The New New Unending Flyers thread

[Florida_Sunshine]

I think we came into the draft needing some size to complement our small skilled players. Hopefully we have a good balance now. I am pretty happy with where we are now.

[Austinfan]

Good article on Nesbitt, written by Detroit writer before the draft, so it isn't a Flyer propaganda piece.

How Flyers’ Jack Nesbitt became one of the biggest risers at the 2025 NHL Draft

Amico is an upside gamble, huge D-man who had a knee injury and only played 17g last season.

Two forwards with grit and skills, Murtaugh August B-day so gambling there's more upside there, Vansaghi is a "Foerster" special, talented forward who has skating issues, if you improve his skating you have a 1st round value.

Gard joins Berglund as big bottom six centers, you have Zegras, Jett, Couts, Cates, Nesbitt, someone has to do the 4th line dirty work, so it'll be between these two and Dorwart (expect Gaucher to move to RW in NHL due to skating).

In 3 drafts and some trades (Zegras, Pelletier, Grebenkin, Grans), Danny has rebuilt organizational depth.
LHV will be deep in prospects next season, with a bunch more in college and SHL/KHL.

[Docs]

In the fifth round with the 132 pick the Flyers select Swedish wing Max Westergard. Interesting search, he is one of the youngest players in the draft and averaged over a point a game in Swedish juniors, looking around at his rankings lots of people had him ranked much higher. Interesting pick and nice upside/potential

[VoteForKalas]

Flyers draft LW Max Westergard from Finland in the 5th round - 5' 11" and 161 lbs

[zambonir]

Well which is it?

[Squire]

He's Finnish and playing in the Swedish Juniors.

[zambonir]

I figured that was probably it

[Docs]

And with the 157th pick the Flyers get back on script to take 6’5” Canadian defender Luke Vlooswyk. And by Canadian i only mean he played in Canada

[Squire]

Flyers Draft Thoughts:

1. They used 1 pick in the Zegras trade
2. They used 1 pick to move up in the first (#31 and #22 for #12)
3. They made only 1 other trade and that was a pick push #36 and #68 for #38 and #57.
4. They pushed no picks into the 2026 draft
5. Positional breakdown (Wingers - 4, Centers - 3, Defenseman - 2, Goalies - 0)

[Florida_Sunshine]

We must be looking for someone Pronger can mentor.

[jimbomill]

Martone had the best skills for the position but he’s not the greatest skater. There are serious questions with almost every prospect here. It’s a buyers beware situation.

I agree. Selecting players who have skating concerns strikes me as a risk.

[jimbomill]

Good article on Nesbitt, written by Detroit writer before the draft, so it isn't a Flyer propaganda piece.

That it was - a good article. I would have liked to have read more about his shot, or his passing abilities, but the article won me over a bit on Nesbitt, all the same.

[Austinfan]

Comes down to scouting and coaching.

A number of poor skaters at 18 have become excellent skaters at 22, as kids mature, some gain lower body strength, and with coaching, fix the flaws in their skating style.

Others, not so much.

Why skating ability has such an impact on NHL Draft scouting and success

[VoteForKalas]

Minimizing skating ability and speed in general as a scouting and drafting priority has been a long term trend with the Flyers unfortunately.

I've never understood that, but especially now when skating skill and speed have become even more important and linked more strongly to development success. It only makes sense - hard to get and keep the puck consistently and thus score consistently or defend well without good skating ability.

[phillychuck]

Anyone want to postulate the starting group (4 lines) and dsefensemen (3 pairs) for next year?

[xogfog]

Foerster - Zegras - Michkov
Tippett - Couturier - Konecny
Brink - Luchanko - Shabanov
Pelletier - Cates - Hathaway

Sanheim - Drysdale
York - Seeler
Zamula - Ristolainen
Andrae

[phillychuck]

I’m really excited thinking about a Michkov/Zegras/Martone line...are we thinking Martone can make the team out of camp? Or is he a full year away?

Are they going to break up Foerster/Cates/Brink?

[Docs]

I’ve been consuming as much flyer content as I can this weekend, and I stumbled across a podcast interview of Rick Tocchett. I was very impressed with his interview, especially the make up of his support staff. The big Takeaway for me was that he understands the importance of good communication and he has surrounded himself with smart people that do specific things very well. He seems to understand his weaknesses and made sure that there are other people on the staff that lift him up in those areas. He Does not seem to have a huge ego, I really liked what I heard.

[Docs]

Or is he a full year away?

Everything i heard is that they are leaning towards giving him another year or at least more time before calling him up. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jett also has another year in juniors.

[Docs]

I also think the flyers plan to get their 1C and top defender in free agency after next season.