The 2023 NHL draft has the potential to be very memorable.
When you look at the first round of 2015 draft, you’re looking at a laundry list of elite NHL talent. From McDavid, to Eichel, to Marner, Rantanen, Barzal, Chabot; the list goes on. Even the Flyers best player, Travis Konecny, was drafted 24th overall that year. The talent was oozing from that entire first round.
This year’s draft has that same sort of “It” factor, even including some generational talents in the top 5. Connor Bedard, Matvei Michkov, and Adam Fantilli all have real chances to be the next McDavid, Eichel, and Marner, skill wise, (sorry Dylan Strome, you don’t make the cut for this analogy). All three of these prospects will each have a chance to become all stars — if not franchise altering talents — for a decade-plus to come.
Beyond that, names like Leo Carlsson, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Will Smith, among others, all possess the potential to be real top 6, impact players at the next level, while their ceilings may not be as high as the triple crown at the top of the draft.
The talent doesn’t end as soon as those names are gone, and thankfully for the Flyers, even if they stay exactly where they are at pick number seven, they’ll have a chance to draft somebody with a lot of potential.
However, if there has been one main, and consistent, criticism of the Flyers’ roster construction strategy over the past, say, 30 years or so, it is that they just never seem to have that crown jewel of a game breaker. Even when teams were good, players like Claude Giroux or Mike Richards could only be considered truly “great” players for short periods of time.
They just haven’t been able to nail down that generational prospect that near singlehandedly shakes up the makeup of the entire organization. The one right young player can turn everything around. The Edmonton Oilers were a disaster until Connor McDavid rode in on a white steed and dragged them out of the depths of Alberta winters (hell).
The Flyers have been sleepwalking in mediocrity for far too long to not at least try and take a swing on a dream. Cutter Gauthier’s stock has never been higher after his showing at the IIHF World Championship, Tyson Foerster had seven points in eight games in an impressive cup of coffee to end the year. Cam York was the best defenseman on the team for stretches. The young talent is starting to take shape, and there may be some hope on the horizon.
But all of this could for naught if the Flyers cannot acquire at least one crown jewel to top it all off. And while the 2024 draft will also no doubt feature at least a few high-level talents, the 2023 edition features three players at the top who, in other years, could each have gone first overall. This is the time to push all the chips in. This is where the Flyers should make a bold push that actually kickstarts the process of a rebuild. It is a lot easier to trade up when you already have a valuable pick, and if the Flyers could entice a team in the pick 3-5 range with a package featuring the seventh overall selection, it may be the best thing for the future.
If any players on the current NHL roster hold value to a team with a higher pick, you have to at least pick up the phone; and what better way to introduce yourself to the fanbase if you’re Daniel Briere and Keith Jones. It would definitely be a statement of intent.
This will not be a quick turnaround, there are probably still a couple more years of pain left before the fruits really start to show, but there may not be a better opportunity to cash in on a draft class loaded with high-end talent than now.
Well, things changed.
When I originally finished the first draft of this story, there were no rumblings of an Ivan Provorov trade, but obviously Daniel Briere felt other wise, and made a very shrewd move that ensures the Flyers three more picks in a highly talented draft.
It also opens the door to a situation where the Flyers could package some or all of the picks in order to jump up a few spots. Number 7 and number 22 would be at the very least a good starting point for a trade into the top five, and with some roster players included, you start to see a path where trading into the top 5, or even top 3, becomes much more feasible.
Come back later this week to read my analysis of the reasons why the Flyers should completely ignore everything I wrote and just stand pat at 7. Either side has pretty compelling arguments.
(For the record, I’m honestly okay with either option, but if there was ever a draft where you wanted to trade into the top 5… It might be this one. – Jacob)
