Flyers grab second spot in NHL draft lottery
Based on their regular season record, the team would have picked 13th in the first round.
The Flyers defied the odds in the NHL draft lottery on Saturday night and, as a result, could get a generational player with their first selection.
They went from No. 13 to No. 2 in the draft and figure to select a center who has the potential to be a star.
New Jersey won the lottery, vaulting from the fifth spot, and will pick first for the first time since the franchise moved from Colorado.
The draft will be held June 23-24 in Chicago.
The Flyers' odds of getting the top selection were just 2.2 percent, and their odds of getting the No. 2 pick were just slightly higher.
"I feel like we had a lot of bad luck this year and I'm hoping this is a turning point for that to be turned around," Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said in a conference call with reporters.
Colorado, at 18 percent, had the best chance to get the No. 1 overall pick. But the Avs fell to No. 4 in the draft.
Dallas went from No. 8 to No. 3. The expansion team in Las Vegas will pick this year, but the Golden Knights had no luck in the lottery and fell to the sixth spot.
Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings in the Western Hockey League is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick. He is a former WHL teammate of Flyers rookie Ivan Provorov.
Centers Niko Hischier, Martin Necas, and Gabriel Vilardi are projected as the next three picks.
Most scouts have the 6-foot, 174-pound Hischier just below Patrick. The Swiss center had 38 goals and 86 points in 57 games this season for Halifax and was named rookie of the year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
According to the Flyers, this is the second time in franchise history they will have the No. 2 overall pick. They selected James van Riemsdyk in 2007.
The team said it has had only six draft picks in the top 5 of a draft, and four of those six selections came before 1991.
Here are those picks: 1967, Serge Bernier at No. 5; 1975, Mel Bridgman at No. 1; 1982, Ron Sutter at No. 4; 1990, Mike Ricci at No. 4; 2002, Joni Pitkanen at No. 4 and van Riemsdyk.
1. New Jersey Devils
2. Philadelphia Flyers
3. Dallas Stars
4. Colorado Avalanche
5. Vancouver Canucks
6. Vegas Golden Knights
7. Arizona Coyotes
8. Buffalo Sabres
9. Detroit Red Wings
10. Florida Panthers
11. Los Angeles Kings
12. Carolina Hurricanes
13. Winnipeg Jets
14. Tampa Bay Lightning
15. New York Islanders
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