What the Flyers should do with their former 1st  Round Pick Jay O’Brien

Photo Credit: Patrick Donnelly

At the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, the Flyers took a chance on a kid from Hingham, Massachusetts, with their second 1^st round selection that year (the first being Joel Farabee). That player’s name, whom most have forgotten about (including Chuck Fletcher), is center Jay O’Brien, who was selected from the deep-rooted Thayer Academy of the United States High School Preparatory League. Why would Philadelphia draft someone from that league, you might be asking? Well, I have an idea. His stats through just 30 games played that season for the Tigers were 43 goals and 37 assists for 80 points. That equates to him scoring at a rate of 2.6 points per game. Not bad, right? 

But, if you’re like me and wondering why a player with that kind of talent hasn’t been signed to an NHL contract yet, you should look deeper into Jay’s career after he left Thayer Academy. Only then does it become more apparent why this 2018 draftee is one of just three players from that year’s first-round not currently signed to a professional contract. Being from Mass., it would make sense that upon graduating High School, O’Brien would want to attend one of the many outstanding schools in and around his home state. That is why he decided on Providence College, seeing that they offered him a full-ride scholarship at a very early age. But shortly after that, Jay found himself riddled with injuries while suiting up for the Friars and thus seemed out of place. So, looking for a change of luck, Jay decided to transfer to another school, but the only problem with that was that he was then made to sit out an entire season due to the NCAA’s transfer protocol and would need to find a place to play for that season. Enter the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). While playing for the Vees during the 2019-2020 season, Jay posted 25 goals and 41 assists for 66 points in 46 games. If you do some easy math, that means he scored a pace of 1.43 points per game that year. 

After that revitalizing season with the Vees, and O’Brien now more confident in his abilities than ever before, he now had his mind set on redemption. Determined to redeem himself while playing for his new team, the Boston University Terriers, in 2020-2021, O’Brien once again faced hindrances along the way. Although, this time, it was COVID and not injuries. With COVID running rampant throughout not only the locker rooms but also the campus, BU halted the Terriers’ season for some time. It was a shame because Jay led the team with eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in just 16 games played during the games they were allowed to play. Now, you would think with Jay scoring at a point-per-game pace in that season that this former 1^st round pick would have been signed to a contract by the Flyers, but he was not. Instead, this now 22-year-old was forced to go back to BU, where this past season, while playing in just 24 games due to some nagging injury issues, he still managed to post ten goals and 12 assists for 22 points. For an average of 0.91 points per game. 

While O’Brien has shown time and time again that he does indeed have the offensive skill to play at the next level, his inability to play an entire season without injury is concerning. With that being said, I would still question this organization’s thought process concerning him; with both the Flyers and Phantoms struggling to score this past season, why on earth would the team decide not to sign either O’Brien or their top scoring prospect Connor McClennon. He had a total of 51 goals this year (between the regular and post-season) for the Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Instead, they signed 2021 draft pick right-hand-shot defenseman Ethan Samson who was -23 on the season for the Prince George Cougars of the WHL, and 2018 left-hand shot defender Adam Ginning who scored just 5 points in 51 games played in the SHL this season. Not to mention the recent re-signing of the underperforming Linus Sandin, who, upon his arrival, was propagated to fans as being some substantial offensive threat who had a chance to make an impact on the Flyers immediately after being signed two seasons ago. 

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So, my question then becomes, if the Flyers have no intentions of signing Jay, then why not try and package him in a deal? O’Brien is a 22-year-old leftover, aging prospect from the Hextall era, which, while productive, is currently being passed over in terms of receiving a professional deal. This coming in leu of most of Fletchers’ forward selections like Foerster, Tuomaala, Desnoyers, Wisdom, and McLaughlin, who have all been inked to entry-level contracts already despite not one of them being able to make it to the ranks of the NHL as of yet. 

