The Philadelphia Flyers will officially have the 32nd pick in the first round of the NHL Draft, acquired from the Florida Panthers in their trade for Claude Giroux back in 2022. The selection was dependent upon how far the Panthers made it in the 2023-24 season.
The Flyers have an opportunity to really take full advantage of their trade return for their former captain, having already re-signed forward Owen Tippett to an eight-year, $49.6 million ($6.2 million AAV) contract, along with using their 2023 third-round pick to draft a very promising forward in Denver Barkey.
With the 12th and 32nd overall pick, there are a number of talents that could be available to them in the first round alone, but this is the kind of draft where Flyers GM Danny Briere himself admitted that "there's not a lot [of predictability]. Even for us it's tough to figure out. There are a lot of good players, especially in the top 16/17 of the draft. We're going to get a good player, that's how we feel, [but] it's a tough one to predict. Looking at rumors and the mock drafts that are out there...it's all over the place. It's exciting when it's like that. There's a lot of different possibilities."
While a fairly consistent group of names has circulated in terms of who the Flyers could pick at No. 12, there's less of a consensus about who could still be on the board at No. 32, especially when Briere hasn't let slip exactly what positional direction he's planning on moving in with this draft.
The Flyers could continue to pick players from the London Knights by taking center Sam O'Reilly at No. 32 (Knights defenseman Sam Dickinson has also been named as a possibility for the Flyers at No. 12). There is a need for more young centers in the organization, and O'Reilly's performance in the OHL this past season should certainly catch the Flyers' interest. He recorded a 20-goal, 56-point regular season, along with contributing 12 points during the Knights' dominant postseason run, which ultimately resulted in an OHL championship.
O'Reilly has great instincts and positional awareness, and has an acute ability to create in transition despite lacking some "high-end skating ability." Standing at 6'1" and 184 lbs., he's not afraid to be physical on the ice, and his game has drawn comparisons to the Minnesota Wild's Ryan Hartman and current Flyers center Scott Laughton.
Another option could be Yegor Surin, a Russian center that plays a hard-skating, physical style of hockey and possesses a solid shot that got him 22 goals and 30 assists in 42 games for the MHL's Yaroslav Jr.
Briere and the Flyers clearly have no issues when it comes to taking a chance on young Russian prospects, and at only 17 years old (turning 18 in August), there's still heaps of time for Surin to continue developing his game. He could be a very interesting diamond-in-the-rough type pick that would benefit the Flyers in the long term, especially when it comes to filling those gaps in the center position.
If the Flyers wanted to go in a more defensive direction, EJ Emery would be a smart option. Despite not being known as an offensive-minded defenseman, Emery possesses a stellar puck-moving ability and excellent on-ice vision that allows him to generate offense.
A shutdown defenseman that can defend well against rushes and is a valuable penalty killer that's not afraid to block shots, Emery could be an ideal addition to the Flyers' young defensive core should they decide to fill out their back line depth a bit more.
The NHL Draft will take take place in Las Vegas from June 28-29.
