PHILADELPHIA – Now that the Philadelphia Flyers season has come to the end, the next order of business is the NHL Entry Draft. We are over a month away but the Flyers can’t rest on one solid playoff run to think they are back in contention for a championship. A full rebuild may be over, but the process is far from it. Today we look at the Flyers needs heading into the draft.
Alexander Nikishin #21 of the Carolina Hurricanes attempts to move Garnet Hathaway #19 of the Philadelphia Flyers from in front of Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen #31
Forwards: Until they can get a number one center, it will continue to be a top priority for Philly. A center that can not only score but win faceoffs is a much have. Jack Berglund has appeared to be their top prospect down the middle of the ice along with Jack Nesbitt who is winning over 50% faceoffs. He did score 25 goals and had 33 assists for Windsor (OHL). He isn’t far away from making an NHL roster. He already has the size and ability to make the club out of camp but he is only 18 years old so don’t expect him in Philly for at least one more year.
Jeff Luchanko is also winning at over 50% but so far hasn’t shown the ability to be a true goal scorer. His speed in the last game again Caroline in the playoffs proved that he can definitely hang with the big boys. That experience along will help him win a roster spot out of training came.
The Flyers need more scorers up from so someone like JP Hurlbert, who is heading to Michigan next season will get a long look at the draft. Yegor Shilov is already committed to playing for Penn State next season. That is another big signing for the Nittany Lions. In his last 4 seasons he hasn’t scored less than 30 goals in a season. Maddox Dagenais and Ryan Roobroeck are also 30+ goal scorers with 6’ 4” bodies that will be tough to pass up.
If Philly wants to go down the left winger route, Nikita Klepov is a Michigan State commit
Defense: The Flyers don’t need defensive prospects like they did in the past. They already have Oliver Bonk, Hunter McDonald, Spencer Gill, Ty Murchison in the system but they need someone who can eventually run the power play. Bonk might be that guy but the Flyers will definitely look to the draft to help in that department.
Malte Gustafsson, LD, 6-foot-4, 201 pounds, (Sweden), Nikita Shcherbakov, LD, 6-foot-5, 187 pounds, (Russia) are good possibilities, but Xavier Villeneuve would be a solid pickup for Philly come draft day. He is committed to Boston U. next season where he will have to show just how good he can be at a top college program. That said, a center will scoring ability will take higher priority.
The Flyers need left wing help as well. The Cutter Gauthier debacle left a huge hole in their system.
Goalies: Dan Vladar is clearly the team’s MVP but it looks like Sam Ersson’s days are number in Philadelphia. Alexei Kolosov has resigned for another year, but the Flyers have always felt he has number one potential. Carson Bjarnason is also solid but not spectacular. e percentage. Yegor Zavragin, the Flyers top goalie prospect, might come over but the betting pool says he won’t come over until next season. Look for the Flyers to add 1-2 goalies in the draft but not until after the first round.
Brian Jennings covers the Philadelphia Flyers for prohockeynews.com and can be found on twitter at @Flyersfan22.
Photo Credit: Jack..SMart@prohockeynews.com