The NHL draft is right around the corner, and it is vastly approaching. Who will the Flyers select at 12 if they stand pat? That is the million dollar question, and there is no right or wrong answer until the pick is made.
Make no mistake about it. The Flyers will get a very good player with the 12th overall selection, that is if they stand pat. In my latest mock draft I had the Flyers moving up to snag Sam Dickinson at pick 9. That theory could come crashing down if Tij Iginla is still on the board with the ninth overall pick. Realistically, it would make sense for the Calgary Flames to grab Iginla, as his dad Jarome played with Calgary for many years.
There are many rumors and trade scenarios that are being made up, and it’s leading to some misconceptions on how the draft actually works. Firstly, the Flyers just don’t have one guy or talked to one guy. No team knows who will be available when it’s time to make their selection, and the Flyers are no different. They don’t hone in on one player, they have multiple players, they talk to multiple players. The orange and black have to dock their eyes and cross their t’s with every single player that could be made available with the 12th overall selection. They have to characterize who’s a locker room fit and who is not, they try to do their due diligence to see if there’s any culture problems.
All of these factors get taken into account when it’s time to make that selection, if that said player is even available. There’s always a wild card team that makes an off-board selection, which jumbles the draft order of selecting these fine young prospects. For instance, not many pundits, with the exception for Russ Cohen, had the Detroit Red Wings selecting Moritz Seider with the 6th overall pick in 2019. I still talk with Russ about that today, that was one heck of a prediction that he made with his mock draft. After the selection was made, you could hear a pin drop, not many people expected that, to include myself.
With the 12th overall pick, the Flyers could possibly select the best goal. Scorer that they have seen since Jeff Carter, in Cole Eiserman. However, in the same token they could grab a nice right-handed defenseman in Carter Yakemchuk, or even Konsta Helenius. Michael Brandsegg-Nygård could be an offboard selection for the Flyers, a European from Norway. Possibly, Berkly Catton could be available when the Flyers make their selection.
In the end, the Flyers will end up drafting a good young prospect to groom with the 12th overall selection. Who Will they draft is anyone’s guess, but it’s going to be a fun draft. They will have a plethora of players to choose from, good players, they just have to select the right fit.
Extra Credit:
The salary cap boost came right in the nick of time for the Flyers. They now have $803,000 in cap space (According to Capfriendly), which could possibly be the bonus money for Matvei Michkov, if he so chooses to come to North America for the 2024-25 season. Now the Flyers do not have to buyout a player to free up space for this, again if Michkov elects to sign with the Flyers ahead of the 2024-25 season.
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