Two first-round picks gives Danny Brière and the Flyers a multitude of options

Flyers general manager Danny Brière is a week away from stepping up to the batter’s box for the first round of the NHL draft. But instead of having just one chance to hit a home run, he’ll have two.

For the first time since 2018, the Flyers possess a pair of first-round picks — their own (No. 7) and No. 22, which they acquired two weeks ago from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Ivan Provorov trade. Multiple first-round picks means multiple avenues that Brière could explore with those picks, including making both of them, trading one or both to move out of the first round, or trading one or both to move up in the first round.

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The Flyers know from recent firsthand experience that having more cracks at taking players in the first round is better than having fewer. In the last 20 years, the Flyers have made two first-round selections four times. With hindsight being 20/20, the Flyers only hit for stars on both picks once when they took Jeff Carter (No. 11) and Mike Richards (No. 24) in 2003.

In the three instances after, the Flyers arguably unearthed one gem in each first round out of the two selections, and some of those gems are still works in progress. The Flyers took Provorov (No. 7) and Travis Konecny (No. 24) in 2015, Nolan Patrick (No. 2) and Morgan Frost (No. 27) in 2017, and Joel Farabee (No. 14) and Jay O’Brien (No. 19) in 2018. Provorov (trade), Patrick (trade), and O’Brien (did not sign) are no longer with the team. While Konecny has been a boon for the organization, Frost is a restricted free agent (the Flyers extended him a qualifying offer on June 14) who is just starting to find consistency in his game. Farabee is looking to get back to 2020-21 form (0.69 points per game) after undergoing neck surgery last offseason.

If the Flyers keep both first-round picks, they could go in a number of directions. This is a deep forward draft at the top with just a handful or so of defensemen (including David Reinbacher, Tom Willander, Axel Sandin Pellikka, and Oliver Bonk) likely to come off the board in the first round.

In keeping with their draft approach from recent years, assistant general manager Brent Flahr told The Inquirer in May that the Flyers will prioritize the best available player over a specific position on their draft board. The Flyers could stick with that approach, or they may opt to target one defenseman and one forward in the first round with the added pick, given their dual needs.

Having that second first-round pick may also make the Flyers less risk-averse if Russian winger and gifted goal scorer Matvei Michkov is still on the board at No. 7. In a vacuum, Michkov is talented enough to be in the discussion at No. 2 and has the star potential the Flyers currently lack on their roster. This past season, he was loaned out by parent club SKA Saint Petersburg to last-place Sochi in the KHL, where he was the team’s youngest player and racked up 20 points in 27 games. (His 0.74 points per game would represent a record for an 18-year-old in the KHL if you excluded his three games with SKA St. Petersburg in which he averaged less than three minutes of ice time).

But he’s signed with SKA through the 2026 season and Russia’s war in Ukraine casts some uncertainty surrounding his future NHL availability. Seeing as the Flyers have the later first-round pick, too, perhaps they would be willing to take a flier (no pun intended) on Michkov at No. 7.

The other paths that Brière might explore are trading one or both of the first-round picks, either to move up in the first round, move back in the draft, or move out altogether (i.e. trade for a player). Moving up in the first round by packaging No. 7 with players and/or additional picks would be an unprecedented maneuver in the last 10 years. Throughout that timeframe, teams have knowingly traded a top-10 pick (i.e. without any sort of conditions on the pick) just four times.

In each case, clubs acquired an established player as the centerpiece in those trades. In 2022, the Ottawa Senators traded their 2022 first-round pick (No. 7) to the Chicago Blackhawks in a package for Alex DeBrincat. In 2021, the Vancouver Canucks moved their 2021 first-round pick (No. 9) to the Arizona Coyotes in the Oliver Ekman-Larsson deal. In 2017, the Coyotes traded their 2017 first-rounder (No. 7) to the New York Rangers primarily for Derek Stepan. In 2013, the New Jersey Devils flipped their 2013 first-round selection (No. 9) to acquire Cory Schneider from the Canucks.

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The rebuilding Flyers are in no position to be sacrificing draft capital for marquee players, and trading up to Nos. 1-6 using a package that includes their own top-10 first-rounder would be unprecedented in recent history, so odds are the Flyers are going to make the pick at No. 7.

Later in the first round is when picks have a greater likelihood of moving. The Flyers don’t have a second-round selection this year (former general manager Chuck Fletcher traded it for defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen in 2021). If they stay at No. 22, they won’t pick again until No. 87 in the third round. That pick is from the 2022 trade deadline deal with the Rangers for Justin Braun. The Flyers dealt their earlier third-round pick (No. 71) to the Carolina Hurricanes in the package to acquire Tony DeAngelo.

NHL Central Scouting vice president Dan Marr said at the combine this year that the top 50 prospects “are going to be pretty good players down the road.” If the Flyers subscribe to this idea and they can find a team willing to return the value for No. 22 in some form that would include at least one second-round pick, then they may want to explore that option.

The Flyers have plenty of choices to make in the first round. Now, it’s on Brière to make the right ones that set the team up for long-term success.

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