After taking a defenseman in the first round in each of the last three drafts, the Flyers had formed an excellent group of rising defensemen for their system. Entering the 2016 NHL Draft, the Flyers desperately needed to build on their forward group.
They took seven forwards with their 10 total picks in the draft.
Ron Hextall remained true to his philosophy the whole way through in two ways. First, he set his sights on a player in the first round and got him. He managed to use his stroke of magic to gain another draft pick in the early second round. He started by drafting the best available, then by need, focusing on a critical need at forward.
Unfortunately, sticking to the philosophy also means that no player from this draft will see the NHL anytime soon. So development will play a central role in determining the success of this draft. So even if there is a lack of excitement over some of the picks, Hextall stuck to the plan and shed more light on the Flyers blueprint for building a champion.
Let's break down the pros and cons of each round.
Round 1
German Rubtsov comes with no blemishes to his game. In fact, if what caused him to slip to 22 was the "Russian factor" and involvement in a team-wide doping scandal, then this is a genius pick, especially given the amount of research Hextall put into it.
There's a good and bad to what Hextall did in the first round. He'll tell you otherwise — and in fact, did — but the Flyers were sitting pretty at 18 with two potential elite scoring threats on the board in Kieffer Bellows and Julien Gauthier. If the Flyers main focus was Rubtsov — who was ranked by some to be better than both Bellows and Gauthier — then there's nothing wrong with setting your sights on him, but by trading the pick and moving back four spots, it opened the door for other teams to jump in. Bellows went to the Islanders, Gauthier to the Hurricanes.
There are no guarantees in the draft, but if one or both of those prospects works out as well as some say they will, then Hextall's trade down, which still allowed him to nab Rubtsov, also gave two division rivals huge scoring threats.
But getting another second-round pick, and high at 36 at that, was another example of Hextall waving the magic wand and making something happen. He got the player he wanted at 22 instead of 18 and turned the 79th overall pick into the 36th overall pick, a 43-spot jump. That's impressive.
Round 2
The Flyers opened the second round early with the 36th pick and took Pascal Laberge, a player who had potential to be taken late in the first round. That's a win right there.
Yes, the Flyers passed on another player that seems like a pure goal scorer in Alex DeBrincat, but ultimately, they still got a very solid player with scoring upside by trading up.
At first glance, selecting goalie Carter Hart seems a little strange, considering the Flyers took three goalies last year in the draft, but Hart has a high ceiling and as the first goalie taken was highly regarded as potentially the best goalie in the draft. The Flyers were likely going to take one goalie this weekend anyway, so if they could get a bigger talent by making the selection in the second instead of one of the mid-rounds, then it may just be worth it. Once the Flyers selected the first goalie of the draft, three other teams quickly followed suit.
Then there was pick No. 52, Wade Allison. This may be their biggest wildcard. A lot of potential, as some draft experts had Allison as a potential first-round pick while others had him ranked as more of a mid-round prospect, but as Hextall noted, he didn't expect Allison to be there at 52. If the kid can put it all together, then it will be a solid pick.
Rounds 3-7
The Carsen Twarynski pick is one of my favorites for a mid-round for the Flyers in this draft. Hextall definitely had a lot of chances to watch Twarynski, making several trips to Calgary to see Travis Sanheim and Radel Fazleev, so adding another Hitmen teammate isn't a bad thing. By this point in the draft, the Flyers would have to start picking based on potential and team need more than who the best player on the board is, so the Flyers not only addressed their forward need but also added a player familiar with two of their prospects.
Connor Bunnaman is another interesting prospect and there's intrigue to players like Linus Hogberg, who Hextall called the Flyers sleeper pick in the fifth round, as well as Anthony Salinitri, one of the Flyers two sixth-round picks.
As you read up on every pick, each prospect seemed to have a good rating when it comes to potential with the exception of seventh-round pick David Bernhardt.
Overall Rating
The Flyers needed to stockpile forwards and they did. That was the most important thing. As Hextall said following the draft, this was about adding in all areas — size, speed and skill — and the Flyers certainly mixed it up in that respect.
One thing though seemed to be commonplace. The Flyers consistently took forwards that weren't all about offense, but had two-way ability with an aggressive and gritty edge to their game. Before you associate that with the old culture of Flyers hockey, what Hextall is going for here is a more determined team that displays consistent heart and compete level.
The two-way ability and a 200-foot game speaks to the trust the Flyers and Hextall have in head coach Dave Hakstol. That kind of game is the basis of his system, and the Flyers do need to add forwards more committed to helping on the back end and penalty kill with a plethora of defensemen already rising through the system.
The first four or five picks were really going to be the difference makers here. The Flyers definitely took four players at the top with NHL potential. It wasn't going to be the best draft for Hextall, because it would be too difficult to match what two first-round picks last year did plus the overall depth of last year's draft, but the Flyers stuck to the game plan by picking early and often to add some strong upside to their system.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