    In my mind, the Flyers desperately need to add an NHL center to their roster next season. Sean Couturier has only played in 74 combined games over the last two seasons (this year, only playing in 29), and Kevin Hayes, who has missed a significant amount of time during the previous two seasons, only managed to play in 48 games this year. 23-year-old Morgan Frost, who the team for some reason treats like he is to be the next face of the franchise, has scored only seven career goals in the NHL over the course of three seasons. Not to mention the fact that this season the Flyers felt the need to place a waiver wire claim on center Patrick Brown from Vegas because their 37-year-old center Nate Thompson could only find it in himself to play in 33 games this year. Therefore, if O’Brien, a former 1^st-round pick, is not viewed as a viable option in this team’s future, then it may be time to trade his rights. Let’s face it, given the Flyers horrid play over the last two years, lack of cap space available to spend this off-season. The fact that they had to settle for new head coach John Tortorella after their preferred option Barry Trotz supposedly turned down a deal from the Flyers (that would have made him the highest-paid coach in the NHL), they WON’T be prime candidates to land any big names in free agency this summer. Therefore, packaging O’Brien’s rights up along with some other semi-enticing pieces (draft picks, current roster players, etc.) of Chuck’s choice may be the team’s best option to bring some reassurance in the face-off dot.  

There are a lot of teams around the league wanting to either kick start a rebuild or having to make some moves in order to sign key free agents this off-season, which leaves those teams with no other option than to trade away certain players who in a perfect world they would like to keep but just can’t. Now, I’ve seen the Alex DeBrincat from the Blackhawks rumors, but this will neither help Philadelphia down the middle nor will it probably come to fruition, seeing that the Flyers were already reluctant to sign their own high-scoring 5’8 winger prospect (Connor McClennon) just to trade for an even smaller player that stands at 5’7. Besides, why would Chicago want to give up a 24-year-old who scored 41 goals last year? If Chicago truly wishes to rebuild they will probably be more inclined to try and trade veterans like 33-year-old Patrick Kane or 34-year-old Jonathan Toews who make a lot more money and are at the end of their careers. Besides, to get DeBrincat, the Flyers would most certainly have part with their fifth overall pick in this year’s draft; and for a bottom-dwelling team in the middle of a rebuild, one player is not going to change anything even if he does score 40 goals a year. Just ask the Blackhawks, who went out and got 3-time Stanley Cup-winning goalie Marc-Andre Fleury thinking he would be the difference-maker. They ended up trading him at the deadline this year and finishing seventh in the Central Division. So, in no way do I think the Flyers should trade their second 1^st round pick in two years’ time for a player already in the NHL. That is something that cup contenders like Pittsburgh did years ago to win multiple cups, or Tampa Bay does now to try and build upon their dynasty; it is not what a team that is just trying to be relevant again should do. 

So, let’s look at other options, shall we? 

Short-Term Option: Mark Scheifele 

With the Winnipeg Jets finishing sixth in the Central this year, they will also need a new head coach and thus must look to make some major changes to player personnel if they ever wish to truly compete against powerhouse division rivals the Colorado Avalanche ever again. Ergo, the reason why their 6’3 207-pound 29-year-old center Mark Scheifele’s name has been brought up in trade rumors as of late. Mark is currently under contract for two more years, costing the Jets $6.125 million a season. I personally believe Mark has been one of the most underrated centers in the game today for some time now. This past season Scheifele scored 29 goals and 41 assists for 70 points. Previous to this year, he has scored over 20 goals in each of the last seven seasons. Five of which he totaled over 25 goals, and in two of those five years, he scored over 30. Scheifele has career highs of 38 goals and 84 points which he set back in 2019, would be a solid option to solidify the center position for a team (like the Flyers) who have so many uncertainties in that position moving forward. 

Regarding what it would take to acquire him, I don’t think Scheifele would cost the Flyers their fifth overall pick. And given his well-known frustrations up in Manitoba, Mark would probably be more than willing to list just about any team in his modified no-trade clause to make his departure from the great white north a reality. This is where Jay O’Brien would come in. Pairing him and possibly another prospect with a current NHLL roster player in a trade for Scheifele would most likely get the job done. Mark would then be able to assist the current roster and whoever the Flyers select at number five this summer for the next couple of years, giving the Flyers’ other prospects more time to develop. 

