The NHL draft Lottery on Tuesday night wasn’t exactly the most fun for Philadelphia Flyers’ fans. Not only did the New Jersey Devils land the first overall pick and the New York Rangers grab the second, but the Orange and Black dropped from having the 10th overall pick to the 11th. After the team added on points in January, February, and March despite essentially being out of the playoff picture in December, having two divisional rivals land the two prizes at the top of the draft while moving outside of the top 10 is pretty annoying.
With that being said, the Flyers will have an opportunity to land a pretty good player at 11. It isn’t the most exciting pick, but it’s still near the top of the draft and the Flyers have had success in this spot before. In fact, a few teams have had some success picking 11th over the years. To see just how well 11th overall picks have turned out, let’s look at each one in the NHL Entry Draft era.
Players taken 11th overall
| Player | Draft | Team | Position | Games | Points | Accolades |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oliver Wahlstrom | 2018 | New York Islanders | RW | 0 | 0 | |
| Gabriel Vildardi | 2017 | Los Angeles Kings | Center | 0 | 0 | |
| Logan Brown | 2016 | Ottawa Senators | Center | 6 | 1 | |
| Lawson Crouse | 2015 | Florida Panthers | LW | 164 | 38 | |
| Kevin Fiala | 2014 | Nashville Predators | LW | 223 | 104 | 20-goal season |
| Samuel Morin | 2013 | Philadelphia Flyers | LHD | 8 | 0 | |
| Filip Forsberg | 2012 | Washington Capitals | Center | 395 | 305 | 2 30-goal seasons, 3 20-goal season |
| Duncan Siemens | 2011 | Colorado Avalanche | LHD | 20 | 2 | |
| Jack Campbell | 2010 | Dallas Stars | Goalie | 38 | .925 save % | |
| Ryan Ellis | 2009 | Nashville Predators | RHD | 478 | 214 | |
| Kyle Beach | 2008 | Chicago Blackhawks | Center | 0 | 0 | |
| Brandon Sutter | 2007 | Carolina Hurricanes | C/RW | 683 | 260 | 2 20-goal seasons |
| Jonathan Bernier | 2006 | Los Angeles Kings | Goalie | 324 | .913 save % | |
| Anze Kopitar | 2005 | Los Angeles Kings | Center | 1,003 | 888 | 2 Stanley Cups, 2 Selkes, 1 Lady Byng, 3 30-goal seasons, 7 20-goal seasons, 1 90-point season, 1 80-point season, 5 70-point seasons |
| Lauri Tukonen | 2004 | Los Angeles Kings | RW | 5 | 0 | |
| Jeff Carter | 2003 | Philadelphia Flyers | Center | 980 | 705 | 2 Stanley Cups, 1 40-goal season, 3 30-goal seasons, 7 20-goal seasons, 1 80-point season |
| Keith Ballard | 2002 | Buffalo Sabres | LHD | 604 | 175 | |
| Fredrik Sjostrom | 2001 | Phoenix Coyotes | RW | 489 | 104 | |
| Pavel Vorobiev | 2000 | Chicago Blackhawks | RW | 57 | 25 | |
| Oleg Saprykin | 1999 | Calgary Flames | LW | 325 | 137 | |
| Jeff Heerema | 1998 | Carolina Hurricanes | RW | 32 | 6 | |
| Jason Ward | 1997 | Montreal Canadiens | RW | 336 | 81 | |
| Dan Focht | 1996 | Phoenix Coyotes | LHD | 82 | 8 | |
| Jarome Iginla | 1995 | Dallas Stars | RW | 1,554 | 1,300 | 2 Maurice Richards, 1 Ted Lindsay Award, 1 Art Ross, 1 King Clancy, 2 50-goal seasons, 2 40-goal seasons, 8 30-goal seasons, 5 20-goal seasons, 3 90-point seasons, 2 80-point seasons, 2 70-point seasons |
| Jeff Friesen | 1994 | San Jose Sharks | LW | 893 | 516 | 1 Stanley Cup, 1 30-goal season, 4 20-goal seasons |
| Brendan Witt | 1993 | Washington Capitals | LHD | 890 | 121 | |
| David Cooper | 1992 | Buffalo Sabres | LHD | 30 | 10 | |
