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Draft Lottery:Flyers Get 5th Overall Selection

May 11, 2022, 7:00 AM ET [232 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
By virtue of the New Jersey Devils winning the second overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers dropped one spot from their default fourth-overall spot. The Flyers received the fifth overall pick of the Draft.

The Draft will be held in Montreal on July 7 (first round) and July 8 (rounds two through seven). The host Montreal Canadiens own the first overall pick. The Flyers do not have a second round pick, as it went to the Arizona Coyotes in the Shayne Gostisbehere trade last summer.

Realistically, Shane Wright (the shoo-in first overall pick), Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley will be off the board before the Flyers pick for the first time. At least one of top-ranked defensemen Czech defenseman David Jiricek (HC Plzen, Czech Extraliga) or Slovakian defenseman Simon Nemec (HK Nitra, Slovakian Extraliga) will still be on the board when the Flyers pick. Other potential candidates include Winnipeg Ice (WHL) center Matthew Savoie, Finnish sniper Joakim Kemell (JYP, Liiga) or one among USNTDP forwards Cutter Gauthier, Jimmy Snuggerud (son of early 1990s Flyers alum right winger Dave Snuggerud) or Frank Nazar.

In franchise history, the Flyers have never held the fifth overall pick of the modern-day Draft. They did hold the fifth overall pick of the 1967 Amateur Draft, when they chose Serge Bernier.

Back in that era, NHL teams sponsored junior teams in Canada and laid claim to the signing rights of their players. For example, the Montreal Canadiens had a virtual monopoly on the top prospects from Quebec while the Boston Bruins sponsored the Niagara Falls Flyers in Ontario and Estevan Bruins in Saskatchewan. When the NHL expanded from six to 12 teams, the Amateur Draft enabled prospects whose NHL rights were not already tied up via junior club sponsorships to be selected. The first "modern" Draft, with all junior players (age 20 at the time) being eligible for selection, was in 1969.
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