The Colorado Avalanche bowed out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after getting walloped by former star forward Mikko Rantanen and his new team, the Dallas Stars. It was in as dramatic fashion as you could have a Game 7 — a third-period push that took Dallas from a 2-0 deficit to an eventual 4-2 win with Rantanen scoring a hat trick in under 15 minutes.
It was a perfect hockey game for a neutral observer, but Philadelphia Flyers fans were not so neutral.
Now that the Avalanche have been knocked out in the first round and slightly embarrassed, we know roughly where their first-round draft pick is going to be for the upcoming 2025 NHL Entry Draft. And, the Flyers are owners of that pick after it was sent to Philadelphia as part of the Sean Walker trade at the deadline over a year ago.
Thanks to Colorado not making it to the Western Conference Final, their draft pick will remain according to the overall league standings. As it stands, the draft pick will be 25th overall. A much better option than Colorado winning that series and one more against either the Winnipeg Jets or St. Louis Blues (which they likely would have) and then suddenly it’s at best the 29th overall selection. But, the draft pick can get even better.
Due to the teams making both conference finals getting their draft pick sunk down towards the end of the first round, there are still three teams who right now have higher picks than Colorado who could move on: the St. Louis Blues, the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers.
The Blues hold 19th overall, the Hurricanes are at 23rd overall and the Panthers are slotted to select at 22nd overall (but the Calgary Flames own that pick). If any three of those teams make the conference final, it means that that Avalanche pick that the Flyers own, would leap up one spot. Two means two spots, and so on.
Does this mean now that we are strictly cheering for the Blues to go on a 2019-esque run, and the Eastern Conference Final to be Panthers vs. Hurricanes? You bet we are. In that perfect scenario, the Flyers would suddenly own the 22nd overall pick, which is pretty darn good.
Of course, moving up doesn’t guarantee that the Flyers would get a better player. But, considering that at that range of the draft, in the second half of the first round, there is a whole lot of pretty interesting prospects and all it takes is for the Flyers to fall in love with someone like center Braedon Cootes from the Seattle Thunderbirds, and hear that a team a few picks ahead of them wants to select him — to then suddenly have the Flyers parting ways with their third first-round pick or one of their second-rounders to move up and get the guy they could have gotten if those teams just won some hockey games instead.
It’s the tiniest of changes but it does save them from parting ways with more draft capital to move up, if they want it. Or, hell, the 22nd overall pick is just ever so slightly more valuable in a trade than the 25th if general manager Danny Briere is thinking about that as a route to take instead.
The Flyers also hold the Edmonton Oilers’ first-round pick for this year’s draft and with them moving on and facing the Vegas Golden Knights, we are also all becoming huge supporters of that team down in Nevada.
