The week of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft is upon us! The Philadelphia Flyers are slated to select 21st overall, but after making the playoffs for the first time in six years, there is now a reason to believe Danny Briere should consider trading the pick in the name of main roster help.
So let’s go through and weigh the options of keeping or trading the 21st overall pick!
Keep
When the season ended and Danny Briere returned to the word “rebuild” during his exit interviews, even after their second round playoff appearance, it sure felt like they’re right back on the hamster wheel of stagnation rather than seeing it as “go time.”
It was a disappointing, but not unexpected direction. Some interpreted it as Briere playing his cards close to his chest, but if you’re familiar with the way the Flyers typically take the path of least resistance during offseasons, setting the expectations low and walking away with nothing special should be expected.
Maybe the biggest reason to keep the pick is simply because there isn’t a great target via trade to give it up for. Darnell Nurse is probably the guy the Flyers have been most linked to ahead of the offseason. Is a 31-year-old defenseman they don’t really need the guy to give that pick up for? Not really.
The real idea with keeping the pick is that the Flyers probably punt the ball down the road a bit, and eventually use whoever they draft as cannon fodder in a trade a few years from now rather than having to be forced to make that decision this year.
Which is a fine option, but that doesn’t really hold anybody’s feet to the fire to see replicable success next season. It’s just delaying and dragging their feet to buy themselves time like they always do.
Trade
There’s no real soft way to put this, so here it is- The Flyers draft like shit and develop even worse.
There’s nobody they can select from 21st overall that will help them in their immediate quest to make the playoffs in 2027.
In the absolute best case, who are they going to take at 21 that is going to contribute in the next two to three years? If you’re lucky, maybe they find a guy who can, but that late in the first round is very much in the crapshoot range where you hope the guy can even crack the AHL one day, let alone jump with both feet into the depths of an NHL roster.
Yes, the Flyers could use another prospect or two in the pipeline, but do they need another Jett Luchanko caliber of player? No. They need high-end talent, and the odds of finding that so late in the first round is unlikely.
Finding main roster help that can carry the Flyers to consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in 15 years far outweighs another faceless prospect to overhype.
Conclusion
What’s likely to happen versus what should happen are probably two very different stories. They should probably be trading the pick for main roster help, but chances are the Flyers draft someone at 21.
Maybe they move up or down a couple spots, the Flyers have been a bit cheeky when it comes to draft-day deals. Though, that typically results in big-brain picks that don’t really pan out, but a pick will more than likely be made in the back half of night one of the draft regardless.
Picking a random dude and hoping for the best just doesn’t feel like an exciting option anymore. They need to start getting their main roster in order so they can make the playoffs regularly again. Drafting at 21 doesn’t help anything in the near future. And if their pattern of selecting long-shot projects rather than sure things continues, chances are they just bust out before making it to the show in the first place.
And in the unlikely chance that the player does show NHL ability, they’ll just be smothered by terrible coaching and preference of veteran depth guys anyway.
Whether or not the Flyers make a big play on draft night is still to be seen, but it shouldn’t be expected, right or wrong.
If the Flyers, for the first time in well over a decade, put their money where their mouth is, anything is possible, but don’t hold your breath that this is the summer the front office magically pulls their heads out of their asses. It’s a long, dark tunnel to escape from.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
brotherlypuck.com 