Finally, draft day is upon us! The delay is over: The NHL Entry Draft is set to commence today and tomorrow. These talented young prospects will not have to wait any longer to receive the call that they have been working so hard all their life to receive from one of the league’s thirty-one general managers (GM). Unfortunately, this draft will be like no other: These prospects will not get to walk across that stage and take a picture with Commissioner Gary Bettman because of the COVID pandemic restrictions. If that wasn’t going to be different enough, GMs will have to rely heavily on the advice of their scouts who traveled the world to watch these potential new members of their organization perform this past season, in order to find their team’s next big star. The reason for this is that there was no playoff hockey to watch these prospects compete in the battle for their league’s supremacy, nor did teams get the chance to watch these players participate in the NHL Combine where they are forced to go through many rigorous tests that put not only their bodies but their minds through the paces as well: Testing for speed, strength, agility, and endurance.
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Before we start though let’s assess the team’s needs. In a recent interview, Flyers’ GM Chuck Fletcher stated that he thinks this draft is very deep in a few positions and he sees the team either selecting in their own 23rd overall position or potentially moving back in the draft, depending on the amount of players that are still on the board that they like; But they will only do this if they can obtain another selection or two from another team that wants to advance. Fletcher went on to say that he may look to add a right-hand shot defenseman because the team’s system is so depleted of them. With all that in mind, this writer will also look for players who can score from the wings and add some much-needed physicality. So, without any further ado let’s get started.
Round 1
With the 23rd pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers select Helge Grans: An 18-year-old defenseman from the Malmo Redhawks of the SHL. That’s right folks- Chuck Fletcher (in true Flyers’ fashion) won’t be able to resist this fast-rising prospect that stands at 6’3 192 pounds. This selection should have many fans (this writer included) screaming profanities at the television screen. Grans is that right-hand-shot defenseman that Chuck seems to covet. Helge can skate with the puck like it is glued to his stick, eluding the opposition’s offense pressure with ease. He also possesses an insane on-ice vision which allows him to lay some unreal tape-to-tape outlet stretch passes to his wingers who are breaking out of their zone.
Now this would not be this writer’s first choice by a long shot with all the possible snipers still on the board like Rodin Amirov, Lukas Reichel, and (personal favorite) Tyson Foerster (who lead all of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in goals last season with 36 for the Barrie Colts). Foerster, who stands at 6’1 and weighs in at 194 pounds, is a big-body winger who seems the most NHL-ready of any prospect outside of the top 10 players that will be drafted this year. So, let’s hope that this writer is wrong about Chuck’s decision to go with a defenseman yet again in the 1st round and instead select this sniper; but history does have a habit of repeating itself.
Round 2
Moving on to the second round of this year’s draft, the Flyers are in possession of the 53rd pick. With it, Philadelphia should take a guy who would be an immediate fan favorite like the sharp-shooting winger, Will Cuylle from the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. Cuylle, who is 18 years old, stands at 6’2 and 201 pounds already. Cuylle never takes a shift off and takes pride in doing the dirty jobs that are needed on a nightly basis to give his team the best chance of winning. To say that Cuylle plays with an edge to his game is an understatement: This prospect can score with the best of them, but he also managed to lay some of the biggest hits in all of the CHL this past season. Not stopping there, Cuylle has shown over his junior career that he is more than willing to police the opposition, no matter what their size, after a dirty hit on one of his teammates. With Will’s phenomenal shot he was able to net 22 goals on this shortened season and 26 the year before. With all that being said, his intimidating presence would be a welcomed, and much needed, addition to the Flyers’ system, while also being a pick who could play sooner rather than later.
Round 3
The team does not have a third round selection in this year’s draft because of their decision to trade for defenseman Justin Braun this past year and thus giving up their third round pick to do so (to the San Jose Sharks); Therefore the Flyers next selection will not be until the 4th round. But if somehow they were to trade back out of the first and acquire a third-round pick or acquire this pick due to a draft-day trade of a current Flyers’ roster player, it should be spent on the Finnish scoring-winger Roby Jarventie. This winger would yet again add size and scoring ability. At present, this 6’2 and 185-pound prospect finds dividends in his almost physics-like powers, which he uses to already be in the position where the puck will be next. Another great trait of this player is his capability to increase his speed with the puck on his stick when others usually slow down. He does this by keeping the puck in tight to his body in order to protect it from opponents while on his way to a scoring position. Once there, Roby often let’s go an incredibly powerful wrist shot that results in a bottle rocket (term used to describe when a player’s shot knocks the goalies water bottle from the top of the net). For these reasons, Jarventie would make the perfect addition to add depth to the dwindling wing position within the Flyers’ system.