| Brian Rolston | 1991 | New Jersey Devils | Center | 1,256 | 761 | 1 Stanley Cup, 4 30-goal seasons, 3 20-goal seasons |
| Trevor Kidd | 1990 | Calgary Flames | Goalie | 387 | 0.901 | |
| Mike Sillinger | 1989 | Detroit Red Wings | Center | 1,049 | 548 | 1 30-goal season, 4 20-goal season |
| Chris Govedaris | 1988 | Hartford Whalers | LW | 45 | 10 | |
| Yves Racine | 1987 | Detroit Red Wings | LHD | 508 | 231 | |
| Scott Young | 1986 | Hartford Whalers | RW | 1,181 | 757 | 2 Stanley Cups, 1 40-goal season, 1 30-goal season, 6 20-goal seasons |
| Dave Manson | 1985 | Chicago Blackhawks | LHD | 1,103 | 390 | |
| Sylvain Cote | 1984 | Hartford Whalers | RHD | 1,171 | 435 | 20-goal season |
| Adam Creighton | 1983 | Buffalo Sabres | Center | 708 | 403 | 1 30-goal season, 3 20-goal season |
| Michel Petit | 1982 | Vancouver Canucks | RHD | 827 | 328 | |
| Randy Moller | 1981 | Quebec Nordiques | RHD | 815 | 225 | |
| Mike Blaisdell | 1980 | Detroit Red Wings | RW | 343 | 154 | 20-goal season |
| Mike Ramsey | 1979 | Buffalo Sabres | LHD | 1,070 | 345 |
Since the NHL Entry Draft started in 1979 there have been 40 players taken 11th overall. Out of those 40 players:
- 17 have played in 500 NHL games or more, with eight of those 17 taking part in 1,000 games or more. This doesn’t include Ryan Ellis (478 games) and Filip Forsberg (395), who seem pretty likely to reach the 500-game mark.
- 12 have gone on to produce at least one 20-goal season in the NHL, 10 of which had multiple 20-goal seasons. Nine have produced a 30-goal season, three of which (Jeff Carter, Jarome Iginla, and Scott Young) have produced a 40-goal season.
- Five have won Stanley Cups. Three of those five (Anze Kopitar, Carter, Young) have won two.
- One player (Iginla) has either led the league in goal scoring or points./
To go along with these players who hit career milestones, a bunch of these players will be remembered for other things. One of them nearly murdered their own goalie on the ice, another was hit by a car, one of them had front row seats to a goal that clinched a Stanley Cup, and a fourth one attempted to play for every hockey team ever assembled.
In the history of their franchise, the Flyers have selected 11th overall only twice: in 2013 when they took Samuel Morin and in 2003 when they took Carter. Morin has taken a little bit of time to develop and reach the NHL, so we aren’t certain yet what his ceiling is as an NHL player. As for Carter, his 365 goals is fittingly the 11th-most in the league since he joined the Flyers in 2005-06. He also has the Flyers’ most recent 40-goal season, as he potted 46 back in 2008-09.
Besides the history of the pick itself and the Flyers’ experience picking in the spot, the 11th overall pick is interesting because it’s just close enough to the top of the draft where a player that was expected to possibly go within the first few selections could slide just outside the top 10. An example of this is in 2017, when the Los Angeles Kings managed to land forward Gabe Vilardi, who was the projected third overall pick for the majority of the 2016-17 season. If one of Vasili Podkolzin, Kirby Dach, or Dylan Cozens is there at 11 Flyers’ fans should be more than happy. This just serves as a reminder that sometimes things work out better than expected, which we should remember often this offseason.
*Stats via Hockey Reference.
