Ranking the Last 10 Flyers’ Draft Classes
Before the NHL season was suspended, the Flyers were having one of their best seasons in recent history.
Thanks, in large part, to their youth taking a giant leap forward.
Travis Konecny leads the team in points and goals. Ivan Provorov continues to prove he is a number one defenseman. Travis Sanheim has made huge strides. Carter Hart looks like the goaltender of the future. Robert Hagg, Phil Myers, and Joel Farabee have become mainstays in the lineup. Even Nicolas Aube-Kubel has been a very solid bottom-six forward.
This season has been in the making for a while now.
While the Flyers as a team have been lackluster on ice for much of the last decade, they have been adding these promising young players through the draft in hopes of them turning into solid NHL players.
Although a painful process to sit through, especially in the NHL where many players never pan out, it was a necessary process for a Flyers team that had a barren prospect pool in the early 2010s.
Let’s take a look back at some recent Flyers draft classes and how they rank among each other in regards to how they’re performing for the Flyers and/or their potential.
10) 2010 Draft Class
Photo: Jim McIsaac
3rd round – Michael Chaput, C
4th round – Tye McGinn, LW
5th round – Michael Parks, RW
6th round – Nick Luukko, D
7th round – Ricard Blidstrand, D / Brendan Ranford, LW
After their miraculous run to the Stanley Cup Final, the Flyers put together a forgetful 2010 draft class.
Without a pick in the first two rounds, GM Paul Holmgren looked for talent in the mid-to-late rounds but came up empty.
Michael Chaput never suited up with the Flyers and was traded less than a year later to Columbus for enforcer Tom Sestito. Tye McGinn played 36 games for the Flyers in 2012 and 2013, bounced around the league, and is now out of the NHL altogether.
As for the rest, none suited up for the Flyers with only seventh-rounder Brendan Ranford playing in an NHL game (one with Dallas).
9) 2013 Draft Class
Photo: Getty Images
1st round – Samuel Morin, D
2nd round – Robert Hagg, D
3rd round – Tyrell Goulbourne, LW
5th round – Terrance Amorosa, D
6th round – Merrick Madsen, G
7th round – David Drake, D
The last draft under Paul Holmgren, the Flyers’ haul from 2013 hasn’t really planned out.
11th overall pick Sam Morin just hasn’t been able to stay healthy and is currently recovering from his second ACL injury in the last two years.
Robert Hagg has been the Flyers’ best selection from 2013 and has turned in a fairly solid 2019-20 season as a third-pairing defenseman.
Tyrell Goulbourne played 11 games for the Flyers and is now suiting up for the Blues’ AHL team while Amorosa, Madsen, and Drake are all in the ECHL.
8) 2019 Draft Class
Photo: Andre Ringuette/Getty Images
1st round – Cameron York, D
2nd round – Bobby Brink, RW
3rd round – Ronald Attard, D
4th round – Mason Millman, D
6th round – Egor Serdyuk, RW / Roddy Ross, G
7th round – Bryce Brodzinski, RW
While still way too early to draw any conclusions about players drafted last summer, there is some great potential from 2019’s draft class.
Specifically, Cam York and Bobby Brink; both of whom are playing in the NCAA.
Selected 14th overall, York turned in a solid freshman season with the University of Michigan, finishing fourth in points with 16 in 30 games. While 34th overall pick, Bobby Brink finished third on the team with 11 goals and sixth in points with 24 in 28 games.
Third-round pick Ronnie Attard also turned in a nice freshman season with Western Michigan.
All in all, this draft class looks to have promise but it is still too early to rank them any higher.
7) 2018 Draft Class
Photo: Michael Ainsworth
1st round – Joel Farabee, LW / Jay O’Brien, C
2nd round – Adam Ginning, D
4th round – John St. Ivany, D
5th round – Wyatte Wylie, D / Samuel Ersson, G
6th round – Gavin Hain, C
7th round – Marcus Westfalt, C
Another draft that is still too early to judge but I’d consider the 2018 draft on par with 2019.
So far, this draft has only produced Joel Farabee for the Flyers. Now in his rookie season, the 14th overall pick has managed to carve out a spot in the lineup after a stint in the AHL to begin the season and has produced well at just 19 years old.
After Farabee, the rest of the Flyers’ 2018 draft class is still an unknown.
Including, Jay O’Brien, the Flyers’ second first-round pick who had an awful season at Providence in 2018-19 (5 points in 25 games), played in the BCHL this season, and is now committed to Boston University for next season.
O’Brien was definitely a surprise pick at 19th overall and though he’s still just 20 years old, the results so far don’t look great.
As for the rest of the draft, none of the Flyers selections have made themselves stand out with the exception of defenseman Wyatte Wylie who recently signed his ELC with the Flyers.
The fifth-round pick just finished his fifth and last season with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips where he registered 64 points in 62 games – second-highest in the WHL for a defenseman.
6) 2017 Draft Class
Photo: NHL.com
1st round – Nolan Patrick, C / Morgan Frost, C
2nd round – Isaac Ratcliffe, LW
3rd round – Kirill Ustimenko, G
4th round – Matthew Strome, LW / Maksim Sushko, RW
5th round – Noah Cates, LW
6th round – Olle Lycksell, RW
7th round – Wyatt Kalynuk, D
Winning the draft lottery albeit, in a weak draft class, the Flyers were able to select Nolan Patrick at second overall. While it’s unfair to compare him to recent second overall picks like Jake Eichel and Patrick Laine, it is fair to question what Nolan Patrick’s ceiling is.
In years past, he was thrust into a second-line center role – producing 61 points in 145 games before missing the 2019-20 season with a migraine disorder.