Round 4
Now, well into the mid-rounds of the draft, most fans start to become disinterested because of their lack of knowledge of these prospects but I would urge you to stay focused: With this pick, the Flyers should look to go back to the wing position and select another elite, goal-scoring winger who is not so well known, but whose numbers were on par with the likes of most first-round talents. His name is James Hardie of the Mississauga Steel heads. Hardie managed to score at-will in the OHL this season after being moved up to the team’s first line halfway through the year, while totaling an impressive 34 goals and 29 assists for 63 points. James offers an array of different shots to his credit which includes the cunning ability to choose the precise shot needed at the time to take advantage of what part of the net the goalie is leaving open for him. This writer got to interview this prospect recently and thinks that Hardie and the other players mentioned above would make the Flyers one scary team to face in the coming years.
Round 5
With their fifth-round selection, at 146 overall, look for the Flyers to acquire a stay-at-home defenseman with size and grit. For that, Fletcher will have to look no further than Seattle Thunderbirds’ Cade McNelly. Flyers’ management will have seen plenty of McNelly’s games because they have a prospect in that system already: Goaltender Roddy Ross. The Flyers have plenty of puck-moving, offensively minded defensemen in their system already: That’s why they could use this bruising D-man who landed some of the most punishing hits in the WHL this season. As a result, Cade made players think twice before coming across his blue line again. That is not the only way McNelly served as the team’s muscle, though: Cade also is well versed in the art of fist-to-cuffs too (which you can spend the next hour on You Tube watching his fight videos if you don’t believe me). With the Flyers’ Sam Morin often on the shelf due to injuries, this pick would make sure the Flyers would have another fighter coming out of their corner if Morin cannot stay healthy.
Round 6
In the 6th round, the Flyers should look to Seattle once again to continue to add size with center Matthew Rempe. This massive 6’8 215-pound man-child puts the “thunder” in Thunderbirds for Seattle, with his booming hits that leave opposing players confused and asking their coach if it’s nap time yet when they get back to the bench. Rempe uses his long strides to be able to catch up to anyone on the ice, or to find his way to the front of the net where he has been known to screen the other team’s netminder RATHER WELL. Rempe has extremely soft hands for a large player, which he used to amass twelve goals on the season and assisted on another nineteen, for a total of thirty-one points on the year. Adding this towering center will enhance the Flyers’ depth down the middle for sure.
Round 7
The Flyers have two seventh-round picks in this year’s draft. Philadelphia will use the first one on goaltender Devon Levi. Levi played for the Central Canada Hockey League’s Carlton Place Canadians- a Junior A team. Now you may be thinking WHO? WHERE? And you would be right in thinking that. But Levi, who will attend and most likely start next season for the Northeastern University Huskies of the NCAA, had quite the impressive season this year to say the least. Averaging a 1.47 Goals Against Average and a .947 Save Percentage while managing to total a 34-2-1 record on the season- which included eight shut outs! With these kinds of numbers, the Flyers will be more than willing to risk a seventh-round pick on this potential future star.
With the last pick the Flyers have in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft they will select WHL’s Calgary Hitmen’s defenseman Jackson van de Leest who stands at 6’7 and tips the scales at 229 pounds. The Flyers will be aware of how van de Leest plays because this gigantic defenseman played on the same blue line as current Flyers’ defenseman Yegor Zamula this past season. Jackson, who is a plus defender, uses his size to clear the opposition from in front of his team’s net (something that the Flyers struggle with), and is willing to put up his dukes in a fight to protect his fellow teammates. If selected, van de Leest would be yet another impressive defenseman in the Flyers’ system, building further depth in case the Flyers are to lose one of their blue liners to the Seattle Kraken during their upcoming expansion draft.
In the next 48 hours, we will be able to see if the Flyers were able pull off something close to this realistic mock draft that would guarantee them the size, scoring, and physicality the team so desperately needs in order for them to really compete against the league’s best in the years to come. Let’s just hope that Fletcher is taking some time to relax before his second Flyers draft commences and is currently reading this article with his morning coffee to get some last-minute perspective.
