Flyers' abundance of early-round draft picks offers ‘some opportunities for movement'
VOORHEES, N.J. — Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere suffered emotions similar to those of many local fans after the NHL draft lottery last month.
Speaking at his annual pre-draft media availability on Tuesday at the Flyers' Training Center, and sitting on a riser alongside assistant general manager/draft guru Brent Flahr, Briere acknowledged that he was 'bummed' to see the Flyers drop to the No. 6 overall pick in next week's draft despite having the fourth-worst record in the league this season.
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But now?
'Not anymore. Not after spending the time that we've done the last few weeks, and are still every day watching more video on (the top prospects),' he said. 'We feel more and more comfortable and confident. There's obviously the No. 1 guy that everyone sees, but after that… I feel really good about it.'
That 'No. 1 guy' that Briere is alluding to is defenseman Mathew Schaefer, expected to go to the New York Islanders with the first pick. It seems evident that center Michael Misa, generally ranked as the second-best prospect, also will be gone before the Flyers select.
But after that, the next half-dozen or so players all have comparable levels of skill, according to Briere, so the Flyers will add a high-end prospect, even though they ended up with a lower draft position than they had hoped for when the regular season concluded on April 17.
'We feel that there's, from (No.) 2 or 3 to 8, those guys are really, really close,' Briere said. 'We'll have a tough decision to make at (No.) 6. We know that. But instead of having to choose between five or six guys (if they were higher), it might be two or three guys.'
The Flyers are still in the process of putting their final rankings together, and, according to Flahr, there are '10 to 12' players they've zeroed in on. There are 'still some unsettled arguments' amongst the amateur scouting staff, Flahr added, that will have to get sorted out before the first round on June 27.
But Briere and Flahr were in agreement regarding the organization's broad approach: they're going to take the best player available on their list with their highest pick, regardless of position.
'At the top, especially at No. 6, we're looking at the best player available,' Briere said.
Said Flahr: 'We obviously are well aware of our own needs. At the same time, there's some players, especially at No. 6… We're going to go with the best player on our board.'
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That's particularly notable, considering what is still lacking in the Flyers' system: depth at the center position. The club began to address that in last year's draft, when they chose Jett Luchanko with the No. 13 overall pick and Jack Berglund with their first of two second-round selections at No. 51, but it remains an area of need.
While the 18-year-old Luchanko — who surprisingly made the Flyers out of camp this past season and appeared in four scoreless games before he was reassigned to his junior team in Guelph — could still develop into a top-six center, adding another high-end prospect down the middle would seem to be vital. And, as it so happens, while there might not be a Connor Bedard or Macklin Celebrini-type in this year's class, the top of the draft is particularly center-heavy.
Centers such as Anton Frondell, Caleb Desnoyers and James Hagens could be available at No. 6. Or they might be gone, potentially resulting in the Flyers selecting someone such as Porter Martone, thought by many to be the top winger in the draft.
'Early in the draft, top 10, there's a lot of centermen, which isn't always the case,' Flahr said.
To be clear, this could all just be public posturing, which is fairly common around the league this time of year. Briere even admitted that the Flyers have explored moving up in the draft, which suggests that grabbing one of those high-end centers could be a priority. Perhaps they even have their eye on the San Jose Sharks and that No. 2 pick, and Misa.
The complication with that, though, is, 'it feels like everybody's trying to move up at the moment,' Briere said. 'We have said from the beginning that we would like to try to move up if it was possible, but there's just not a lot of options there. Teams are all looking to move up, so we'll have to be patient. Maybe there's an opportunity that comes where we can create value going the other way, also.'
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Selecting a player with the No. 6 overall pick — assuming they stay there — will only be the beginning of what will surely be a frenzied two days for the club. The Flyers have two other first-round picks — acquired from Colorado and Edmonton, respectively — along with four picks in the top half of the second round. They own 11 picks overall, including one in the third round, two in the fifth round and one in the sixth round.
Flahr said last month that he believes there is some depth in the second round before it starts to drop off, and he repeated that on Tuesday. As it stands now, the Flyers have six selections from among picks Nos. 22 to 48.
'I think there's a number of different types of players — whether it's smaller, skilled wingers; there's still some centermen on the board that may be middle of the lineup type of guys, but still valuable players; and there's some big defensemen that are going to maybe need a little bit of time but guys that our (scouts) are excited about (and) have a lot of potential,' Flahr said, referring to those half-dozen draft slots.
Said Briere: 'There's a lot of players that our guys like in in that window after (No.) 22 through 48, so there's actually a really good chance that we keep the picks and we really build around those guys.'
Of course, whether the Flyers end up using all 11 of their picks is impossible to predict. It's probably inevitable that they'll at least attempt to package some of them together in order to secure what they believe is another high-end prospect or two, at the very least.
But one thing they'll have is options.
'I think there's going to be some opportunities for movement,' Briere said. 'Having more picks is always beneficial, and it just gives you a lot of freedom to do a lot of different things.'
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