Centers the Flyers have selected in the first round

by PursuitOfLappyness on Jun 25, 2011 11:59 PM EDT

This is going to be a short one, but it's just a bit of a 'well done to the Flyers' post.

Some of these guys (Barber and Gagne, for example) were centers when they were drafted and switched to the wing later on. 14 players meet the simple criteria. Glen Seabrooke had a shoulder separation and never could build a career playing professional hockey so really it's 13. Couturier is the 14th.

1967 – #5 - Serge Bernier – 719 games, 308 goals, 763 points combining NHL and WHA stats

1969 - #17 – Bobby Clarke – 1144 games, 358 goals, 1210 points (captain, all star, HoF – moved to wing)

1970 - #18 – Bill Clement – 719 games, 148 goals, 356 points (all star)

1971 - #8 – Larry Wright – 106 games, 4 goals, 12 points – bust

1972 - #7 – Bill Barber – 903 games, 420 goals, 883 points (captain, all star, HoF)

1975 - #1 – Mel Bridgman – 977 games, 252 goals, 701 points (captain)

1982 - #4 – Ron Sutter – 1093 games, 205 goals, 534 points (captain) – but Scott Stevens was taken next so…

1985 - #21 – Glen Seabrooke – injury ended career at age 21

1990 - #4 – Mike Ricci – 1099 games, 243 goals, 605 points (captain of the SJ Sharks) – but Jaromir Jagr was taken next…

1991 - #6 – Peter Forsberg – 708 games, 249 goals, 885 points (captain, all star)

1998 - #22 – Simon Gagne – 727 games, 276 goals, 564 points* (could’ve been captain, all star – moved to wing)

2003 - #11 – Jeff Carter – 461 games, 181 goals, 343 points* (all star)

2003 - #24 – Mike Richards – 453 games, 133 goals, 349 points* (captain, all star)

2006 - #22 – Claude Giroux – 208 games, 50 goals, 150 points* (future captain? all star)

2011 - #8 – Sean Couturier - ???*

So based on this insanely small sample size over a very large sample of years. Around 54% of the centers the Flyers have selected in the first round have captained a NHL team at some point. Since 1990, only 1 of the centers the Flyers selected in the first round did not play an All Star game. In the entire sample of players, 62% were NHL all stars. Only 1 player can be put down as a total bust. It is very likely that all except for that one player (Larry Wright) will end their NHL career with more than 500 games played.

Don't eat me over the percentages because of the small sample size; just having some fun here. The point is we should do this more often because it's kinda good for us.

This item was written by a member of this community and is not necessarily endorsed by Broad Street Hockey.

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Comments

It is interesting – I always felt that the team had really good scouts (see how they find all the ‘diamond in the rough’ players overseas?) and not having draft picks was a horrible waste. But the other thing you notice from the list? The enormous gaps between first round picks. 1975-1982. 1991-1998. 2006-2011. The organization has a tradition of trading high picks away.

Maybe it should read "reformedpenguinsfan" since I have retired my Lemeiux jersey ... and purchased an Orange and Black Pronger jersey.

by MaximumTalbot on Jun 26, 2011 9:03 AM EDT reply actions

Wait … I haven’t had my coffee yet. That’s not gaps between first round picks – just centers picked in the first round. Duh.

Maybe it should read "reformedpenguinsfan" since I have retired my Lemeiux jersey ... and purchased an Orange and Black Pronger jersey.

by MaximumTalbot on Jun 26, 2011 9:04 AM EDT up reply actions

Wasn’t Bobby Clarke taken in the second round?

by TommykUD on Jun 26, 2011 9:13 AM EDT reply actions

No first round, 17th overall. And the only reason he fell that far was that teams were worried about his diabetes being an issue. Many teams passed on him twice.

by kckrebs on Jun 26, 2011 8:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Crap! My bad I was just going through everyone we picked at center and looking at the draft number. Forgot about the number of teams back in 1969 (and 1970 for that matter, Bill Clement wasn’t a first round pick either).

Regardless…just go with it ;-)

Simon Gagne may move between towns, wear new jerseys and call different arenas home, but at the end of the day, he will always be a Philadelphia Flyer.

by PursuitOfLappyness on Jun 26, 2011 8:36 PM EDT up reply actions

you’re wrong:

Even with such assurances Clarke fell to the second round of the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft and was finally selected by the Philadelphia Flyers 17th overall.

First pick in the second rd. There was 16 teams in the league then.

http://restorations.bandcamp.com/

by Val_d'Or on Jul 1, 2011 5:05 PM EDT up reply actions