When it comes to system depth, the Flyers are considerably stronger at wing than they’re at middle. Nonetheless, Flyers basic supervisor has pledged that the crew will take whichever accessible participant is on the prime of their inside rankings of Draft-eligible prospects when their first choice comes up within the first spherical. Whether or not the participant is a middle, winger or defenseman won’t be the deciding issue.
In our take a look at a number of the most notable facilities accessible on this 12 months’s Draft, we famous that a number of are “swingman” candidates who might find yourself primarily enjoying on a wing within the NHL even when they’re at present listed as facilities.
For this version, we’ll take a look at 5 pure wingers. Whereas it isn’t unprecedented for a junior winger to be transformed to a middle on the professional degree — longtime Flyers captain Claude Giroux being essentially the most notable Philly instance — that is much less widespread than a junior league middle or swingman change into unique wingers within the NHL. For instance, longtime Flyers star left winger Simon Gagne was a middle within the QMJHL. Present Flyers winger Travis Konecny performed each middle and proper wing within the OHL.
Within the projected defenseman-heavy prime half to prime 18 of the 2024 Draft, listed below are 5 wingers who might hear their identify known as in Vegas on Friday:
Ivan Demidov (RW, SKA St. Petersburg, KHL)
Demidov is usually in contrast by followers and scouts to present NHL star Kirill Kaprisov or to a different participant who got here up by the SKA growth chain: Flyers 2023 first-round decide Matvei Michov. Demidov has a really excessive offensive ceiling, though Michkov made a faster affect offensively within the KHL.
Demidov spent a lot of the 2023-24 season at Russia’s junior degree (MHL, 30 video games). He additionally noticed 4 video games within the KHL prime professional and wearing one sport on the minor league professional (VHL) degree. Conversely, Michkov spent a mixed 30 video games within the KHL between SKA and HC Sochi in his Draft-eligible 2022-23 season.
If Demidov comes near maximizing his potential, he’s able to changing into a high-end scorer within the NHL. Different areas of his sport want work as he positive factors expertise however the 6-foot, 192 pound winger is taken into account to be a possible top-three (probably even prime two) to top-five decide based mostly upon his expertise degree. He is particularly lethal in transition.
Beckett Sennecke (RW, Oshawa Generals, OHL)
Sennecke rose with a bullet in pundit Draft projections through the second half of the 2023-24. There’s nonetheless some rawness to his sport however Sennecke has a projectable NHL 6-foot-2 body that ought to fill out within the subsequent few years. He’s prepared to go to the exhausting areas of the ice. competes for the puck in all three zones and has proven the potential each to complete and arrange performs.
Sennecke has change into a preferred decide to land within the prime half of the primary spherical on this 12 months’s Draft, even amongst some who see his upside primarily as a future top-six complementary linemate to a high-end middle.
Cole Eiserman (LW, USNTDP)
Eiserman entered the 2023-24 season extensively thought-about to be a possible top-two Draft candidate for this 12 months’s Draft. Though he went on to set a brand new USNTDP scoring file, Eiserman fell out of the projected top-10 (in some circumstances, out of the projected top-half) of the 2024 Draft in keeping with the pundits.
Eiserman is a divisive participant in a lot the identical vogue as longtime NHLers Phil Kessel, though they aren’t clones as gamers. Eiserman, like Kessel, has A+ arms and the flexibility to attain in bunches. He also can end from vary. Eiserman has extra of a bodily dimension than Kessel.
Nonetheless, Eiserman has simply as many critics as admirers, starting from his total contributions if not scoring, to coachability, to motor. For these causes, he went from a pre-season “slam dunk” for a top-five decide to a wildcard who could possibly be taken off the board early or might slide into the middle-round territory.
Liam Greentree (LW, Windsor Spitfires, OHL)
So long as Greentree can work round some skating deficiencies — in a lot the identical vogue as Flyers winger Tyson Foerster — he has all of the instruments to change into in affect ahead within the NHL sometime. He is already bodily mature (6-foot-3, 210 kilos), confirmed the flexibility each to make performs (54 assists) and the potential to complete (34 targets) as effectively.
Defensively accountable, unafraid of battling for pucks or enjoying by contact, and already exhibiting management potential, Greentree has lots of the components of a traditional energy ahead however he additionally possesses extra finesse to his sport to simply categorize with that label. Huge-and-skilled is a horny mixture of attributes for many organizations, however the skating points are one thing the participant might want to deal with over the following few seasons.
Andrew Basha (LW. Medication Hat Tigers, WHL)
Pundit Draft projections for Basha are likely to vary wherever from the top-18 to the early second spherical. Nonetheless, it might not be a shock if he comes off the board nearer to the entrance finish of that vary.
Playmaking wingers are typically valued a bit of decrease than goal-scoring varieties, however Basha additionally possesses effectively above-average pace. He has a projectable middle-six upside within the skilled sport.
Though Basha is a pass-first sort of attacker, he also can rating opportunistic targets. He completed the 2023-24 season with 30 targets (55 assists and 85 factors in 63 video games) through the common season. He scored three targets and added two assists in 5 playoff video games as his crew was knocked out by the Purple Deer Rebels within the first spherical of the 2024 playoffs. His No. 1 asset, nevertheless, is his creativity with the puck and his deft passing contact.
Basha possesses common measurement (listed at 6-0 and 185 kilos by some sources, 5-foot-11, 175 kilos by others). He’s a late-year birthday participant (born Nov. 8, 2005), which is one thing that works in opposition to him in public rankings.
Different names to look at: Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (Mora IK, Allsvenskan), Teddy Stiga (USNTDP), Ryder Ritchie (RW, Prince Albert Raiders), Igor Chernyshov (Dynamo Moscow, KHL).