After a dreary 1-5-1 start to the 2024-25 season, Philadelphia Flyers fans are already begrudgingly starting to turn one eye towards the 2025 NHL Draft, where the Flyers are expected to have three first-round picks.
That depends on if the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers, who are struggling themselves despite having plenty of star power, can turn their seasons around. With top-10 and top-12 protections for those picks, the Flyers might not be taking first-round picks from the Avalanche or the Oilers until 2026.
The Flyers still possess their own first-round pick, though. If the season ended today, not account for the NHL Draft Lottery, they would be picking third behind the San Jose Sharks and the Nashville Predators.
For all intents and purposes, that is not James Hagens territory, but there is more than one player I’m looking at who has the potential to change the Flyers’ fortunes for the next two decades from that draft slot.
In their Preliminary Players to Watch List rankings released on Wednesday, NHL Central Scouting gave 24 players, including Hagens, an ‘A’ grade, which is given to a player who is a candidate to be a first-round pick in June.
For the sake of this exercise, we’ll assume that Philadelphia has one first-round pick – their own – and they finish with a top-5 pick.
Taking Hagens out of the equation, we already know that the Flyers have two significant needs. One is the center position, and the other is the defense position.
Adding Matvei Michkov to a core of wingers that already includes Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny, and Tyson Foerster means that the Flyers are set on the flanks for the foreseeable future.
Depending on your opinion of Jett Luchanko, you can argue that the Flyers do not have a blue-chip center prospect, just as they lack one on either side of the defense.
That all said, there are at least half a dozen players worth considering if the Flyers have a top-5 pick in June.
At the center position, Saginaw talisman Michael Misa is having an absolutely dynamite start to his 2024-25 season, leading the OHL in goals with 15 in only 11 games. His 22 points so far trail only Windsor winger Liam Greentree, a 2023 first-round pick who has six goals, 17 assists, and 23 points in nine games.
Brampton winger Porter Martone, generally considered to be the No. 2 ranked player in the 2025 NHL Draft, is the next closest to Misa in the goals column with 10.
Speaking of Martone, I’m not saying he is Auston Matthews, but there is some Auston Matthews to his game. I think he can be converted to a center if needed, and the Flyers more than likely watched him a lot at the 2023 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, where Martone and Canada won a gold medal.
Another must-see center prospect given an ‘A’ ranking by NHL Central Scouting is Brandon center Roger McQueen, a teammate of Flyers prospect Carson Bjarnason and a 6-foot-5, 200-pound beast whose skills and smarts match his massive frame.
In fact, David St-Louis of Eliteprospects believes there is an outcome where McQueen becomes the No. 1 overall pick in 2025.
Quinton Byfield, anyone? Maybe Eric Lindros?
Filling out the list of players to watch down the middle include Swedish center Anton Frondell, who’s had a slow start to his season, Caleb Desnoyers, the brother of Flyers prospect Elliot Desnoyers, and Ivan Ryabkin.
Combining his 6-foot-2 size with his smarts and puck skills, I think Desnoyers fits what the Flyers need the most of those three. The Russian Ryabkin is certainly the most skilled, though he’s not Michkov or Ivan Demidov.
Ryabkin is probably a much-less polished version of the two put together, which still makes him a really intriguing prospect.
There are fewer ‘top dogs’, so to speak, on defense in the upcoming NHL draft, but there are three names that should be in play early in the draft order.
University of Wisconsin defenseman Logan Hensler, a 6-foot-2 right-shot rearguard, can do it all on the backend for an NHL team, and his size and handedness are highly sought-after assets. If Hensler grows even a little bit more and refines his offensive game, he could be a franchise’s cornerstone on defense for years to come.
WHL blueliner Blake Fiddler, the 6-foot-4 son of longtime NHLer Vernon Fiddler, is beginning to skyrocket up draft boards and make noise in scouting circles.
After previously being considered to be a Day 2 candidate, Fiddler earned an ‘A’ grade from NHL Central Scouting on Wednesday, and that only affirms Eliteprospects’ ranking him 14th, ahead of Hensler.
Fiddler is currently on pace to score 15 goals, 23 assists, and 38 points in 68 games, which is impressive given his size and position on the ice.
Last but certainly not least is Erie defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who captained Desnoyers and Canada to a gold medal at the 2024 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup.
Schaefer has prototypical size at 6-foot-2, 183 pounds, and plays the game of a modern star defenseman. He does everything well, motors up and down the ice, and can chip in offense early and often. His combination of size, talent, and speed makes him the defenseman most likely to come off the board first in the 2025 NHL Draft.
The Flyers will be in a position to select at least one of these players in June. It will be a matter of how many players they can select, pending the statuses of Colorado and Edmonton, and which of those players can alter the franchise.
Right now, McQueen, Martone, and Schaefer should be the clear-cut leaders of the Flyers’ wish list for 2025.
