13th Overall: Players selected where the Flyers got Jett Luchanko

Back in April, we wrote about players selected with the 12th overall pick , as that\'s where the Flyers were projected to select at the time. Then they had the gall to go and trade down to 13 and render that entire exercise moot--so we\'re back today to look at players drafted 13th overall and see where their careers have gone since then!

Like that last article, we will start with the post-lockout 2005 draft up to present day. This time, however, we will not be looking at players selected shortly after, as those haven\'t changed from when we looked at 12th overall. Let\'s get into who was taken at lucky number 13!

The Draftees

2005: Marek Zagrapan (C), Buffalo Sabres

Never played an NHL game. This would be the worst possible outcome for the Flyers.

2006: Jiri Tlusty (LW), Toronto Maple Leafs

Tlusty played 446 NHL games between the Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils. He amassed 89 goals and 177 points in a depth role but never showed much more than being an average middle-sixer.

2007: Lars Eller (C), St. Louis Blues

Finally, a player with some success! Eller is still playing, having now amassed 1036 NHL games and 172 goals and 408 points. He was traded after one year in St. Louis, spending significant time with the Montreal Canadiens and then the Washington Capitals, winning a Stanley Cup in 2018 with the Caps. Since leaving the Caps, Eller has spent time with the Colorado Avalanche and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

2008: Colten Teubert (D), LA Kings

Teubert played in 24 NHL games (all with the Edmonton Oilers), where he recorded one point: an assist. One guess as to why he was drafted so high: Teubert is a 6-foot-4 right-shot defenseman. A true hockeyman draft pick--and the wrong call considering Erik Karlsson went two spots later at 15th overall.

2009: Zack Kassian (RW), Buffalo Sabres

Not the glossiest of careers, but Kassian put up 92 goals and 203 points in 661 games between the Sabres, Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers, before finishing out his career with the Arizona Coyotes.

2010: Brandon Gormley (D), Phoenix Coyotes

Gormley played 58 games between the Coyotes and Avalanche, racking up two goals and five points. The 6-foot-2 left-shot defenseman has spent the rest of his career in the European leagues and KHL.

2011: Sven Baertschi (LW), Calgary Flames

In 292 games, Baertschi put up 66 goals and 138 points on three NHL teams--though funny enough he only suited up for one game with the Vegas Golden Knights. He showed flashes but never really elevated above being a decent third liner.

2012: Radek Faksa (C), Dallas Stars

Early in his career, Faksa was a solid middle-sixer, but these days he\'s best served in depth roles. In 638 games, he has 89 goals and 200 points, and was just traded from Dallas to the St. Louis Blues.

2013: Josh Morrissey (D), Winnipeg Jets

This is probably the best player so far on the list. Morrissey has, in the past couple of years, become an excellent No. 1 defenseman for the Jets, and has amassed 66 goals and 311 points in 582 games--all with Winnipeg. It took a while (things didn\'t click until his age-26 season), but now he\'s one of the best in the league.

2014: Jakub Vrana (LW), Washington Capitals

Things were looking quite promising for Vrana in his early years but, ever since the pandemic, he\'s bottomed out bad. In 367 games, Vrana has 110 goals and 209 points.

2015: Jakub Zboril (D), Boston Bruins

The first in a now-infamous triple gaffe of drafting (and one of the most famous NHL draft tweets of all time), Zboril has played 76 NHL games and registered one goal, 16 points. Shame, really: the Bruins could\'ve had Barzal, Connor and Kylington.

2016: Jake Bean (D), Carolina Hurricanes

In 197 games, Bean has posted 13 goals and 56 points. The last three years of his career have been spent on godawful Columbus Blue Jackets teams, but he still doesn\'t seem to be more than a third pair defenseman.

2017: Nick Suzuki (C), Vegas Golden Knights

Finally, someone good again: Suzuki never played a game with the team that drafted him, because he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Max Pacioretty. He\'s turning into a pretty solid 1C for a rebuilding Canadiens team, and has 108 goals and 286 points in 373 games with the Habs.

2018: Ty Dellandrea (C), Dallas Stars

Now we\'re getting into murkier territory, where these players are still in their early-to-mid 20s and may have some development runway left; whether they\'re a bust yet will be purely speculative. In 151 games, Dellandrea has 14 goals and 42 points, and now finds himself out of Dallas and on a rebuilding San Jose Sharks team.

2019: Spencer Knight (G), Florida Panthers

Goalie alert! Goalie alert! Knight still has a lot of potential but, after a long stint in the player assistance program for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, expectations have come down a bit. He\'s still young though and, in 57 NHL games has a 32-17-6 record and .906 save-percentage--that\'s not bad! As Sergei Bobrovsky ages, there\'s still hope Knight can take over the crease in Florida as the starter down the line.

2020: Seth Jarvis (C), Carolina Hurricanes

Things really came together for Jarvis this past season, where he put up 33 goals and 67 points in 81 games--it looks like he\'ll be a top-six stalwart for years to come in Carolina. For his career, 64 goals and 146 points in 231 NHL games.

2021: Matt Coronato (RW), Calgary Flames

It\'s hard to judge Coronato, as he\'s still only 21, but in 35 games with the Flames he has three goals and nine points. There\'s a lot of development left there for a top six forward.

2022: Frank Nazar (C), Chicago Blackhawks

Nazar is listed as a center, but the 5-foot-9 player may ultimately be a wing at the NHL level. In three games with the Blackhawks to finish last season, he scored one goal--and it was a beaut in his first NHL game.

https://youtu.be/hJtfaRYPocg?si=MXY2rGGE5YGzaYyF

2023: Zach Benson (LW), Buffalo Sabres

Full disclosure: I am a big Benson believer. In his first season (71 games), Benson scored 11 goals and 30 points while posting decent fancy stats. At 5-foot-9, there were some questions about how his game would translate, but he\'s already playing at a top-six level with plenty of room left to develop. He\'s an exciting player.

Hits & Misses

So, like in the previous article, we\'re going to judge the hits and misses--and there are far more misses at 13 than there were hits.

Hits (4) : Lars Eller, Josh Morrissey, Nick Suzuki, Seth Jarvis

Misses (5) : Marek Zagrapan, Colten Teubert, Brandon Gormley, Jakub Zboril, Jake Bean

Meh (6) : Jiri Tlusty, Zack Kassian, Sven Baertschi, Radek Faksa, Jakub Vrana, Ty Dellandrea

Jury\'s Out (4) : Spencer Knight, Matt Coronato, Frank Nazar, Zach Benson

The good news for Flyers fans is that, out of the four hits, three are forwards--and each of them is a center, much like Jett Luchanko. The bad news is that there\'s far more variance between picks 12 and 13, at least historically speaking, with far more busts in the latter. However, a lot of that could maybe be chalked up to the emergence of statistics, improvements in scouting, and fewer \"hockey men\" picks: with the exception of Eller, the hits have been in more recent drafts, and the \"Jury\'s Out\" players seem to have a fairly high chance of reaching their top-six potential. Maybe, just maybe, the Flyers scouting department recognizes something in Luchanko, and selecting him at 13 will wind up a steal--but for now, the jury\'s out.

Does the history of pick 13 make you feel better or worse about Jett Luchanko\'s selection? Let us know in the comments!

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13th Overall: Players selected where the Flyers got Jett Luchanko

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