NHL announces 2024 draft lottery date with the Flyers tentatively holding pick No. 12

Although the Flyers’ future is still to be determined, they took one tiny step closer on Friday.

The NHL announced it will hold the 2024 draft lottery on May 7 at the NHL Network’s studio in Secaucus, N.J. The event will determine the order for the first 16 picks of the first round and will be broadcast on ESPN. The time is still to be determined.

After finishing with a 38-33-11 record and 87 points, the Flyers currently are slotted to pick 12th; they have the same points as the Minnesota Wild but won one fewer game in regulation.

In 2021, the NHL adopted a new format, which has been in effect since 2022, where teams can move up 10 spots at most. Therefore, if the Flyers ping pong ball is selected, they can only move up as high as the No. 2 pick. Philly cannot claim the top spot in the draft lottery and missed being one of the 11 teams in contention for the No. 1 pick by three points. The Flyers also have the Stanley Cup-contending Florida Panthers’ first-rounder to complete the Claude Giroux trade.

Compared to previous years, the 2024 draft is not considered to be a deep one. Macklin Celebrini has long been considered the top, surefire NHL talent with considerable fall-off after him. The Boston University forward was named the 2024 Hobey Baker Award winner as men’s college hockey’s top player with 32 goals and 32 assists in 38 games.

The fall-off doesn’t mean the Flyers cannot find talent in this year’s group of teenagers. According to assistant general manager Brent Flahr, the Flyers will be selecting players based on a few key traits. Akin to 2023, the team is looking for guys who are big, skilled, fast, and hardworking who play a heavy game.

“Obviously, if a player is exceptional — like Matvei Michkov’s not the biggest guy, but he’s an exceptional talent — there are things you overlook,” Flahr told The Inquirer last month. “Obviously, if you draft all small players, you become a small team eventually, so I do think size is important. But at the same time, it’s competitiveness and skill, and this year probably is one of those years where you just make sure you take the best player in every round and guys give you a chance.

“But our guys, they’ve been instructed that competitiveness is a key thing. Obviously, hockey sense and skill; we want all those things, but [playing competitively] is a hard thing to be coached up. It’s one thing [coach] John Tortorella always asks. He wants competitive guys, as you know. It’s just a hard thing to coach every day, for guys to compete, [and] work hard. It’s just something that needs to be kind of ingrained in them. That’s just a must.”

» READ MORE: Flyers assistant general manager chats 2024 NHL Draft

And regardless of where the Flyers do land, what happens next is on the players.

“We tell the kids right away, like once just development camp starts, where you’re drafted doesn’t matter. It’s all what you do from here,” Flahr said. “Obviously, high first-round picks probably get more opportunities sometimes than others because they’re higher profile or whatever. But once you get to camp, once you get back to your junior team and your development, it’s all up to you.

“Some kids are high picks and flounder, and other kids are later-round picks and they work hard and they dramatically improve, and that’s all that matters. We’re drafting young, young kids. They are 17, 18 years old. They have a long road ahead of them to get to the NHL in most cases.”