Flyers beat odds, snare 2nd spot in Draft Lottery
The Flyers lost to the Devils again. Nothing new about that.
But this latest loss to their nearby New Jersey tormentors Saturday night didn’t exactly leave them disappointed.
New Jersey went into the NHL Draft Lottery with an 8.5 percent chance to win it, and the Devils bucked the odds, winning the No. 1 spot. Even more amazing was the runner-up: The Flyers, who finished the season in the No. 13 spot among the non-playoff finishers, finished second only to the Devils in this so-called pingpong contest. The Flyers only had a 2.4 percent chance the win the overall lottery.
They didn’t fare that well, but going from 13 to 2 is a bit of slim hope come true.
“We know we’re going to get a good player and we know moving from 13 to 2 ... we’re going to get a better player than 13,” general manager Ron Hextall calculated Saturday night.
Forgive him if he was a little taken aback. Hextall was talking just “a couple of hours” after getting off a plane from Finland, where he’d attended a life celebration for his passed teammate, Ilkka Sinisalo.
After an all-day flight from Europe, Hextall seemed to be a bit stunned to be celebrating this draft lottery.
The heavy favorite, the NHLworst Colorado Avalanche, finished fourth. So losing only to New Jersey was a bit of an amazing victory for the Flyers, who will go to the June draft in Chicago armed with the No. 2 overall pick.
“Obviously we’re excited,” Hextall said via conference call Saturday night. “It’s a big day for our franchise. When the 13th pick went by there and we knew we were either 1, 2 or 3 ... well, it’s a big day for our franchise.”
There are criticisms that this won’t be a great draft in the NHL, not nearly as deep as last year’s, or in 2015, when the Flyers didn’t move up from No. 7 in the lottery, yet were still able to nab standout defenseman Ivan Provorov at that spot. This move up to No. 2 comes as stroke of luck. The Flyers will likely pick one of two standout prospects when the first round of the draft commences the night of June 23. The top-rated prospect is center Nolan Patrick, who was a junior teammate of Provorov’s in Brandon. The 6-foot-2, 198 pound center, 18, had 46 points in 33 games in a season trimmed by injury.
That’s why the second-highest regarded prospect, 18-year-old Swiss center Nico Hischier, is regarded almost at Patrick’s level now.
Somewhat diminutive (6-1, 176), Hischier scored 38 goals and registered 86 points in 57 games for Halifax, winning rookie of the year honors in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Neither player is likely to jump right out of the draft and make an NHL roster in their first year ... but you never know. Either way, both are regarded nearly evenly and far above the rest of the crowd.
Yet Hextall said this coming draft isn’t as thin as indicated.
“This isn’t as bad a draft as people say it is,” Hextall said. “We’ve been preparing recently as though we were getting a 13th pick. It’s probably an average draft ... obviously, we move up to 2, and feel like we’re going to get a better player. We’re excited about that.”
As for either Patrick or Hischier, Hextall said, “They’re two very good players. I don’t know this is a total slam dunk.” a