1) Last year, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies defenseman Philippe Myers passed through the NHL Entry Draft unselected. He attended the Calgary Flames' Development Camp but there was no entry level contract (ELC) offer forthcoming. Subsequently, he attended the Flyers' rookie camp in September, impressed with his combination of size and mobility, and was signed to an ELC so that the Flyers could secure his NHL rights.
No one could have predicted at the time that Myers would make a rocket-like ascent during the 2015-16 QMJHL season, on both sides of the puck. If he had not already been signed by the Flyers, he would have gone high in the 2016 NHL Draft.
While such stories are not common, they do happen. Much of it comes down to timing, patience and a little luck (for the organization that signs the player). The Flyers can only hope the rest of the Myers story works out nearly as well as some of the other notable stories.
An earlier version of the Myers case -- with the Flyers in the "Calgary" role -- happened back in 2008. The team brought forward Mike Hoffman into rookie camp after he went unselected in the 2008 NHL Draft. Philadelphia did not sign him, releasing him from camp on Sept. 29. After a breakthrough year in the Quebec League with Drummondville, he was drafted by the Ottawa Senators with the 130th overall pick of the 2009 Draft. It took him awhile after that to find his footing as a pro but now he's a proven NHL winger who has scored 27 and 29 goals the last two seasons and posted 59 points this season.
Wayne Simmonds is another such example. An unheralded Junior A winger for the Brockville Braves, he was unselected in the 2006 NHL Draft; his first year of eligibility. After he joined the OHL's Owen Sound Attack, he was drafted in the second round of the 2007 Draft and then signed by the Los Angeles Kings even though he was still extremely raw and described by some as more of a project than a prospect. We all know that he's gone on to become a fine NHL power forward in the years that have followed.
The point is: The NHL Draft is a starting place, not an end point. For all the work it takes to get drafted, there is every bit as much work involved to take the next steps. Sometimes, the overlooked or undrafted ones eventually zoom past the more highly touted names and become superior pros.
For the same reason, it is a boon to hold onto as many picks as possible and to acquire more as opportunity and circumstance dictate. If the Flyers did not have three picks in the second round this year, they might have been less inclined to take highly regarded goaltender Carter Hart as the first goalie off the board in this year's Draft. Having extra picks created an opportunity.
In terms of development, any guarantees that Flyers 2016 second-round picks Pascal Laberge or Wade Allison -- or even first-rounder German Rubtsov -- will someday emerge as NHL impact players? Of course not. However, each player has traits that suggest it's possible -- if they put in the work -- to not only play in the NHL but to find success as well.
The abundance of players in the farm system now makes it tougher to find space for unaffiliated invites at the Development Camp in July. Flyers general manager Ron Hextall prefers, and understandably so, to focus the in-house time and resources at Development Camp on players who are already Flyers' property.
Nevertheless, that does not mean the GM and the scouts can simply kick back all summer. They have to keep tabs on what's going on elsewhere with players of interest. The Myers invitation to rookie camp last year was not just a random stroke of good luck, even if his subsequent season in the Q surpassed all expectations. There was homework done leading up to the rookie camp.
Over the next few weeks, you will hear over and over again a mantra that Development Camp is not an Evaluation Camp. That is true. There are no contracts to be earned or NHL or AHL spots to be won out of Development Camp. Nevertheless, there still are subtle forms of evaluation going on, even subconsciously, as to whether a player seems to be worth a longer look come Rookie Camp and full NHL training camp when the real evaluations start.
2) On a related note, here are three players who went unselected in this year's draft but who could be of interest to NHL teams either as a camp invite or as a 2017 draft candidate.
Most of the prominent publicly available draft prognostications had Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL) right winger Vladimir Kuznetsov going anywhere from the third to the sixth round in the 2016 Draft. The Flyers, in fact, were among the teams who met with him during the NHL Draft Combine. The 6-foot-1, 214-pound winger has some skating issues to work on but has upside. Playing his first season in North America in 2015-16, he posted 25 goals and 58 points in the regular season and also played for Russia (three assists in five games) at the Under-18 World Championships after the national U18 squad was disqualified en masse for testing positive for banned anti-ischemic drug meldonium.
Ranked 56th (middle of the second round range) by The Hockey News, 89th by International Scouting Services (late third-round range) and 70th on Central Scouting's North American skater list, U.S. National Team Development Program defenseman Griffin Luce was not chosen in the 2016 Draft. The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder is closer to the mold of an old-fashioned defensive defenseman but has sufficient puck-moving upside to have been pegged within the top 100 to 150 picks depending on the evaluation source. He is committed to the University of Michigan, but could a draft re-entry candidate next year with a solid collegiate freshman season. Luce is the grandson of former NHL player and former Flyers director of player development Don Luce.
An older player who has passed through both the 2015 and 2016 NHL Drafts, Ottawa 67s (OHL) center Dante Salituro is a player cut from a similar mold to Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Danick Martel, whom the Flyers signed last year as an overager and who posted 22 goals as an AHL rookie with the Phantoms in 2015-16. Both are significantly undersized players with good wheels and impressive offensive skills but not quite skills on the order of the Danny Briere and Johnny Gaudreau and Martin St. Louis types who emerge from that category of player. This past season, Salituro posted 38 goals and 83 points in the regular season and four points (two goals, two assists) in five playoff games.
3) Former Flyers player and head coach Craig Berube has been hired by the St. Louis Blues to be the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, for the 2016-17 season. With a strong showing in the AHL, Berube could be a short-list candidate for another NHL job. His name was previously tied this off-season to an NHL assistant coach possibility in Calgary and a head coaching opportunity in Germany.
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2016 FLYERS ALUMNI GOLF INVITATIONAL
The 2016 Flyers Alumni Golf Invitational will be held on July 18 at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. The event will raise money for the Flyers Alumni Association, Flyers Charities and BLOCS.
The Golf Invitational will offer a round of golf, lunch, cocktail reception and dinner program.
Subject to changes and additions, the following Flyers Alumni -- widely representing every decade of team history -- will be attending: Ray Allison, Bill Barber, Frank Bathe, Craig Berube, Brian Boucher, Jesse Boulerice, Danny Briere, Terry Carkner, Lindsay Carson, Jeff Chychrun, Bob Clarke, Bill Clement, Steve Coates, Riley Cote, Doug Crossman, Barry Dean, Eric Desjardins, Andre "Moose" Dupont, Doug Favell, Todd Fedoruk, Ross Fitzpatrick, Mark Freer, Larry Goodenough, TJ Gorence, Paul Holmgren, Ed Hospodar, Mark Howe, Kerry Huffman, Bob "the Hound" Kelly, Tim Kerr, Orest Kindrachuk, Mike Knuble, Ian Laperriere, Mitch Lamoureaux, Neil Little, Brad Marsh, Phil Myre, Bernie Parent, Dave Poulin, Brian Propp, Chris Pronger, Luke Richardson, Don Saleski, Dave "the Hammer" Schultz (attending but not golfing), Ilkka Sinisalo, Derrick Smith, and Joe Watson.
For more information,
click here.
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