The Philadelphia Flyers may be picking later in the NHL draft than we’ve become accustomed to over the last few years, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still select an impact player.
Of course, the Flyers’ draft strategy has come under fire in recent years, mostly due to high-profile choices like selecting Oliver Bonk, Jett Luchanko, and Jack Nesbitt with first-round picks over the last three drafts.
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The common argument with those players is that the Flyers drafted for need and specific traits, rather than the best or most talented player available to them.
Size is one of the most frequent traits we see this Flyers regime draft for; Nesbitt, Jack Berglund, Spencer Gill, Carter Amico, Porter Martone, Austin Moline, and Shane Vansaghi are all good examples.
So, now that the Flyers will be picking 21st this year, the pool of talent in the draft is considerably less voluminous than it would be in, say, the top 10.
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They have no dynamic centers or defensemen coming up through the prospect pipeline, so they have to nail this pick.
Unfortunately, an early NHL mock draft from Corey Pronman of The Athletic goes in the opposite direction.
At 21, Pronman has the Flyers going with Casey Mutryn, whose profile won’t move the needle for Philadelphia. Here’s why:
“Philadelphia loves hard-nosed, competitive players, making Mutryn a very natural fit for their organizational identity,” Pronman says of Mutryn.
“He’s a hardworking, physical 6-foot-3 winger who plays at an NHL tempo and has some offensive touch, too. He complements the skill the Flyers have in their forward group.”
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So, yes, another winger is not going to cut it for the Flyers, and Mutryn is certainly not the most talented one available at this point in Pronman’s mock.
Adam Novotny and Nikita Klepov are well ahead in that aspect, and defensemen like Ryan Lin, Juho Piiparinen, and Xavier Villeneuve would all be superior choices on the back end.
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Centers like Ilia Morozov and Brooks Rogowski would make more sense, too.
The Flyers have already done plenty well drafting for size up front. Martone is already an NHL contributor, and Berglund, Nesbitt, and Vansaghi will be soon, too.
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They also still have 23-year-old Nikita Grebenkin, so four of these five forwards are bottom-six contributors at the NHL level, with Martone the obvious exclusion.
Nick Seeler isn’t getting any younger and Emil Andrae looks to be on his way out, so the Flyers need to reinforce the left side of their defense at some point.
They also aren’t getting much offense from two of their smaller defenders in Cam York and Jamie Drysdale, so that’s another problem that needs solving at some point.
David Jiricek and Oliver Bonk could be solutions, but that’s an added responsibility on top of simply developing into reliable NHL defensemen.
If the Flyers were wise, they would leave Pronman’s thinking in the past and grab the most dynamic talent available to them in 2026.
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