Philadelphia Flyers All-Time NHL Draft Picks: Round 4 Highlights

We’re almost halfway there. Three rounds down, After this one, three more to go. Here then is the fourth round of the Flyers all time NHL Draft, selecting a player at each slot that was either the best (or only) player the Flyers picked. Out of 526 picks in their history, some have been home runs, a lot have been strikeouts, but you see a few doubles and triples in the mix also.

#128: David Kase (2015) played only seven games with Philadelphia over two seasons, getting a goal before heading back to his native land to play hockey in the Czech Republic. Kase also has been attached to a current prospect as his rights were traded to Carolina in August 2023 for the rights to Massimo Rizzo and a fifth-round pick in this upcoming draft. His brother, Ondrej, had a 20-goal season with Anaheim in 2017-18 and spent time with Boston, Toronto, and Carolina until 2022-23.

#127: Wyatte Wylie: Wylie (2018) had three seasons with Lehigh Valley but never made it to the bigs. He’s currently with the Belleville Senators, Ottawa’s affiliate in the American Hockey League.

#126: Philadelphia took Calgary Wranglers defenseman Brian Tutt (1980) played seven NHL games in his career, all with the Capitals. But give Tutt oodles of credit for perseverance. He played for seven different AHL and IHL teams, in Austria, for Canada’s National team, in Finland and Germany. In 2000-01 he was still lacing up his skates for the Huntsville Tornado.

#125: Goaltender Reggie Lemelin (1974) had a solid career split between time in Altanta/Calgary and then concluded his years with Boston for six seasons. He played over 500 regular season games with a record of 236-162-63 (they had ties back then, not overtime losses). However, Lemelin came full circle when he became the Flyers’ goaltending coach for 13 seasons when his playing days were over.

#124: Right-winger David Laliberte (2004) spent most of his time in the American Hockey League. His only time with the Flyers was in 2009-10, scoring twice in eleven games. Laliberte and another player named Pat Maroon were shipped in a trade with Anaheim in 2010 for Rob Bordson and Danny Syvret.

#123: Richard Dalpe (1977) racked up a lot of points in junior for Trois-Rivieres, including 151 points in 1976-77. However his game never translated beyond junior.

#122: Prior to Matvei Michkov, the Flyers had occasional success drafting Russian players. Dmitri Yushkevich (1991) was such a case. His first three years were with Philadelphia and were fine. But prior to the 1995-96 season, Yushkevich was sent to Toronto for future draft picks, one of which became Dainius Zubrus. He was a fine piece of the Leafs blueline over seven seasons. His last season was split with three teams: Florida, Los Angeles and the Flyers. He played 786 regular season games to go with 72 in the playoffs.

#121: He was a great Flyer. We hope he’s a great coach. Rick Tocchet (1983) was integral to the Flyers two deep runs to the Stanley Cup Finals in the ’80s, losing both times to Edmonton. In 1992, Tocchet, Kjell Samuelsson, and Ken Wregget were traded to Pittsburgh. The trade, which saw a package including Mark Recchi heading back to the Flyers, would later help the Penguins win a Stanley Cup.

Tocchet’s rugged style and production saw him desired by many teams. He would be traded to the Kings for Luc Robitaille, then traded to Boston for Kevin Stevens. Following time with Boston, he would find himself in Arizona. In 2000, like Yushkevich, Tocchet ended his career a Flyer, with the Coyotes getting Mikael Renberg. Tocchet ended up with 440 goals and 952 points in 1144 games, including two seasons of at least 40 goals in Philadelphia.

#120: The lone Flyers pick still has a good shot at making it. Alex Ciernik (2023), a German-born winger, played three games for Lehigh Valley this season after spending most of 2024-25 playing in Sweden. Philadelphia acquired the pick they used on Ciernik after trading Derick Brassard to Edmonton back in 2022.

#119: He was responsible for their second-overall pick in 2017 as a general manager. That was bad. As a player, Ron Hextall wore his heart on his sleeve (and in his wielding goalstick). For six seasons, Hextall was the Flyers goalie of note, taking his team to a seventh game of the Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton and winning the Conn Smythe. It was also the same series he checked the reflexes of Oilers forward Kent Nilsson with a slash. He also showed his bile towards Chris Chelios in 1989 after a gutless headshot the Habs blueliner delivered on Brian Propp earlier in the series.

Hextall was later shipped with a boatload of talent to Quebec in 1992 for Eric Lindros. After a season in Quebec, and the following year on Long Island, Hextall spent the final five years of his career with Philadelphia. In 608 games, Hextall was four wins shy of 300, with 214 losses and 69 ties. The player later became the general manager of the Penguins, essentially solidifying the aging, depthless, non-playoff team they currently are.

#118: Marcel Noebels (2011) played for the Adirondack Phantoms but never got to the big time. He hasn’t retired though, as he played the last 11 seasons in Germany with the Berlin Polar Bears.

#117: In 2012, Taylor Leier’s rights belonged to Philadelphia, but originally the pick belonged to Vancouver. Vancouver then shipped the pick to Columbus. Columbus then traded that pick as part of a package as the Flyers decided to part with Sergei Bobrovsky in 2012. After three seasons with the Flyers where he played a total of 55 games, scoring twice and adding five assists. Leier is still playing hockey. He spent last season with the Straubing Tigers in Germany.

