Day 2 of the NHL Draft commenced on Saturday morning in Philadelphia and provided the Flyers with the opportunity to add more pieces to the system. They added five players on Saturday.
Among the five Flyers drafted were second-round winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel and third-round defenseman Mark Friedman.
Here is more on the Flyers five draft picks on Day 2.
2nd Round (48th overall pick) – RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel – Aube-Kubel was considered a sleeper pick by some. A good skater with creative tendencies, the Flyers managed to nab a speed and skill forward after all, even after passing on some good forwards in the first round. He has strong neutral-zone defense and challenges players, becoming a strong defender against odd-man chances for the opposition. His creative skills on offense benefit him on the rush as well. And if he ever amounts to full NHL status, he could dazzle in shootouts.
3rd Round (86th overall pick) – D Mark Friedman – He had good point totals for a defenseman – 10 goals and 30 assists in 51 games – and has size that sounds a lot like Erik Gustafsson. He's 5'11", 185-pounds out of Waterloo and will attend Bowling Green next season. With time to develop, he is more of the puck-carrier type of defenseman. As much as the Flyers could use bigger defenseman, players of Friedman's size are important to a team as well and the Flyers just continue to stock up on blue-liners.
5th Round (138th overall pick) – RW Oskar Lindblom – Remember how Travis Sanheim was ranked 53rd among all skaters but still taken in the first round? Well the Flyers may have gotten second-round quality with a fifth-round pick. Lindblom was ranked as high as 43rd on some boards but fell to the Flyers at 138. He's a good skater with strong ability to get to the front of the net. He also had good two-way ability. Offensively, he isn't a flashy player as the Flyers took in Aube-Kubel in the second round, but he had 33 points in 44 games with Brynas. With Sweden in U18 International play, he dominated to the tune of 21 points in 20 games.
6th Round (168th overall pick) – C Radel Fazleev – The chances of sixth-round picks getting to the NHL aren't all that great, but the Flyers have had success doing it in the past. Fazleev has a lot of potential but needs a lot of work as well. He's a creative forward but needs to work on his skating. He's got a bit of the same makeup as Zac Rinaldo – also a sixth-rounder – in the hitting department. A big red flag is some very inconsistent play throughout a game. Fazleev was a teammate of first-rounder Travis Sanheim with the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL.
7th Round (198th overall pick) – D Jesper Pettersson – The Flyers closed the Draft the way they started it, by drafting a defenseman. Pettersson's size looks like a concern – he's just 5'9" – but scouts say he plays big and is a defensive defenseman who can get physical and is a good shot-blocker. He appears to have had some run-ins with injury and suspension trouble while playing in Sweden so that could be a concern moving forward.