Long Term Option: Pavel Zacha

If Scheifele proves to cost too much to obtain or his cap hit seems too unyielding for the Flyers liking, then they may want to look to New Jersey, where the Devils have been rumored to be listening to trade offers for their Czech born 2015 sixth overall pick Pavel Zacha for some time now. Standing at 6’3 and 210 pounds, this 25-year-old center seems to skate like his blades are on fire, shoot like the puck is being shot out of a cannon, and dangles like he is the former Devils Czech born-Flyers killer himself, Patrik Elias. 

Since New Jersey won their last Cup in 2003, the Devils have been in a perpetual rebuild mode year in and year out, seeing that they have not yet found a decent replacement in net since the great Martin Brodeur vacated the blue paint. This past year was no different, seeing that the Devils finished with just two more points than the Flyers. But given the fact that the Devils now have Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Dawson Mercer down the middle, it has made Zacha expendable. With New Jersey previously imposing on Pavel over the years to learn to play wing, Zacha just might be the dual-threat the Flyers need. Being a top-six player, Zacha could play wing on the rare occasion when everyone is healthy, then slide on over to center when one of the inevitable Couturier, Hayes, etc., gets hurt. 

What the Flyers should be willing to give up for this now restricted free agent who made just $2.25 million last year depends on a lot of things. If it were up to this writer, he would try to go big or go home. The Devils currently hold the rights to the second overall selection in this upcoming draft and have let it be well known that they would be so inclined to trade this pick if they received a significant return. By potentially proposing to swap their fifth overall pick for the Devils’ second overall as part of the trade, the Flyers could assure themselves that they would get an NHL-ready prospect who could play as early as next year. That player being 6’4 218, pound Slovakian-born winger Juraj Slafkovsky who not only dominated at the recent Olympic Games by scoring seven goals in seven games but who also led his countrymen, scoring 1.13 points-per-game for Slovakia in this year’s World Cup of Hockey as well.     

Slafkovsky is just the kind of dynamic physical power forward that the Flyers lack currently on their roster. To add to that, the Flyers should ask for Zacha as well. One thing that Philadelphia has lacked over their franchise’s history is European talent. If you think back to the last great European players to wear the Orange and Black, it would be Kimmo Timonen on defense and either Mikael Renberg or Pelle Eklund on offense (seeing that Peter Forsberg was well into his thirties and dealing with hampering injuries by the point he re-joined the team that originally drafted him back in 1991). 

Now what would be going back to New Jersey in this trade along with the fifth-overall pick would be what’s interesting. If it were me, I would offer up the fifth overall pick, then give the Devils a choice of either Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, or James van Riemsdyk. Next, to sweeten the deal offer them either Oskar Lindblom or Morgan Frost, and then include both prospects Jay O’Brien and Samu Tuomaala. 

While this may seem like a lot to give up, it would change the outlook of both teams. The Flyers would be receiving a potential new face of the franchise in Juraj Slafkovsky, as well as another former top ten draft pick in Pavel Zacha, that can play multiple positions and would offer the Flyers another scoring threat. This trade would give the Devils a proven NHL player of their choice; if selected, Provy would give them an anchor on defense, allowing the Flyers to provide adequate ice time to their up-and-coming defenseman Cameron York. If the Devils selected Travis Konecny, they would be getting one of the league’s biggest pests which has achieved three years of 24 goals in his career. If the Devils chose James van Riemsdyk most would be surprised, but he is a former 36-goal scorer who inconsequentially led all Flyers in goals this year with 24. Adding any one of three to their roster would give New Jersey some much needed veteran leadership to their already youthful and talented roster filled to the brim with loads of top-end draft talent. The Devils would then still have a top-five pick from the Flyers, as well as possibly a third-line player in Lindblom or Frost and two highly touted drafted prospects in O’Brien and Tuomaala. 

Remember, Chuck Fletcher has declared time and time again that he views this offseason not as a rebuild but as a retool, and he is determined to right his previous wrongs and make this team a contender once more. Whether any of us actually believe that could be a real possibility is neither here nor there. But if Chuck could pull off either of these proposed trades, it would not only make the team better immediately but would help the team moving forward as well. Above all, it would allow a deserving prospect (O’Brien) to get a fresh start with a new organization and the Flyers a way to rid themselves of a player they clearly no longer view as a priority. And that, my friends, would be a win-win for everyone involved.