A first for Flyers: No Canadians coming in

Apparently you can never have too many defensemen.

Although the Flyers are already well-stocked with backliners, they went out and added to that talented pool by grabbing three defensemen out of their first four picks in the second day of the NHL Entry Draft on Saturday at American Airlines Center.

The parade began with the acquisition of physical backliner Adam Ginning with the 50th overall pick in the second round.

Later, they added Jack St. Ivany in the fourth round and Wyatte Wylie in the fifth round.

One other noteworthy development: This marked the first time in their 50-plus-year history they did not draft a Canadian-born player.

General manager Ron Hextall explained he was satisfied with how the day went. Fortifying his defense is important, partly because one of his top prospects, Sam Morin (a physical player), is probably lost for the rest of next season due to injury.

“It (defense) fell on our list,’’ Hextall explained. “Ginning, we like his size. We like his upside. He moves pretty well for a big guy. Solid puck skills and the range you need to be a solid defenseman.”

Ginning, who played in the Swedish League last season, is 6-2, 196 pounds.

He is NHL Central Scouting’s third-ranked defenseman among international players, trailing only No. 1 overall pick Rasmus Dahlin and No. 8 Adam Boqvist and fifth international skater overall.

“I play physical, I play tough,” Ginning said. “My best play is in the defensive zone.”

One draft expert compared Ginning to current Flyer defenseman and fellow countryman Robert Hagg, who was among the NHL leaders in hits and blocked shots this past season.

Ginning was also paired with Boqvist at times on Swedish national teams.

“I think it was a good experience,” he said. “He’s more of an offensive guy and I’m more defensive. So we worked good together.”

He’s always had his eye on making it all the way to the top of the sport.

“It (playing in the NHL) has always been a dream that’s been a little bit closer each year,” Ginning said. “Now it’s going in the right direction, I think.”

Asked who he might model his game after, Ginning mentioned Adam Larsson of the Edmonton Oilers.

“I’m just trying to focus one season at a time and we’ll see what happens,” Ginning said.

The Flyers had no selections in the third round and then finally landed a rightshot defenseman in the fourth round when they took St. Ivany, a California native who played for Sioux Falls of the USHL last year, with the 112th pick.

St. Ivany played for the L.A. Junior Kings and is said to be headed to Yale University in the fall. He turns 19 next month. He was not in attendance at the draft.

“He’s kind of a steadyEddie type,” Hextall said. “Solid with the puck. Good fit for our group.”

Shortly thereafter, the Flyers went to another right-shot defenseman, Wylie, with the 127th selection. He was a teammate of Flyers goalie prospect Carter Hart, who is expected to be in the NHL in a year or two.

Hextall wasn’t “going after” a goalie but found one he liked in Samuel Ersson of Sweden, who came to the Flyers in the fifth round.

“We didn’t chase him,” Hextall said. “We like his athleticism. We think there’s some upside that hasn’t been tapped yet. But if we needed a goalie, we would have taken him earlier.”

Overall, Hextall said there were a couple of other needs he would have liked to have addressed, but “that’s the way the draft goes, you can’t get them all. I like the mix we got; three D, four forwards, a goalie. I like the mix and the fits.”

*** NOTES » Hextall said he wasn’t really close to making any trades, other than the one where he shipped one of his seventh-round picks to Montreal for a seventh-rounder next year . ... Sixth-rounder Gavin Hain, headed for North Dakota in the fall, was asked if he had spoken to ex-UND coach Dave Hakstol yet. “At North Dakota, I spoke to him a long time ago,” he said.