Philadelphia Flyers Leave NHL Draft with 2 Fatal Flaws

Philadelphia Flyers will have to wait a little longer to find the No. 1 center of their future.

As for goalies, no additions there mean that it's still down to Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, Aleksei Kolosov, and Carson Bjarnason.

Egor Zavragin is under contract in Russia with SKA St. Petersburg for two more seasons, so the Flyers have no control over his development path until 2027 at the earliest.

Bjarnason will be playing pro hockey for the first time this season, while Ersson, Fedotov, and Kolosov have all flattered to deceive in their relatively short NHL tenures thus far.

Oh, and Ersson, Fedotov, and Kolosov are all on expiring contracts, too. So, not only do the Flyers not have an immediate solution in goal, but they have all their eggs in the basket of two guys for the future at this point in time.

The Flyers traded up for Nesbitt, optimistically a second-line center by their own admission, rather than taking a chance on Jackson Smith, a Penn State commit and a potential No. 1 defenseman who ultimately went 14th to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Kashawn Aitcheson, who also fits the Flyers' identity, went 17th to the New York Islanders.

The Flyers added a solid winger prospect in Murtagh at the 40th slot, but the Carolina Hurricanes started the run on goalies one pick later with their selection of Semyon Frolov.

After the Vancouver Canucks took Aleksei Medvedev at Pick 47, the Flyers were left with Vansaghi as their best remaining option.

Fast-forward to the end of the round, and the Flyers added another high-floor, low-ceiling center in Matthew Gard, only for two-time U18 World Juniors champion goalie Jack Ivankovic to go to Nashville with the following pick.

A few picks later, at the top of the third round, left-shot defenders like Kurban Limatov and Mace'o Phillips came off the board, as did goalie Michal Pradel.

So, while the Flyers went above and beyond to fill some needs, they also completely neglected others in the process. And I would argue that those others were easier to fill given the assets at hand.

Now, with a key phase of the rebuild in the books, the Flyers must pivot towards the future with other potential solutions and ideas keenly in mind.