By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
When the Flyers season came to an end on Sunday, they locked up the 19th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft by their own result. The pick acquired from the St. Louis Blues was still up in the air with the draft lottery.
The draft lottery was held on Saturday night, and the Blues, who had the second longest odds to get a lottery pick, did not get one of the top three spots in the draft, meaning the Flyers will retain the pick at 14th overall.
Buffalo, Montreal and Carolina were the three teams that were selected through the lottery process for the top three picks. The Sabres won the draft lottery and first overall pick. Carolina got the second pick and Montreal got the third pick.
The Flyers were beneficiaries of the lottery a season ago, going from the 13th overall pick to the second overall pick and selecting Nolan Patrick. The lottery has again benefitted the Flyers, who don't have to wait another year for the additional first-round pick.
"It's a solid draft," Flyers GM Ron Hextall said at exit interviews this week. "We've got our meetings coming up. I've seen enough players where it's a good draft and we're going to get a couple of good players if we make those picks. In terms of options, it gives you more options. If you want to move up, I would envision having the chance to move up. And we're a little bit more defined in terms of the pieces that we have, at least to have a good chance of playing. So it narrows the scope a bit where you say if we move up to this spot, we can get this player who's a good fit for the group of prospects that we have."
The NHL Draft will be held on June 22 and 23 in Dallas.
