NHL draft: Meet five players the Flyers could take at No. 5

The NHL draft is right around the corner, and the only thing that’s certain is that there’s very little public certainty regarding the player who will go first overall.

Since the end of the season, draft analysts have tabbed Shane Wright, Juraj Slafkovský, and Logan Cooley as the three top prospects available this year. While Wright has long been pegged the No. 1 player, TSN’s Bob McKenzie gave the slight edge to Slafkovský, followed by Wright and Cooley, in his final draft ranking.

But regardless of whom the Montréal Canadiens select with the first overall pick on Thursday, the Flyers will have plenty of strong choices at No. 5 if they refrain from trading it away. With the expectation that Wright, Slafkovský, and Cooley are taken with the first three selections, here’s a look at the top five players the Flyers could draft with the fifth overall selection. Realistically, none of these five options will make the jump to the NHL next season and will need at least another year of development.

» READ MORE: Five years after selecting Nolan Patrick at No. 2, the Flyers must get it right in the 2022 draft

Age: 18

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 190 pounds

Position: Defense

Shoots: Right

Club: HC Plzeň (Czech Extraliga)

Jiříček has already played two full seasons of professional hockey against men with Plzeň in addition to his four-game debut in 2019-20. In 2021-22, his second full professional season, Jiříček put up five goals and six assists in 29 games, which was an improvement over his 2020-21 season (three goals, six assists in 34 games).

He has plenty of international experience representing Czechia, playing in nearly 10 tournaments over the last two seasons alone. Jiříček was one of Czechia’s top three players at the 2021 World Juniors as a 17-year-old (one goal, one assist in five games). He suffered a knee injury at the 2022 World Juniors and required surgery, which held him out for the remainder of his club season.

He returned to action at the World Championship, posting a goal and an assist in five games while playing third-pairing minutes. Jiříček helped Czechia to a bronze medal in the tournament.

As a right-shot defenseman, Jiříček could play a valuable position on a Flyers team that lacks top-end talent in the system on the right side. Especially with the uncertainty surrounding Ryan Ellis’ health looming over the Flyers, adding a right-shot, offensive-minded defenseman who projects into a top-four role could be a boon for the team down the road. At 6-3, Jiříček boasts both power and explosiveness in his skating, which pairs well with an impressive one-timer. That combination of size, athleticism, and scoring ability could be too coveted for the Flyers to pass up at No. 5.

» READ MORE: Cutter Gauthier’s size, versatility and skill could make him a fit for Flyers at No. 5

Age: 18

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 194 pounds

Position: Center/left wing

Shoots: Left

Club: U.S. U18 (National Team Development Program)

In 54 games during the 2021-22 season with the U.S. NTDP, Gauthier finished second on the team in goals with 34 and had 31 assists for 65 points. He played on the wing with Cooley at center and also played some center himself.

Gauthier had a productive U18 World Championship. He scored three goals and registered six assists in six games as a member of the silver-medal-winning team. Gauthier tied for third on the team in scoring.

The Flyers certainly have a need at center, as a litany of injuries up the middle to players including Sean Couturier and Kevin Hayes exposed just how organizationally thin the Flyers are at the position. But do NHL teams view Gauthier as a prospective center? He has plenty of tools that the Flyers value and would align with Chuck Fletcher’s team-wide “hard to play against” aspiration, from his strength to his shot to his hands to his forechecking ability. However, it’s up for debate whether Gauthier is better suited to play wing at the NHL level. Gauthier will continue to take more reps at center when he plays at Boston College next season.

Age: 18

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 192 pounds

Position: Defense

Shoots: Right

Club: HK Nitra (Slovak Extraliga)

Like Jiříček, Nemec has two full years of professional hockey experience on his resumé, although the Slovak Extraliga is considered to be a less challenging professional league than the Czech Extraliga. He first played in the league at 15 years old (three assists in 12 games). Nemec had an especially productive season in 2021-22, posting one goal and 25 assists in 39 games. The previous season, Nemec registered two goals and 17 assists in 37 games.

Nemec found international success with Slovakia throughout the 2021-22 tournament season. He earned the Hlinka Gretzky Cup’s most valuable player award, captaining the silver-medal team and registering one goal and five assists in five games. He also won bronze at the Olympics, played in his second World Juniors, and appeared at the World Championship.

While the Flyers may covet Nemec for his handedness at his position just like Jiříček, the two defensemen are quite different. Nemec is viewed as the less offensively flashy defenseman when compared with Jiříček, but he brings value in his reliability, his decision-making, and his puck-moving skills. Like Jiříček, Nemec projects at the very least into a top-four role at the NHL level. The fact that Nemec is so steady may make him the safer choice of the top two defensemen. However, there’s a chance that he might not be available to the Flyers at No. 5 if Wright, Slafkovský, and Cooley are off the board when the Seattle Kraken pick at No. 4, thus his No. 3 ranking on this list.

Age: 18

Height: 5-foot-11

Weight: 176 pounds

Position: Right wing

Shoots: Right

Club: JYP Jyväskylä (Liiga, Finland)

In 2021-22, Kemell experienced plenty of highs and lows in his first full pro season with JYP. In the first part of the season, Kemell registered 12 goals and six assists in 16 games (1.125 points per game). At the time, he led the Finnish Liiga in scoring at just 17 years old.

But after Kemell suffered an upper-body injury in early November, he was sidelined for a month and never managed to return to his previous scoring pace. Upon his Dec. 3, 2021 return to action, he was held scoreless for 13 games through February. In total, Kemell notched 15 goals and 23 points in 39 games.

Kemell had a busy international competition slate for Finland in his draft year. He played in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup (five goals, one assist in five games), the U18 World Championship (six goals and two assists in five games), and the World Juniors.

The Flyers ranked second-to-last in the league in goals per game (2.56) in 2021-22. If Fletcher would like to turn the Flyers’ scoring fortunes around in the near future, drafting Kemell should be a topic of conversation. He possesses one of the best shots in this year’s draft class and knows how to put himself into scoring position. Kemell is relatively undersized, requiring him (and plenty of other 18-year-old draft prospects, for what it’s worth) to add strength to play at the next level. But the Flyers arguably have the most organizational depth at right wing, which could play a role in a tiebreaker scenario on the draft floor. This may make Kemell a less likely option when compared with Jiříček, Nemec, and Gauthier.

» READ MORE: Potential Flyers target Matthew Savoie uses size criticism ‘as motivation’

Age: 18

Height: 5-foot-9

Weight: 179 pounds

Position: Center

Shoots: Right

Club: Winnipeg ICE (WHL)

After the WHL suspended its 2020-21 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Savoie played his first full major junior season with the Eastern Conference champion Winnipeg ICE in his draft year.

He led the team in scoring with 90 points (35 goals, 55 assists) in 65 games, which was nine points ahead of 2020 Flyers sixth-round pick Connor McClennon (43 goals, 38 assists). That scoring total ranked seventh in the WHL and first among rookies. Savoie suffered a shoulder injury in Game 2 of Winnipeg’s conference final series against the Edmonton Oil Kings that held him out for the remainder of the playoffs.

Fletcher said that the Flyers need to add more high-end skill to its ranks, and Savoie would check that box. He’s a prolific scorer and playmaker with dynamic skating ability. At 5-9, his size may be a bit of a concern to NHL teams, who may find him better suited to play on the wing than at center. The risk may outweigh the reward when it comes to drafting Savoie, especially as high as the No. 5 selection, hence his fifth-place ranking on this list. But the Flyers can’t make a decision on size alone and, in hindsight, pass on a future star.