The Philadelphia Flyers have six games remaining on their schedule and while it is nice to see Matvei Michkov and some other young players produce more and soak up as much Flyers hockey as we can before it’s over, the focus is on the future. This is going to be an incredibly important summer for the Flyers and all the pressure is on the front office to do something that calms some people’s nerves.
With seven draft picks projected to be in the first 50 selections this June, the Flyers have a whole lot to play with. While it might be natural to think of a rebuilding team using all seven of those picks, general manager Danny Briere is open to all possibilities to make his team better.
In a conversation with The Athletic’s Pierre Lebrun, Briere made it clear that if there is a shortcut to making the team better, and he likes the trade more than whatever player he could get with those draft picks, then he’ll make that deal.
“We’re going to explore everything we can,” Briere said. “Obviously we’re excited about the picks, but it’s more than just picks, it’s assets. That’s the way we see it. If we have a chance to make our team better quicker, we’ll use those picks. It might be to move up in the draft. It might be to acquire a player or something that we need. We did a little bit of that in the trade with Toronto with (Nikita) Grebenkin. Him being 21 years old, he’s a bit more mature, a bit more ready to help us sooner rather than later. Whereas you draft a player at 18 years old, sometimes it can take three or four years before they’re ready to play.
“So we’re definitely open to explore all kinds of different ways to start making our team better.”
Would the Flyers be willing to trade one of their first-round picks?
“Yes, absolutely, we’re open to different things,” Briere said. “You need to two to tango, and you can’t do that by yourself. But yes, if there are teams that are interested in doing that type of deal, yes …”
While it would be just So Flyers to try to take the quickest way to be a playoff team as possible, what Briere is saying is much more than just trading any draft picks for current NHL players in their prime. The Flyers want this thing to have a lasting effect, not just to celebrate when making the playoffs in a Wild Card spot, but to be true Stanley Cup contenders with one of the best rosters in the whole league.
That is what this team is gunning for.
“Our goal is not to just become a team that makes the playoffs and kind of just squeezes in. We want to be a team that when it’s time, we go and eventually be a contender, and that’s what we’re trying to build,” Briere said. “But to get there, you’ve got to go through some pain. … We believe in the end, this will help us be a better team.”
While obviously there is no concrete answer as to whether or not the Flyers will make all seven selections in the first two rounds, it does certainly seem like they will make some sort of impactful addition this summer. Barring a draft lottery win, we could certainly see Briere use a couple of those really good draft picks and acquire a young center with some potential to be an answer in their top six. Or maybe even a stop-gap goaltender so Sam Ersson doesn’t have to take on the burden of being the main starter and the Flyers don’t have historically terrible goaltending next season as well.
We don’t know who is necessary available or who they are targeting, but a top-six center and a decent goaltender who could play at least 40 games, are certainly two types of players that they desperately need if they want to turn this around and stay competitive for a while.
