May 07, 2024
Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports
Last summer's seventh overall pick Matvei Michkov on stage with the Flyers' front office at the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville.
The Flyers' top first-round selection in the NHL Draft will remain at 12th overall.
The league held its draft lottery just ahead of Tuesday night's run of playoff games, the results of which left the Flyers holding on to their original spot in the order at No. 12 and with another first-round pick later on thanks to the Claude Giroux trade with the Florida Panthers from back in 2022.
The No. 1 overall pick, and thus the right to consensus top prospect Macklin Celebrini, went to the San Jose Sharks.
The Flyers, who have repeatedly held to their stance throughout the past year that they're in a rebuild, ended up icing a roster for the 2023-24 season that proved capable of making a surprise playoff push until it all stalled out in the home stretch.
The finish in that scenario, which left them in the middle of the pack in the standings, isn't typically ideal for an organization with its eyes on the long-term future and that is very much in need of young, high-end talent for it. But that being said, it won't exactly be impossible for GM Danny Brière and co. to find it within the middle of this year's draft class.
Some of the notable names expected to be around midway into the first include rising Finnish forward Konsta Helenius, the WHL's Tij Iginla (son of Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla), U.S. goal-scorer Cole Eiserman (though his stock is rising), and potentially defensemen like Carter Yakemchuk (also of the WHL) or Czechia's Adam Jiricek if the blueline becomes the focus.
For the first time since 2010, no teams moved up in the NHL Draft Lottery. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/s9AphLHLGO
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 7, 2024
Regardless of where they go with pick No. 12 (and their later selection), the priority for the Flyers will be to keep stocking the prospect cupboard around the current big names in Matvei Michkov, Oliver Bonk, and Denver Barkey with as much quality as possible.
"I mean it's extremely tough to do," Brière said during his end-of-season briefing with the media last month. "We're gonna be looking for it, and we're gonna have discussions with different teams. The bulk of it still needs to be done through our young guys, mostly through the draft. I still believe, with the pick that you mentioned, that we can get a very talented player."
And they'll need to. Tomorrow depends on it.
The NHL Draft will run from June 28-29 at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
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