THURSDAY QUICK HITS
* In his most recent article for
ESPN Insider, Craig Custance polled a panel of a dozen people currently working in the NHL. Four are team executives (general managers or assistant GMs), four are head coaches, one is an assistant coach, two are players and one is a former general manager.
The panel was asked the following question: If you were starting a franchise from scratch and could choose from any current player in the NHL, who would be your top choice? The participants could name their top five players around whom they'd build a franchise, ranking them in order.
Apparently, being a Hart Trophy finalist last season was not enough to get Claude Giroux so much as an honorable mention. Likewise, three-time Hart Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin was also completely shut out in the voting by the small sample size of panelists. Here are the results of Custance's poll:
1. Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks: 43 points
2. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins: 41 points
3. Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings: 21 points
4. Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks: 8 points
5. (tie) Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche: 7 points
5. (tie) Shea Weber, Nashville Predators: 7 points
7. (tie) Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings: 6 points
7. (tie) John Tavares, New York Islanders: 6 points
9. (tie) Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens: 5 points
9. (tie) Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins : 5 points
9. (tie) Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning: 5 points
12. P.K. Subban, Montreal Canadiens: 4 points
13. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins: 2 points
Others receiving votes: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers; Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues; Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings; Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks; Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona Coyotes.
* Over on the Hockey Writers, there's an
in-depth analysis by Sheng Peng on how the Los Angeles Kings have made more frequent -- and ultimately fruitful -- use of the strategy of seeking out re-entry players in the NHL Draft. These are players who went unselected in their first (and sometimes second) year of Draft eligibility and returned to the pool of available players.
Los Angeles has drafted 21 re-entry players between 2005 and 2014. The most notable ones include current Flyers second line winger Wayne Simmonds (2nd round, 2007), current Kings starting defenseman Alec Martinez and forwards Tanner Pearson (selected in the first round in 2012) and Jordan Nolan. Goaltender Jeff Zatkoff, who served as the Pittsburgh Penguins' backup goaltender last season, was a re-entry draftee when LA selected him in the third round of the 2012 Draft.
For the Flyers, the most successful of their own re-entry draftees in recent history has been forward Tye McGinn (now with the San Jose Sharks). This year, the team selected re-entry defenseman Jesper Pettersson in the final round of the Draft and subsequently signed him to an entry-level contract.
* Today in Flyers history: On this day in 2001, the Flyers traded defenseman Andy Delmore to the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2002 third-round pick (later dealt to the Coyotes). Delmore was originally an undrafted rookie free agent from the OHL's Sarnia Sting. The biggest highlights of his career in the Flyers organization were being a key part of the Phantoms' 2007-08 Calder Cup championship team and scoring a Stanley Cup playoff hat trick against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2000 postseason. In Nashville, the offensive-minded Delmore had seasons of 16 and 18 goals.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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