The Philadelphia Flyers, as expected, had a hectic week meeting with various top prospects at the NHL Scouting Combine. Such is life as a team with three first-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft.
How those first-round picks are allocated remains to be seen, but the Flyers have made it clear through their actions and words, so far, that they aren’t discriminating or setting out to draft a specific player or position.
Management could very well have its choice of a top center, winger, and defenseman at the No. 6 pick, and the Flyers could always use their two later first-round picks to move up and select another prospect they really love.
So, to cover all those bases, the Flyers met with a myriad of different prospects who play different positions and are projected to fall to different places in the 2025 NHL Draft. What do we know so far?
According to Jackie Spiegel of the Inquirer, the Flyers spoke with the following top prospects (in no particular order): Michael Misa, James Hagens, Caleb Desnoyers, Porter Martone, Anton Frondell, Victor Eklund, Logan Hensler, Malcom Spence, Sascha Boumedienne, Shane Vansaghi, Blake Fiddler, Cullen Potter, Brady Martin, Jake O’Brien, Roger McQueen, Henry Brzustewicz, Kashawn Aitcheson, Joshua Ravensbergen, Haoxi ‘Simon’ Wang, Justin Carbonneau, Vaclav Nestrasil, Carter Bear, William Horcoff, Carter Amico, and Radim Mrtka, among other names.
And, according to further reports from interviews with the aforementioned prospects, we know that Martone, O’Brien, and Martin have had dinner with the Flyers.
Of course, this doesn’t mean a whole lot with three weeks to go until the 2025 draft, but it does give us a good idea of the Flyers’ intentions at this moment in time.
NHL Draft 2025: New Flyers Trade Opportunity ArisesIf the Philadelphia Flyers are still looking to trade up in the 2025 NHL Draft, they could potentially have more than one trade partner willing to strike a deal.
Martone, although he is a right wing, is the best prospect in this class at his position and has been compared stylistically to Matvei Michkov.
At the scouting combine, Martin compared himself to Sam Bennett and Tom Wilson, which aligns with the philosophy of Rick Tocchet and the ‘old school’ Flyers teams.
And then there’s O’Brien, a player I mocked to the Flyers in an earlier mock draft who is coached by one of Danny Briere’s old buddies, Jay McKee. O’Brien is a big, 6-foot-2 center with eyes in the back of his head and a natural playmaking flair to his game.
On the other side of the coin, there is an equal possibility that some of these meetings and dinners are to serve as diversions and distractions from the Flyers’ true intentions, which is more likely than not going to be drafting the No. 1 center of their future. Martone isn’t a center, and Martin may not be one either at the NHL level. And Martin isn’t as naturally skilled as O’Brien and some of the other options at that position.
Notably, the Flyers strayed hard from public consensus a year ago when they drafted Jett Luchanko 13th overall, so fans must still expect the unexpected until more information comes out.
Cam Robinson of EliteProspects did report Saturday that there is a strong belief the Utah Mammoth covets Martin, which has been welcomed news amongst many Flyers fans.
Utah holds the fourth pick, so if Martin goes there, the chance the Flyers land one of the more star power-laden players in this draft class increases greatly.
Only time will tell what the Flyers are thinking heading into the draft, but so far, their scouting combine draft board, so to speak, is looking mighty clean.
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