From Ottawa, Ontario to Montréal, Québec, we see another 1-2 punch of an elite center and elite defenseman. John Tavares would go first to Long Island, and Tampa Bay would help their rebuild by selecting Victor Hedman second. The Flyers had a pretty weak draft to be quite frank. This is another draft with only a few picks and boy did Paul Holmgren have Tampa Bay’s GMs on speed dial, and just keep passing Prospal back and forth.
*All stats are from prior to the 2020-21 season unless noted otherwise*
First Pick: Round 3 Pick 20 (81)
Original Pick: Adam Morrison (G)
New Pick: Craig Smith (C) (98)
This pick was acquired in a Feb 20, 2008 trade that sent Jim Vandermeer to Calgary for this pick
Adam Morrison played in two AHL games, both for the Providence Bruins, and spent the bulk of the rest of his career in the ECHL. Smith has played in 661 games for the Nashville Predators. In those 661 games, Smith had 162 goals and 168 assists for 330 points. He currently plays for the Boston Bruins.
Others in contention: Cody Eakin (85)
Second Pick: Round 3 Pick 26 (87)
Original Pick: Simon Bertilsson (D)
New Pick: Mattias Ekholm (D) (102)
This pick was acquired in a Nov 7, 2008 trade that send Steve Downie, Steve Eminger, and 4th (93-Alex Hutchings) to Tampa Bay for Matt Carle and this pick
Simon Bertilsson never played in North America. He has spent his whole career with Brynäs IF in the SHL except for the 2019-20 season when he played for HC Sochi in the KHL. Mattias Ekholm has played in 538 NHL games all with the Predators. In those games, he has 45 goals and 151 assists for 196 points. This is a name that Flyers twitter should know, since he was heavily rumored to be coming to the Flyers. He has been a very good top 4 Dman with D cores that included Shea Weber, PK Subban, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Seth Jones, and Dante Fabbro.
Others in contention: Casey Cizikas (92), David Savard (94), Chris Wideman (100), Marcus Foligno (104), Sami Vatanen (106), Ben Chiarot (120), Mike Hoffman (130)
Third Pick: Round 5 Pick 22 (142)
Original Pick: Nicola Riopel (G)
New Pick: Anders Lee (C) (152)
Riopel played in 12 AHL games for the Adirondack Phantoms and Syracuse Crunch, otherwise his North American career was spent in the ECHL. Anders Lee has played 520 NHL games all with the Islanders. In those games he has 184 goals and 136 assists for 320 points. He is currently the captain for the Islanders, and will be the last Islander to wear the number 27 after he was told that Isles legend John Tonelli would be honored for him to continue wearing the number.
Others in contention: Marcus Kruger (149), Nick Jensen (150)
Fourth Pick: Round 6 Pick 2 (153)
Original Pick: Dave Labrecque (C)
New Pick: Darcy Kuemper (G) (161)
This pick was acquired in a June 30, 2008 trade that sent Janne Niskala to Tampa Bay for. this pick
Labrecque never played professional hockey in North America. Darcy Keumper has played in 215 NHL games for the Wild, Kings, and Coyotes and had a 96-72-29 record with a 2.46 GAA, .918 sv%, and 18 shutouts. Kuemper went to the 2020 NHL All Star Game.
Others in contention: none
Fifth Pick: Round 6 Pick 21 (172)
Original Pick: Eric Wellwood (LW)
New Pick: Erik Haula (LW) (182)
Eric Wellwood played in 31 NHL games for the Flyers in his short and tragic pro career. In those 31 games he had 5 goals and 5 assists for 10 points. Wellwood was seen as a promising prospect for the Flyers when he cut the back of his right leg severing 70% of his achilles tendon along with 3 other tendons being completely severed. That led to an infamous picture of his skate all bloody, I’m not going to show it here, but you can find it easily if you wanna see it. Haula has played 405 games for the Wild, Golden Knights, Hurricanes, and Panthers. In those games he had 85 goals and 90 assists for 175 points. He is currently playing for the Predators.
Others in contention: none
Sixth Pick: Round 7 Pick 15 (196)
Original Pick: Oliver Lauridsen (D)
New Pick: Nic Dowd (C) (198)
This pick was acquired in a June 21, 2008 trade that sent our 2008 7th (208-Nick Pryor) to Anaheim for this pick
Lauridsen played in 16 games for the Flyers and had 2 goals and 1 assist for 3 points. The rest of his North American career was spent with the Phantoms before going over to Europe. Nic Dowd has played 251 NHL games for the Kings, Canucks, and Capitals and has 24 goals and 39 assists for 63 points.
Others in contention: none
Draft Picks Traded Away
1st (21-John Moore)+2010 1st (29-Emerson Etem)+2010/2011 conditional 3rd (if PHI won the 2010 Cup, so not exercised)+Joffrey Lupul+Luca Sbisa to ANA for Chris Pronger+Ryan Dingle
2nd (52-Richard Panik (since PHI made the 2008 ECF))+Alexandre R Picard to TB for Vaclav Prospal
3rd (82-Cameron Abney)+Joni Pitkanen+Geoff Sanderson to EDM for Joffrey Lupul+Jason Smith
4th (TB) (93- Alex Hutchings)+Steve Downie+Steve Eminger to TB for Matt Carle+3rd (87-Simon Bertilsson)
4th (112-Lane MacDermid (conditional: 3rd if we re-signed Andrew Alberts after the 08-09 season))+Ned Lukacevic to BOS for Andrew Alberts
7th (202-Maxwell Tardy)+Triston Grant to NSH for Janne Niskala
Flyers Real 2009 Draft
Adam Morrison
Simon Bertilsson
Nicola Riopel
Dave Labrecque
Eric Wellwood
Oliver Lauridsen
Flyers New 2009 Draft
Cody Eakin
Mattias Ekholm
Anders Lee
Darcy Kuemper
Erik Haula
Nic Dowd
Tampa and Philly playing Hot Potato
I wanna fully explain what the hell happened with the 93rd pick because us and the Lightning were just best friends for this draft. So, on Feb 25, 2008 we got Vaclav “Vinny” Prospal from Tampa Bay for Alexandre Picard and a conditional pick in 2009. The condition was that it was a 3rd unless the Flyers made it to the 2008 Eastern Conference Final, then it would become a 2009 2nd. We made the ECF in 2008 so our 2009 2nd went to Tampa Bay. Then we traded Prospal back to Tampa Bay on June 18, 2009 for Nashville’s 2008 7th round pick, which we used to pick Joacim Eriksson, and Tampa’s 2009 4th round pick, but there was a condition. The condition was that it would be sent to Philly if Prospal re-signed with Tampa Bay, which he did. We then traded Steve Downie, Steve Eminger, and the 4th round pick we got in the previous trade to Tampa Bay on Nov 7, 2008 for San Jose’s 2009 3rd, which we used to select Simon Bertilsson, and Matt Carle.
The trade where Tampa Bay’s 6th round pick was sent to us was not at all involved with the in that mess.
How Many Players Did We Get Right This Decade?
We made the right choice 8 times this decade. 8/80 picks that Bobby Clarke and Paul Holmgren picked that I would still pick. One was the very last pick, and most of the others were late 7th round picks.
By Noah Caplan (@Phlyers24 and @NoahlyPod)
Photo creds: Wikipedia
brotherlypuck.com 