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2020 Draft: Flyers Select Tyson Foerster in the 1st Round

October 7, 2020, 12:11 AM ET [583 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
With the 23rd overall pick of the 2020 Draft, the Flyers selected right winger Tyson Foerster of the OHL's Barrie Colts. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher and assistant general manager Brent Flahr said after the first round that the club had a group of about four players of different skillsets who were still on the board whom they would have felt comfortable taking in that range.

In Foerster's case, the most outstanding asset was the player's shooting ability; he has a bomb of a righthanded one-timer, and can also score from other areas including around the net. His bread-and-butter area is the "Ovechkin spot"in the left circle, which is where he scored quite of a few of his 18 power play goals in 2019-20. Foerster tends to be a shoot-first winger but he is also an underrated passer and unselfish player. He had more assists (a team-high 44) than goals (a team-high 36) this past year.

Barrie was a middling club this past season, but Foerster was a consistent bright spot on the offensive side of the puck. He played on a line early in the season with Carolina Hurricanes 2019 first-round pick Ryan Suzuki early in the season before he was traded to the Saginaw Spirit. After
2002 Draft prospect Evan Vierling came over to Barrie from the Flint Firebirds, Foerster clicked with him almost instantly.

There are two glaring weaknesses that Foerster will have to work on before he turns professional: his skating and his off-puck attention to detail. The player's skating has been widely panned, earning ratings as low as 5s and 6s on a 1-to-9 scale. Other players have overcome similar issues but a lot of work will be needed to play at the NHL pace. The defensive issues are more typical of many young scoring wingers.

Foerster is aware of what he needs to work on. Flyers general manager Brent Flahr said that Foerster has been one of the hardest-working players over the pandemic and is already making strides. The player himself, whose style of play gets likened sometimes to Tyler Toffoli, said he'd like to become more like a T.J. Oshie style of player over time.

Foerster is currently about 195 pounds on a 6-foot-2 frame. The Flyers believe he will eventually play at 10 to 15 pounds heavier and that, as he gains strength, can add some needed explosiveness to his skating. (Some critics have said it's not just more power but his stride itself that needs improvement).

For more on Foerster, click here.
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