For several of the last few seasons, the Flyers have used the NHL Draft to attack their blue line problem head on. The Flyers aren't rolling out a defensive group among the best in the NHL just yet, but it's safe to say they don't have a problem there anymore.
Last season provided only a glimpse, as Shayne Gostisbehere was the first of those draft picks to reach the NHL and become a permanent fixture. Sam Morin and Robert Hagg are closing in on that opportunity, molding their game in the AHL. Travis Sanheim got a taste of the AHL last season and is expected to get his first pro experience next season. Ivan Provorov may be nearing his NHL debut after another tremendous season in the WHL. Even a virtual unknown like Philippe Myers has emerged as a strong prospect for the Flyers.
Morin, Sanheim and Provorov were all first-round selections in the last three drafts for the Flyers.
Bottom line: the Flyers did a lot of their building through the draft and started to shift the focus of that building from defense to forward by using their second first-round pick to select Travis Konecny, another budding young prospect. That was the first forward the Flyers had drafted in the first round since selecting Scott Laughton at 20th overall in 2012.
The time has come for the Flyers to use their first round pick to again add to the forward position and after years of bolstering the blue line, the Flyers will have plenty of options at this year's draft.
On Tuesday, I started to profile draft picks that the Flyers could look to target with the 18th overall pick. The first in that series was Julien Gauthier, a big power winger playing for Val-d'Or in the QMJHL.
Last season, when I started profiling draft prospects, my first three profiles were my top three for the draft based on where the Flyers were selecting. The three players last season: Mikko Rantanen, Lawson Crouse and Provorov. The Flyers went with Provorov. You'll have to check back on Thursday and next Tuesday for the rest of my top three this season, but I can tell you this much now. They are all forwards. They can all play the wing.
Based on where the Flyers are selecting, these are going to be the best three players. Now, as mentioned with Gauthier on Tuesday, there were points throughout the season where he ranked higher than the Flyers pick, projected as someone closer to a Top-10 pick than outside the Top 15.
When you look at the other teams selecting ahead of the Flyers in the draft, many of them either have their logical picks blueprinted already or don't have to power forward need the Flyers do.
Based on everything I've seen, it seems like the Top 8 players in the draft are pretty much set. The first four to go seem easy enough to pinpoint: Auston Matthews followed by Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujarvi and Matthew Tkachuk. The top two defenseman, Jakob Chychrun and Olli Juolevi, are rated as the top two defensemen and both are expected to go in the Top 10 as well. Alexander Nylander and Pierre-Luc Dubois are also projected Top-10 picks.
So if those are the Top 8, the next nine picks after that could determine who the Flyers pick.
In his latest mock draft, TSN's Craig Button has those same eight players as the Top 8 with center Logan Brown and defenseman Mikhail Sergachyov rounding out the Top 10.
It's important to remember that while the Flyers have a need at power forward, they don't have a shortage of centers in the system, so addressing the wing is what really matters. And while this would be a great year to be in the Top 10, given Laine and Puljijarvi's potential with Dubois, Tkachuk and Nylander as formidable prospects, there are plenty of good prospects to be found at the bottom half of the first round.
In Button's mock draft, Nylander is projected as the seventh overall pick. After that, the next natural winger selected doesn't come until the 15th overall pick — we'll hold the names here since profiles on almost every winger outside are coming in the next few weeks.
So many teams have a need to address the center position or the blue line that there are a host of talented wingers falling from potential Top 10 picks to mid-first-rounders. This is where the Flyers can strike and potential grab another exciting talent from the first round.
The Flyers have been among the best teams in the NHL when it comes to drafting pieces of their future. Their efforts to get back into contention, while well ahead of schedule after a playoff appearance in 2015-16, still need those recently drafted pieces to put them over the top. They appear to have found gems with their last three first-round picks. A fourth one, particularly the power forward they so desperately need, may be the beginning of the end for the Flyers building process.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
