With the 2024 NHL Draft just around the corner, some of the best young talent from around the hockey world will pack The Sphere and hope to hear their names called as soon as possible. The Flyers will have a couple chances to get some really inticing players with picks 12 and 32, but there are some players that may not fit the mould of what the team needs, or may be too much of a risk for them to take where they currently sit. Beckett Sennecke, RW, Oshawa (OHL) Sennecke has rocketed up draft boards over the last few months, owed mostly to a back-end of the OHL season and playoff where he was absolutely on-fire. 22 points in 16 playoff games had scouts excited, especially a stretch against the Ottawa 67\'s where Sennecke had two points in four games en route to a sweep in the OHL playoffs. And Sennecke is a good player, he has great hands, and can beat defenders with ease when he is going right. The issue with his bump up the rankings, which now mostly have him sitting just outside the top-10, is that there is just not enough of a sample size to suggest that it\'s a sure-fire, can\'t miss selection. Now don\'t get me wrong, Sennecke is a first rounder, and if the Flyers ended up with him it\'s not as if they\'d be getting a bad player, but at number 12 specifically, there are still concerns that it may be too high. Sennecke will have to translate the loose puck dekes and feints that served him so well against OHL defenders to the next level, and while it is possible, it remains to be seen if he will be able to either beef up his skating to make himself more explosive and dangerous, or lean heavily into that newly discovered 6\'2 frame and try to become more of a Leon Draisatl type who is more of an unstoppable force. He is going to have to do one or the other, because the magic hands alone will not make him an effective NHL scoring threat. He is boom/bust, some goals that he\'s scored look absolutely jaw-dropping, but they almost happen at too slow a speed to project them past the Junior level. He did look fantastic later in the year, and maybe that is a trend, but it isn\'t a certainty. The Flyers also don\'t need another winger, and if Sennecke falls to them at 12, going with a center or defenseman just makes more sense for the long-term future. Stian Solberg, D, Vålerenga (EliteHockey Ligaen) Speaking of small sample sizes, Stian Solberg is another player projected to go in the first round who\'s stock is owed to a specific time in the season. But for Solberg, it was the World Championship, where his intense physicality and skating stride really impressed evaluators against NHLers and grown men, for a Team Norway side who was never really meant to go anywhere in the tournament. And yes, Solberg can run people over, he finishes plays off with his physical play, and at 6\'2 and 201 pounds, he already has an NHL-ready frame for the blueline. He sees the play pretty well, and can jump into the fray with some good decision-making. But honestly, that\'s kind of all you can say. He dominated physically for his club team Vålerenga in the EHL too, but that is a league who\'s second-top scorer was 40-year old Flyer legend Patrick Thoresen, so the competition was just simply not there. Drafting Solberg is betting on his puck-moving abilities developing enough to make him more than just a bruiser on the back-end, and while it may be possible, it\'s just a length too far to justify using a first round selection on. He did look comfortable physically against NHLers at the Worlds, and he also chipped in offensively and looked comfortable jumping into the play with his teammates, but again we are stuck with the fact that this was all taken from just seven games of play. As well, there were a couple scenarios where he almost seemed to get \"locked on\" to a target for a hit, and got dragged out of position slightly. He is definitely someone who should be drafted in the first two rounds, but for a mid-first round selection, there may be better options in this draft with higher ceilings. If he had played this year at Färjestad BK in the SHL the team he will play for next season, there would be more certainty here. It also doesn\'t help that the first name that comes to mind when thinking about his skill set is Rasmus Ristolainen. Henry Mews, D, Ottawa 67\'s (OHL) Mews is an interesting case, because he seems to do everything right upon first glance. He is a great puck-mover, he has a smooth skating stride, and he can make a quality first pass with good vision. He also ranked third behind Zayne Parekh and Sam Dickinson in the OHL for points by a draft eligible defenseman. The issues come when you start talking about the speed at which he can make these decisions. Mews sometimes would hold the puck a second too long, causing a turnover or being put under pressure to the point where the lane closes up. Mews also thrived with better linemates, whether that be with Canada at the U-18\'s, or in Ottawa where he set up Blue Jackets prospect Luca Pinelli constantly. And as for the defensive side of the puck, Mews just is never going to be a shutdown or consistently solid option. His game is more predicated on being on the front foot, and there is a question as to how he would deal with being under siege in his own zone at the NHL level. He was a projected first rounder heading into the season, but slipped down boards as the warts in his game really began to show. It\'ll be interesting to see if he can turn the trend around, but at the same time, how much more can his game really improve? There\'s skepticism around how he will handle being an actual NHL defender, and the increased pace needed to play at the professional level could kneecap his ability to move the puck fluidly. The Flyers have some decent puck movers in the system with similar frames, and Cam York is the absolute best-case scenario for Mews, so there is really no need to bother with using a selection on him.