As it stands, we’ll likely have to wait until next season to see if Patrick can take the next step as the third-line center with Kevin Hayes locking down the 2C.
Taken 25 picks later at 27th overall, Morgan Frost has moved on from dominating the OHL and is now with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms where he’s notched 29 points in 41 games. Frost also appeared in 20 games with the Flyers where he totaled seven points. With more time, the 20-year-old looks like he has a future with the Flyers.
Second-round pick Isaac Ratcliffe, like Frost, dominated the OHL before signing with the Flyers last summer. The 6’6″ winger didn’t turn in an overly-impressive season with the Phantoms with 15 points but his size and skill still make him an interesting piece for the future.
5) 2012 Draft Class
Photo: Charles LeClaire/US Presswire
1st round – Scott Laughton, C
2nd round – Anthony Stolarz, G
3rd round – Shayne Gostisbehere, D
4th round – Frederic Larsson, D / Taylor Leier, LW
5th round – Reece Willcox, D
7th round – Valeri Vasiliev, D
This draft is a tough one to grade with Laughton and Gostisbehere being on different trajectories.
For a while, Scott Laughton was nothing more than a fringe NHL player at best but has proven himself of being an above-average bottom-six player over the last two seasons.
Obviously, you’d like more from a first-round pick but Laughton plays a role for the Flyers and does it very well.
On the other side, Gostisbehere looked like a steal in the third round for the Flyers during his first full season in 2015-16. He backed that up with a huge season in 2017-18, but has been riddled with injuries and struggled to contribute over the last two years.
Still, for a third-round pick, Gostisbehere has exceeded expectations that come with his draft position.
As for the rest, Anthony Stolarz had a few stints with the Flyers before being traded to Edmonton for Cam Talbot last season. Taylor Leier and Reece Willcox look like just AHL players.
Overall, we’ll call this a slightly-above-average draft for now.
4) 2011 Draft Class
Photo: —
1st round – Sean Couturier, C
3rd round – Nick Cousins, C
4th round – Colin Suellentrop, D / Marcel Noebels, LW
6th round – Petr Placek, RW
7th round – Derek Mathers, RW
As a whole, this draft does not look great. Nick Cousins is a bottom-six player and isn’t with the Flyers anymore. Collin Suellentrop, Petr Placek, and Derek Mathers no longer play professional hockey. Marcel Noebels has turned into just an overseas player in the German DEL.
But god damn it, Sean Couturier is so good. You could make the argument he’s the Flyers’ most important player with all he does on both ends of the ice.
He singlehandedly saved the Flyers’ 2011 draft class from being a complete disaster and shoots them all the way up to fourth on my list.
3) 2014 Draft Class
Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
1st round – Travis Sanheim, D
2nd round – Nicolas Aube-Kubel, RW
3rd round – Mark Friedman, D
5th round – Oskar Lindblom, LW
6th round – Fadel Fazleev, C
7th round – Jesper Pettersson, D
The first draft under Ron Hextall was a very good one.
While none are stars just yet, the 2014 draft class has produced some great pieces for the Flyers moving forward.
The most obvious one being 17th overall pick Travis Sanheim who has been a reliable top-four defenseman and show flashes of being a very good top-pairing player.
Then, Hextall found a diamond in the rough with fifth-rounder Oskar Lindblom who was leading the Flyers in goals this season before his diagnosis with Ewing’s Sarcoma in December.
Once an afterthought of the 2014 draft class, Nicolas Aube-Kubel has come onto the scene as a great fourth-line winger with the potential to stick around. While third-rounder Mark Friedman has been a viable seventh defenseman.
2) 2016 Draft Class
Photo: NHL.com
1st round – German Rubstov, C
2nd round – Pascal Laberge, C / Carter Hart, G / Wade Allison, RW
3rd round – Carsen Twarynski, LW
4th round – Connor Bunnaman, C
5th round – Linus Hogberg, D
6th round – Tanner Laczynski, C / Anthony Salintri, C
7th round – David Bernhardt, D
No, their first two selections in German Rubstov and Pascal Laberge panned out yet but the rest of the class look very good.
The selection of Carter Hart in the second round cannot be emphasized enough. It is looking like a franchise-altering pick for a team that hasn’t had an elite goalie in over 20 years. While he’s still very young, it’s easy to see that Carter Hart has “it”.
Overshadowed by Hart, the 2014 draft also produced Carsen Twarynski and Connor Bunnaman who have both played stints with the Flyers and have future role-player potential.
6th rounder Tanner Laczynski also turned into a good NCAA player at Ohio State and is likely headed to the Phantoms next year.
1) 2015 Draft Class
Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
1st round – Ivan Provorov, D / Travis Konecny, RW
3rd round – Felix Sandstrom, G / Matej Tomek, G
4th round – Samuel Dove-McFalls, LW / Mikhail Vorobyev, C
5th round – David Kase, RW
6th round – Cooper Marody, C
7th round – Ivan Fedotov, G
Drafting a great player in the first round isn’t very easy to do in the NHL. But to draft two? It’s almost unheard of.
The selections of Provorov and Konecny have proven to be huge during their success this season. Provorov is a minute-logging machine, averaging over 24 minutes per game and is on his way to being a future Norris Trophy candidate.
While, Konecny, at just 22 years old, is leading the Flyers in points with 64 and was on pace to top 30 goals before the season was suspended.
The rest of the draft hasn’t produced much besides a promising goaltender in Felix Sandstrom but hitting on their two first-rounders like they did makes the 2015 draft class the best over the last decade.
Featured Image: Derik Hamilton/AP
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