After an uncharacteristic regular season during a rebuild, finishing 21st in the standings with a 38-33-11 record, the Philadelphia Flyers will select 12th overall in the NHL Draft on June 28 with 85.7% odds prior to the NHL Draft lottery.
General Manager Daniel Briere and the Flyers brass have been vocal about how they will handle this rebuild and not tanking or bottoming out is the conscience. So, drafting outside of the top 10 without trading up or draft lottery luck would be the likely outcome this season.
Similar to last year there were some surprising changes in the order. The San Jose Sharks won the draft lottery, finishing last with the best odds to draft first. The Chicago Blackhawks stay at 2nd and the Anaheim Ducks will select within third overall.
Compared to last season with Connor Bedard up for grabs things have been less intense, at least for the Flyers who could only move up a max of 10 spots leaving them out of the Macklin Celebrini sweepstakes. However, some unlikely odds were still on the table for the orange and black, with a 5.1% chance of jumping to second overall and a minimal 0.1% chance at third and fourth.
The Flyers could have a tough choice at the draft depending on how the board falls. Regarding political issues still glooming Ivan Demidov could be available, similar to Matvei Michkov at seventh overall last year. Carter Yakemchuk, Tig Iginla, Konsta Helenius, and Berkly Catton. A long array of high talent could be up for grabs.