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11 Comments (7 conversations)
Michael Curran
Well I always wait a few years after a draft year to see what the coaches can do with the picks and with that being said its one of those drafts that doesn’t move the needle for me at the moment. The Flyers current organizational thought process is no high upside risks to be taken. They took Michkov so they are good for a while. Somewhere Ron Hextall is wondering if DB will see it through to the end…
Vandit Kalia
I think expecting a franchise-altering draft this year is a fairly unreasonable expectation, Charlie.
If anything, last year was that draft, with their plethora of picks. This year? With 4 picks and the highest being 21? Not so much.
Vandit Kalia
Also, on a different note – if Sokolovskii does become a hard to play against, physical Dman who is decent at breakout, that’s actually a top pair Dman: the shutdown half of the pairing with a #1 offensively gifted player: a snarlier, even more physical version of Risto.
That’s a very good outcome for #27.
Sharad Shah
Other teams were more aggressive pre-draft in moving for picks. Flyers misplayed their hand on Risto and were stuck at 21 and the teams that moved for higher picks got players the Flyers wanted. Briere implied that by being at 21 on their list, they ranked Sokolovskii higher than both Lin and Bleyle.
I disagree with that, but I disagree with a lot of their moves in recent years. It’s passing up on Bleyle that’s going to haunt them. He had tools and a skillset they admitted needing and lacking from their organization—and they passed on him twice.
When he winds up putting up impressive numbers and blowing by defenders in highlight videos, it’s going to be a Makar/Caufield moment: “Flyers could have had that guy…”
They should have taken him at 27 and moved up in the draft to secure Sokolovskii with the picks they got from Seattle.
Flahr’s admission that the draft didn’t go the way they had expected implies they didn’t do due diligence to account for alternate plans or options. They came across as off guard or off balance, and when you’re making questionable decisions and then forced to explain or defend those decisions with spin, well, that’s when your credibility starts to take a beating.
Post-Fletcher, Flyers were in apology mode and working to rebuild credibility. The approach to this draft doesn’t help. I want to hope that they learn and adjust from this and become more aggressive about scouting and going BPA, but the Flyers culture persists.
John Morrison
In paragraph 5 you speak of the Flyers not doing their due diligence. They spoke to this in their pressers when they mentioned the board didn’t fall the way they thought it would. I don’t think they didn’t plan. Maybe they just made a mistake that compounded. Or decided this week has been too weird, let’s not do something rash.
I think the entirety of this draft week has been puzzling.
A top 5 pick was traded- that’s rare, the return? Bowen Byram.
That set a tone for the rest of the week.
No way in hell do I trade # 4 OA for Bo Byram and I think he’s a good player.
If that’s where the market is, maybe it’s a better bet to sit this moment out for a different one.
Vandit Kalia
I dont think Flahr’s statements implied they weren’t prepared – he just said it didnt go the way they expected. So by the time 21 rolled around, they didnt have a chance to draft the players they had at a higher tier, so they rolled back and got the next best one. Roseman does the same thing.
Re the “not exciting draft” – i dont know if this is the draft to be spending resources to move up from 21 to 15 or whatever. It’s worth it if you strongly believe in the player – as they did for Nesbitt, rightly or wrongly TBD. But otherwise? Go back down and take a swing. Which is what they did.
Also, it’s WAY too premature to be so confident about Bleyle. Pretty much the bulk of the league’s professional scouts/draft teams disagree with your assessment.
David LaVeck
I loved this article as it was while offering hope for the future. It does seem that the Flyers missed out on some picks all the way through the draft so they pivoted and did their best with what was on the board in front of them. I especially thought that this line was brilliant: “My general view of picks beyond the fifth round is that it’s best to mine leagues with fewer scouting eyes on them.” Sound logic there. You beat me to listing that this will be our future second d-pairing: Sokolovskii-Liske. Sign me up for that. I think that I like this draft more than most even the goalies. I wonder if having a Czech as our #1 goalie influenced these picks? If nothing else, it may have given them some confidence.
Matthew Segal
I don’t think they misplayed the Risto hand. I don’t want to go backwards and until we get Carlson or get Wreneski or Jiricek shows he can win a job and be a productive player, we need Risto. Hopefully one of the above happens and we can move him by the deadline. There seems to be a number of teams competing with us for one of tge aforementioned Dmen.
Sharad Shah
Results of this draft will pop up later. If the Flyers hit on two or more of these picks (i.e. regular NHL starters), then they come across as brilliant. Based on the scouting reports and general concensus, virtually every pick was a reach. Notion is that for an organization forced to thread the needle (via a “competitive rebuild”), the Flyers botched this draft.
My problem is the Flyers lack the history of developing players who regularly exceed their potential so much as hinder a prospect’s development to their fullest potential.
So now they drafted reaches and are trying tout tell fans to be patient while they help the players develop. I’m skeptical because they have yet to consistently demonstrate they can successfully do what’s being asked of them as an organization.
Vandit Kalia
I can see how the draft is positioned as a reach.
But look at it another way – they dont need any more middling prospects in the pipeline. So this was a swing for the fences. I am ok with that outcome as opposed to another Cam York Lite.
Jim
I’d say it was an underwhelming weekend because I thought there would be at least one trade for a roster player (or subtracting a roster player like Risto). But overall happy with moving back for Sokolovskii, the skating really stands out for how big and physical he is. Like you mentioned Charlie he is absolutely a big swing (boom or bust) pick. Everyone wants the next Lane Hutson but forget about the small first rounders like Ty Smith, Ryan Merkley, Lassi Thomson, Victor Soderstrom, etc. who never pan out.