Photo Credit: ESPN
The NHL Draft will commence in less than a week, and for Danny Briere and the Flyers rumors continue to swirl around this organization. Extra draft capital always helps speed up a rebuild, and that’s what Briere appears to be honing in on. Now the biggest question remains, will the Flyers draft the best available player if Matvei Michkov falls to the Flyers lap at 7?
“I believe we’ll have the chance to meet with him. Yes,” Danny Briere said about a possible interview with Michkov. “We’re trying to get as much information, and we’ll spend a little bit of time with him, and we’ll try to get as much information as we can and make our decision after that.”
If Michkov falls to the Flyers at 7 it solely becomes drafting the best player available. Michkov is arguably the second best player in the draft. He has an insane arsenal of moves, coupled with elite hands, “We’ve spent a lot of time. We’re like every other team as far as the Russian players,” Flahr said. “It’s a good year in Russia. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to be there personally, but Kenny Hoodikoff, our Russian Scout, has met with these players, spent a lot of time watching them live. We spent a lot of time watching them on video.”
Flahr continued, “There are some quality players from Russia that are going to go high in this draft, probably before we pick, maybe even at 22, so that’s an evaluation. Obviously, we will put our list together as we see fit, but for whatever reason it is a strong year in Russia, and we’ll have to make a decision.”
Briere alluded to the fact that the Flyers have to plan accordingly beyond the scope of next season, “You got to be careful to take the best player available for us. That’s going to be the goal. You have to be careful because , “that player is probably not going to be here for another few years. Things can change by that time in your lineup and your roster, so I want to be careful with trying to push for just strictly one position at the top of the draft.”
If the Flyers had no intentions of drafting Michkov, then they wouldn’t waste anyone’s time with interviewing him. They would hone in on other prospects that they didn’t get a chance to interview at the combine or what not. As of right now, Michkov would be the Flyers pick at seven if he was gifted to their laps.
This draft is loaded with Forwards, and some are generational talents. It will be interesting to see just who the Flyers select at 7 and beyond, but the defensive position lacks in this draft and Brent Flahr said it best, “There are some quality defensemen, I think, in the first round, but overall I don’t think it’s a real deep draft for defensemen,” Flahr said. “We want the best player three, four years down the road. Dan, I’m not going to speak, but I think we’re agreeing on that. It’s not a rush as far as who’s going to be playing first. There’s a lot of guys that will play sooner, but who is going to become the best NHL player is our focus.”
Could the Flyers draft a goalie…you betcha, “In saying that, it’s a pretty good goalie draft,” said Flahr. “There is depth at the goaltending position. I think you’ll see as soon as the first one goes, there is going to be a string of them go. There is some depth in that position, and typically we’ve always tried to take a goalie. Now if they all go, then you’re not just drafting a goalie to draft a goalie, but there is some depth, so I would assume at some point we would have a chance to get one.”
At least the Flyers will draft the best player available for once, and not sway due to positional need. In the past some have seen the orange and black draft for positional need, but not this year, “I still want to take the best player available for us at that moment. Not thinking, “okay, now because I have that other pick, it changes what I’m going to try to do,” Briere said. “I’d rather we go with the same mindset. We take the player that’s going to be the best player for us, depending where we’re at in the organization. I’m not looking at it where, okay, because we have different picks, that’s going to change how we approach number seven.”
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The Flyers have to be careful if Michkov is available. Do we really want to use a pick on a player who may never make it to the NHL, given the current turmoil in and around Russia?
Don’t the Flyers already have a goalie prospect there who Russia will not make available until his military service is over?
I’m showing my age here, but let’s not forget that the Flyers, in 1992, picked that ‘stud’ Ryan Sittler at 7th in the first round… and he never even played for us.
We’re not in a situation where we can be ‘cavalier’ with our picks. I hope Danny and the Jrs do their due diligence (before choosing the ‘best available player’),
The ‘due diligence’ of the 3 Kings speaks volumes.