VOORHEES, N.J. – Probably the Flyers’ best draft of this century took place in 2003 when the team took Jeff Carter with the No. 11 overall pick and Mike Richards at No. 24.
Those two players were integral parts of the 2010 team which stunned the hockey world by overcoming a 3-0 deficit to beat Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals and took Chicago all the way to a Game 6 in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Looking back at 2003, the Flyers went into the draft with the philosophy of selecting the best players possible rather than trying to fill specific positional needs.
More than 20 years later, current general manager Daniel Briere – who has three first-round picks and seven overall in the top 48 at the June 27-28 NHL Draft — is sticking to the same philosophy.
Although the Flyers could use a big center or two, a couple of physical defensemen and possibly even a goaltender, Briere said that won’t necessarily change his thinking.
During Tuesday’s pre-draft press conference at the Flyers Training Center, Briere reiterated the “need situation” can change from year to year.
But garnering the best overall players doesn’t.
“At the top of the draft, it will be the best players available,” he said. “As you go down the draft, if we take centers with our first three picks, we might ease up a bit and start looking at positional needs.
“At No. 6, we’re looking at the best player available.”
Briere is resolute in that thinking. But will he go with form or take a bit of a risk, like the Flyers did two years agao when they took Matvei Michkov at No. 7, even though at the time he was still committed to three more years in the Kontinental Hockey League (which was eventually shortened to one year)?
“We’re going to do what we feel is the best player,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re just going to swing for the fun of it. We’re going to go with who we feel the best player is.”
If things stand as they are, the Flyers have the No. 6 overall pick, the No. 22 and either No. 31 or No. 32 from Edmonton (based on a previous trade.
In the second round, they have their own pick at No. 38, plus a conditional pick from Columbus, a pick from Anaheim (via the Cutter Gauthier trade) and a pick from Calgary (compensation from the Morgan Frost/Joel Farabee trade).
After that, the Flyers have their own pick in Round 3, no pick in Round 4, their own pick and one from Carolina in Round 5 and their own in Round 6.
Briere gave the impression he’s going to hang onto and use as many of those picks as possible. But will his cell phone be ringing more than usual?
He will listen carefully to offers but there’s a chance he will hang on to all seven of those picks in the first two rounds.
“Absolutely,” he said. “There are a lot of players that our guys like in that window. There’s a really good chance that we keep the picks. We really build around those guys.”
There has been talk the Flyers might want to try to trade up (what team doesn’t?). There was lots of chatter at the recent NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo.
“For me there wasn’t a lot of change at the Combine,” Briere said. “It usually picks up the week of the draft.”
Does he anticipate his phone to ring more than usual?
“I would expect so but I can’t control what the other guys (NHL GMs) do or if they like the slots that we have,” Briere said. “We have a lot of them. I’m also going to make a lot of calls, too, to try to gauge the interest. But so far it’s been pretty quiet on that front. We’ve said we would like to move up if possible. Teams are all looking to move up. We have to be patient. Maybe we can create value going the other way also.”
Assistant general manager Brent Flahr, who oversees the Flyers’ scouting department, indicated having this many picks allows the team to be flexible. Especially with five picks between No. 31 and 48.
“Traditionally, if you have one pick in the second round, you’re really focusing on a small group of players,” Flahr said. “I think there’s going to be some opportunities for movement. Having more picks is always beneficial. It just gives you freedom to do a lot of different things.
“It’s a lot more fun at this time of year when you have this many picks.”
>Talent equal
Briere said he doesn’t believe there’s much difference in talent after the first two picks.
“We feel that from No. 3 to No. 8, those guys are really, really close,” he said. “We’ll have a tough decision to make at No. 6 but it might be between two or three guys instead of six.”
>Trading picks possible
While Briere indicated he wants to hold onto as many picks as possible, that doesn’t mean he won’t entertain offers.
“It’s possible,” he said. “It’s something that we’re going to consider. We’ve had a few talks with teams. We have the need at center but teams really don’t want to move centers.”
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