#116: Clayton Norris (1991) was an enforcer and dropped the gloves often in the American Hockey League. Norris had seasons with over 200 penalty minutes and a mind-boggling 327 with the Orlando Solar Bears in the IHL in 1998-99. He also played three seasons in Great Britain where he remained his team’s tough guy.

#114: Russian forward Vladimir Krechin (1993) spent three years in the OHL, then went to Russia and never returned.

#112: John St. Ivany (2018) was drafted by one Pennsylvania team but played all of his 33 NHL games so far for the other. Following two seasons at Boston College, St. Ivany wasn’t signed by Philadelphia. In 2022, Pittsburgh inked him and he has played bits of the last two seasons with Sidney Crosby and company.

#111: A big Swedish defenseman was who the Flyers took in choosing Fredric Larsson (2012). But after a season split Tri-City and Youngstown in the USHL in 2013-14, the player called it a career.

#110: Outside of Peter Zezel, we think Brian Zanetti (2021) would be the last in alphabetical order when it comes to Flyer players. Zanetti played two seasons in the OHL for Peterborough and has spent the last two seasons in the Swiss league.

#109: Remember when Connor Bunnaman (2016) was going to be one of the promising prospects from the Ron Hextall era? Well, three partial seasons split between Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley was all he was able to muster. He scored one goal in his first season in 2019-20 and managed to play in four playoff games. Bunnaman’s biggest claim to fame as a Flyer was being shipped out along with Claude Giroux, German Rubtsov and a draft pick to Florida in 2022 in exchange for draft picks and Owen Tippett. Bunnaman spent this past season playing in the Czech Republic.

#108: Paul Holmgren (1975) did almost everything for the Flyers as player, coach, general manager and president of hockey operations. Holmgren played 500 games for the Flyers, getting 309 points and 1600 penalty minutes in that time. He also managed to get an additional 50 points in 67 games in playoff actionn for Philadelphia.

Holmgren’s biggest moves as a Flyers general manger were the two trades he pulled off on the same day back in 2011 which saw Mike Richards go to Los Angeles and Jeff Carter shipped out to Columbus. The combined return saw a draft pick that became Sean Couturier, another pick that became Nick Cousins, Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, and Jakob Voracek.

#107: With the greatest respect to Maksim Sushko (2017) and his two-game stint in 2020-21, Flyer fans have hope that Heikki Ruohonen (2024) lives up to expectations. Ruohonen didn’t embarrass himself in his first year of NCAA hockey, getting 39 points in 49 games for Dubuque last season.

#106: Jerome Mrazek (1971) played all of six minutes in his lone NHL game for the Flyers in 1975-76. Unfortunately, he saved one shot but let in another, resulting in his career goals-against average being 9.55 as a pro. Mrazek (no relation we think to Petr Mrazek) ended his hockey career with the Maine Mariners in the American Hockey League in 1977-78.

#105: Philadelphia selected Rosario Ruggeri (2002), hoping he would turn into a possible third-liner or bottom-six forward. Ruggeri spent time in Philadephia, just with the Phantoms. After two seasons with the Lowell Devils, Ruggeri packed his backs and continued his playing days in Italy, where he finished after the 2010-11 season.

#104: Russian forward Mikhail Vorobyev (2015) played 35 games for Philadelphia, scoring twice. In short, it was a bit of a bust, as Vorobyev never established himself as a consistent performer. Vorobyev might be a great trivia answer as the Flyers traded him as part of the Noah Hanafin trade to Vegas in 2024. But that was momentarily as Philadelphia acted as a third-party broker, helping Vegas by taking on some of Hanifin’s cap hit. Vorobyev is still playing hockey in the KHL.

#103: As five players in this slot have never played an NHL game as a Flyer, we hold out hope Cole Knuble (2023) will be the first. Knuble had 39 points in 34 games for Notre Dame, almost doubling his point total from his first year there. The son of Mike Knuble (who spent some time in Philadelphia), Cole should be in the mix for a roster spot a few seasons down the road when his university days are over.

#101: Joonas Lehtivuori (2006) played in Europe up to the 2023-24 season, splitting his time between Germany, Sweden and Finland. Lehtivuori’s pick came from a trade the Flyers had with Phoenix which saw the pick and Petr Nedved head to Philadelphia in exchange for Dennis Seidenberg and a draft pick.

#100: Radovan Somik (1995) was a pick the Flyers acquired in 1994 in a trade that sent Alexander Selivanov to Tampa Bay. Somik, who played 113 regular season games between 2002 and 2004, returned to Europe for the 2004-05 season. He played seven seasons for Pardubice in the Czech Republic, concluding his career in 2013-14.

#99: Defenseman Gary Cunnigham (1970) never got a crack in the NHL but did play two games for the Edmonton Oilers in the WHA back in 1973-74.

#98: Thomas Eriksson (1979) played nearly two full seasons for the Flyers (1983-84, 1984-85), scoring 83 points combined over those two years. After leaving the Flyers after the 1985-86 season, he returned to Sweden to play nine seasons in the Swedish Elite League.