NHL Draft Week Is Here and It’s A Crucial Time For The Flyers

Photo Courtesy of Monica Herndon, The Philadelphia Inquirer 

It’s finally here, NHL Entry Draft week is upon us and it looks to be a very busy period ahead from a Philadelphia Flyers perspective. The Flyers are selecting 5th overall in the Draft which is interesting in its own right. There’s also been a ton of other news and speculation surrounding the organization this past week. 

Ivan Fedotov Situation

First off, highly regarded goalie prospect Ivan Fedotov was detained by law enforcement in Russia during the past week while trying to head for the U.S. It was reported by the Associated Press who spoke with Fedotov’s agent J.P Barry that Fedotov is now located at a remote military base in northern Russia.

It’s not entirely clear as to what will happen to Fedotov going forward but based on these reports it appears as though he will likely not be able to make it over to America and the NHL for this upcoming season. 

We’ll see if the NHL, NHLPA or the Philadelphia Flyers organization tries to intervene in some way. However, with the lack of information regarding the situation I’m assuming their hands are essentially tied here. It’s quite unfortunate Fedotov is in this predicament when all the young goaltender was looking to do was play in the NHL this upcoming season. 

Alex DeBrincat Trade Rumors

There were rumblings throughout the week speculating the Flyers may have been interested in trading the 5th overall pick in a package deal for scoring winger Alex DeBrincat of the Chicago Blackhawks.

However, the following was reported by Elliotte Freidman on the 32 Thoughts podcast that certainly paints a different picture. Friedman stated, “What I think happened is that the Blackhawks asked the Flyers for the 5th overall pick and I don’t think the Flyers want to do that. I think the Flyers have decided, at least at this time, that does not make sense for them and they’re better off keeping the pick than trading it for DeBrincat.” 

If it is accurate that the Flyers brass is not willing to give up the 5th overall pick for Alex DeBrincat in a package deal I tend to agree with that line of thinking. In terms of where the Philadelphia Flyers organization is at in regards to competing for a Stanley Cup it’s much more plausible to make the 5th overall selection.

Doing so could potentially provide the Flyers a young cost controlled high end contributor entering the lineup on Entry-Level contract money. That would be a much more attractive scenario than having to dedicate a 9 million dollar qualifying offer to a scoring winger a year from now. Which is the exact amount of cap dollars that would at minimum need to be allocated to resigning Alex DeBrincat after this season as he’s an RFA. If a long term extension were to be worked out it’s possible the cap hit could be even higher.

There’s also no guarantee of re-signing DeBrincat as well moving ahead. If the player has his sights set on becoming an Unrestricted Free Agent that UFA status could be reached in 2024 if a 1 year deal at a qualifying offer of 9 million dollars was signed going into the 2023-2024 season while DeBrincat is an RFA. Not to mention, the fact that allocating that type of salary commitment to the center position or defense has typically been a better investment long term when looking to build a competitive team in the NHL.

All of those factors in my opinion make trading the 5th overall pick for DeBrincat bad asset management. Hypothetically speaking, if the Flyers were looking to add a scoring winger to their roster they could attempt to sign either Johnny Gaudreau or Filip Forsberg and not have to give up any assets aside from cap space. All the while adding a significant contributor to your franchise. 

2022 NHL Entry Draft

Focusing on the draft, there should be a handful of talented prospects available when it comes time for the Philadelphia Flyers to select 5th overall. Some of those names include David Jiricek, Simon Nemec, Joakim Kemell, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Cutter Gauthier and even Logan Cooley, depending on how the draft may play out.

A viable case could be made based on the varying skill sets and talent each prospect possesses above that the Flyers should select any of those players. Due to that, I believe the Flyers management staff is in a good position here. As no matter which one of those prospects is available and selected they all seem to have a fair amount of upside to their games, that looks to have the ability to translate well to the NHL level. 

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Ultimately, we’ll see how the draft unfolds and where certain players are selected. It should be interesting to see if there are any surprise risers or fallers in the 1st round as well. 

Gettin Gritty Wit It: Pre Draft Show (Ft. Bill Meltzer)

On this week’s Pre-Draft edition of the Gettin Gritty Wit It podcast we welcomed Bill Meltzer to the show. Bill provides some of the best coverage of the Philadelphia Flyers and NHL in general, through his writing for Philadelphia Flyers.com, NHL.com and Hockeybuzz.com. 

We discussed several different topics and focused on how the Flyers can look to build and structure the team with both the long term and short term perspective in mind. Along with, delving into the NHL Entry Draft. 

Here are all the topics we got into below:

• Can Tortorella get the best out of this team and its players?
• Brad Shaw named assistant coach 
• DeBrincat trade rumors 
• Different team building philosophies and perspectives
• Draft talk, who might the Flyers select with #5 overall
• Can things get better next season?

Thanks for reading and listening everyone! Have a great week and stay tuned for some NHL Draft coverage coming to you live from the Draft floor in Montreal later this week.