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Flyers Draft Weekend Recap and First-Look Analysis |
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Depending on whom you ask, the 2017 NHL Draft was either an average or slightly below average crop in terms of depth. That does not mean there won't be multiple players, including players chosen after the first round, to eventually make an impact in the NHL.
Rather, it means that there aren't many prospects who are likely to be ready to play in the NHL in 2017-18 or 2018-19 and that there are a few more fill-in-the-blanks leaps of faith to be taken in making long-term projections.
Through a stroke of sheer good luck, the Flyers won the NHL Draft Lottery's second overall pick and were able to start off of their draft by selecting highly touted Nolan Patrick. Thereafter, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall went into wheel-and-deal mode.
The Flyers started out the Draft with 11 picks in the seven-round process. They finished with nine but in the process acquired an additional first-round pick (plus yet another first-rounder in either 2018 or 2019) and moved up in the second-round in a three-picks-for-one swap to grab a third player whom they internally projected as a first-round caliber prospect.
As a result, the Flyers ended up being able to select speedy undersized playmaker Morgan Frost and huge-framed sniper Isaac Ratcliffe, neither of whom stood much chance of still being around on the board by the time the 44th pick came around. Will either player click and come close to reaching his sealing? Only time will tell, but the Flyers at least gave themselves a fighting chance at a second NHL impact player if at least one other player in addition to Patrick develops as hoped.
Entering the Draft, Hextall said that he hoped to once again select a goaltender somewhere along the way as long as it was not a reach to do so compared to the organization's internal rankings and projections of which rounds players would be picked. In round 3, the Flyers selected Belarusian-born goaltender Kirill Ustimenko; ranked 5th among European goalies by Central Scouting but coming a very strong junior season in Russia and impressive showing for Team Russia at the Under-18 World Championships. He has the sort of big frame and natural athleticism that teams prioritize nowadays with goalie prospects. As with all teenage goalies, there will be a long development process involved with Ustimenko before he could potentially be NHL ready.
The Flyers wound up selecting seven forwards among their nine picks. That was not by design but situations arose as the Draft unfolded where players projected to go earlier in the Draft were still on the board in the middle rounds.
With consecutive picks in the fourth round, the Flyers selected Ontario Hockey League wingers Matthew Strome and Maksim Sushko (their second Belarusian-born pick of the Draft).
Strome is a divisive prospect. However, for where he was picked and given the sheer number
of picks the Flyers owned, it made sense to take a Dave Kingman-like swing for the fences. Strome's stock crashed hard after he was initially considered a top-20 draftee candidate early this past season. Strome fell to the second-round or third-round projection range but actually tumbled all the way on Draft weekend to still being on the board at the 106th overall pick. This was due to major concerns over his skating (some have called him the poorest skater in the draft and even the most generous critics have said his skating mechanics need work) and lesser question marks raised over his conditioning and stamina after his performance tailed off in the latter portion of the season.
By the time the fifth to seventh rounds rolled around, teams were in shot-in-the-dark territory. The Flyers responded by taking three players who will not require a quick (i.e., two-year) signing decision. They took college-bound Minnesota high school forward Noah Cates (committed to University of Minnesota-Duluth), Swedish junior league forward Olle Lycksell and 20-year-old college-bound defenseman Wyatt Kalynyk.
All in all, the Flyers handled the 2017 Draft with good preparation and sound strategy. They opted for upside over "safety" and while there will inevitably be players among their picks who simply don't pan out -- possibly with players picked after them by other teams who ultimately do click as NHL contributors -- they took enough players with fairly high ceilings to have a good chance at supplementing the Patrick pick with other future NHLers.
At this point, that is all that can be asked especially in a Draft year with few slam dunks. The next steps are the development phases over forthcoming seasons.
One thing the Flyers did not accomplish over Draft weekend was securing their NHL-level goaltending plan for next season. That will be the topic of Monday's blog.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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