The Flyers have options with the No. 7 pick, but why not swing big for a potential star?

Positioned at No. 7 overall in the upcoming draft, the Flyers are at the mercy of the teams ahead of them.

On June 28 in Nashville, they won’t be selecting whiz kid Connor Bedard, who is bound for Chicago, or college hockey’s leading scorer, Adam Fantilli, who already has his bags packed for Anaheim. Six-foot-three Swedish center Leo Carlsson also will be off the board, while the U.S. national team development program’s Will Smith projects to be as well.

» READ MORE: Five players the Flyers could target with the No. 7 overall pick in the NHL draft

Then there is high-scoring winger Matvei Michkov, who is unanimously considered a top-three talent in the draft. He will also be gone by No. 7 unless teams are scared off — a real possibility — by his KHL contract, which runs through 2026, or the geopolitical situation involving Russia.

But in a strong draft, particularly at the top, the Flyers can still come away with a very good player. They look to have done so last year with fifth overall pick Cutter Gauthier, and their 2023 first-rounder provides an opportunity to add another important building block as the team embarks on its rebuild.

This is where new general manager Danny Brière and the Flyers need to be brave and take a big swing. Frankly, why not take a Bryce Harper “Bedlam at the Bank”-sized swing?

Hitting singles isn’t going to win the Flyers their first Stanley Cup in almost 50 years. Plus, the team has already tried that approach to no avail. The Flyers need a star, so why not be bold and give yourself a chance at landing one?

If Michkov is available, and the Flyers are comfortable with the player, he is worth the gamble. His situation is much different from the one with Ivan Fedotov, and he just put up the best offensive season by a player in his draft year in KHL history (20 points in 27 games with last-place Sochi). He is widely considered the top Russian prospect since Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin were drafted in 2004, and his upside trails only Bedard’s in the 2023 class.

But given his unique situation, let’s assume Michkov is off the board and unavailable to the Flyers with the seventh pick. Where do they turn next?

That’s the million-dollar question, as, including Michkov, this draft looks to have a clear top five and little consensus after that. Organizations will be splitting hairs when sorting through the next eight to 10 prospects and weighing factors like positional needs, skills they prioritize, upside, timeline, etc.

Assistant general manager Brent Flahr recently said that the Flyers are focused on taking the “best player available” regardless of position. That’s the right attitude for a rebuilding team — with the added caveat of best player available with upside.

Factors like position, measurables, fit under coach John Tortorella, and the current makeup of the roster should all be secondary. The Flyers shouldn’t limit themselves by people who may not be around or factors that may change in a year or two. Instead, take a player with upside, invest in developing that player, and give yourself a chance at hitting the star lottery.

Some of the prospects we’ve discussed with the Flyers include Zach Benson, Ryan Leonard, Oliver Moore, David Reinbacher, and Dalibor Dvorský. Countless others like Nate Danielson, Matthew Wood, and Gabe Perreault have been linked to Philadelphia by other outlets. (A couple of these players may be picked by the time the Flyers are on the clock at No. 7.)

» READ MORE: NHL draft: Two-way center Dalibor Dvorský could be worth the wait for the Flyers

If I’m the Flyers, the first question I am asking myself is: Which available prospects, if any, do I think have star potential? Duh ... but in this area of the draft, there are several prospects that are viewed as “safe” picks with low floors but also not the highest of ceilings. With no guarantee the Flyers will be picking this high again next year — considering Tortorella tends to squeeze the most out of his teams — they need to be willing to take a risk to fully capitalize on this pick’s value.

The first player I’d rule out is Reinbacher. While the Austrian defenseman has risen up draft boards, to me that speaks more to the dearth of defensemen at the top end of this draft than what Reinbacher brings to the table. Sure, the Flyers could badly use a right-shot defender with good size (6-foot-2) and skating ability. That said, Reinbacher is not the game-breaker or No. 1 defenseman you are looking for with this type of draft pick. This is a draft with a lot of good forwards and Reinbacher would feel like a reach based on positional need.

Centers Dvorský and Danielson are two others who don’t fit the high-upside bill. Both are responsible two-way players but most experts see both topping out as second-line centers. While Dvorský has shown a penchant for scoring goals at various underage levels for Slovakia, he doesn’t project to be an offensive dynamo. Meanwhile, Danielson is a 6-foot-2 center from the Brandon Wheat Kings who does a lot of things well but no one thing particularly great. Remind you of Nolan Patrick?

Then there is the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Wood, who has almost by default been linked with the Flyers given the premium the organization has placed on size and becoming “harder to play against.” Wood is a shoot-first winger, but he revealed real skating concerns as a freshman at the University of Connecticut and doesn’t bring a ton to the table outside of goal scoring. The Flyers should aim higher.

That leaves the likes of Benson, Leonard, Moore, and Perreault, assuming all four survive the first six picks. None of these prospects is perfect, but all have legitimate upside or traits that should be appealing to the Flyers.

Benson is a slick playmaker with elite skill and a tireless motor. His 98 points ranked second among 18-year-olds in the WHL last season behind only Bedard. The questions around Benson revolve mostly around his size at 5-foot-9 and 163 pounds. That certainly adds a level of risk to the equation, but in the modern NHL, size isn’t the be-all, end-all it once was, as Brière knows well. Brayden Point, Johnny Gaudreau, and Alex DeBrincat are three players of similar size who have become All-Stars but entered with size concerns. Benson’s creativity, hockey IQ, and work ethic would make him a fit for the Flyers and would be the definition of a big swing on high-end skill.

» READ MORE: NHL draft: Could Flyers choose skill over size with the diminutive Zach Benson?

Leonard is more in the mold of recent Flyers picks like Gauthier and Tyson Foerster. At just under 6 feet and 193 pounds, he plays even bigger than that and is one of the strongest players in this class. Leonard is a strong skater, potted 51 goals last year at the development program, and isn’t shy when it comes to throwing his body around or getting to the hard areas. After his huge Under-18 Worlds, people are starting to wonder whether Leonard has another gear that may have been overlooked while he played on a line with Smith and Perreault at the program.

Speaking of Perreault, he will follow Leonard and Gauthier to Boston College next season. Not a player who jumps out in terms of size (5-foot-11, 165 pounds) or speed, Perreault has gifts in his playmaking ability and creativity. Perreault broke Auston Matthews’ development program record for points in a season with 132 (53 goals, 79 assists) last season and his stock is rising. The son of longtime NHLer Yanic Perreault, he has time to get stronger and is the type of creative playmaker the Flyers have lacked at both 5-on-5 and on the power play.

I could also get behind at least the logic of rolling the dice on Moore, another development program product, and one of the draft’s most polarizing prospects. The best skater in this draft, Moore has straight-line speed that has been compared to the likes of Dylan Larkin and Connor McDavid (Yes, you read that right). The questions revolve around the end product and whether the center does enough to take full advantage of that speed.

Moore tallied a respectable 31 goals and 75 points for the national program last season but he also didn’t have the luxury of playing on a line with two other first-round picks like Leonard and Perreault did. Moore isn’t my favorite prospect, as I think some of the offensive production concerns are legitimate, but speed is something the Flyers are searching for and he has it in abundance. That said, he has an elite trait, and drafting him would be a big swing on him channeling it to become a top-end NHL player.

The Flyers have several directions they can go at No. 7 and a tough decision to make. But given the organization’s current standing and immediate prospects for the future, why not swing for the fences?