We’re now down to the top 100 (well 96) when it comes to all-time Philadelphia Flyers draft picks. Most likely the players become a bit more familiar and there will be a lot more hits than misses as the countdown continues. Here then is the third round of the Flyers all-time NHL Draft.
#95: Patrick Sharp (2001) spent his first 66 games of his NHL career with the Flyers. He only scored 10 goals, and had five assists in that time. But in December 2005, the Flyers decided they saw enough, dealing Sharp off to Chicago along with Eric Meloche for Matt Ellison and a third-round pick. As history shows, Sharp could score, with eight seasons of at least 20 goals and four seasons over 30 goals. Sharp also picked up three Stanley Cups along the way with the Blackhawks, the first of which was against Philadelphia. Like Justin Williams and Sergei Bobrovsky, Sharp obviously was a player the Flyers probably shouldn’t been so rash to part with. And yes the video below may be painful to watch.
#94: Zayde Wisdom (2020) had a good 2024-25 with Lehigh Valley, with 13 goals and 19 assists. Even more importantly, Wisdom had a strong playoff with a goal and three assists in seven games. While he sill remains a work in progress, he’s working in the right direction towards possibly becoming a regular Flyer.
#92: Rob Bellamy (2004) spent time with the Philadelphia Phantoms for two years and the Adirondack Phantoms for the 2009-10 season. After a season playing in Britain, the winger played four years in the ECHL, the last in 2014-15 with the South Carolina Stingrays.
#91: Oskars Bartulis (2005) had an impressive year with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2006-07, getting 48 points in 52 games. The defenseman spent 53 games in 2009-10 with Philadelphia, with seven playoff games also. The following year Bartulis only played 13 games for the Flyers. But after that season Bartulis never played in the NHL again. Two years in the AHL preceded nine years in the KHL. His final year was in 2020-21 playing in Austria.
#90: In 1975, Gary Morrison had a choice. Both the Flyers and the Phoenix Roadrunners of the World Hockey Association drafted him. He decided on Philadelphia. The Michigan native made his Flyer debut in 1979-80, getting two assists in three games. The following season saw him play 33 games for Philadelphia where he scored a goal with 13 helpers. Following another seven games in 1981-82 Morrison’s playing career was done.
#89: Michael Chaput (2010) bounced around the NHL, with his longest stop being 77 games with Vancouver over two seasons. He also suited up with Montreal, Arizona, and Columbus. Chaput never played for Philadelphia as he was traded along with Greg Moore to Columbus for Tom Sestito in 2011. In 182 games, Chaput scored six goals.
#88: The late John Kordic’s brother Dan Kordic (1990) played nearly 200 games with Philadelphia, and had almost 600 penalty minutes in that time. Two seasons he had over 200 penalty minutes but finished his days as a Flyer in 1998-99 with two games (and only one minor penalty in those pair of contests).
#87: Ryan Potulny (2003) scored seven goals in his 44 games with the Flyers. In June 2008, Potulny was sent to Edmonton in a trade which saw the Flyers acquire Danny Syvret. Potulny’s biggest year was with the Oilers in 2009-10 where he scored 15 goals and added 17 assists in 64 games. After playing in the minors, Potulny heading to Europe to play a few more seasons, his last in Britain with the Braehead Clan.
#86: Mark Friedman (2014) isn’t on many Philadelphia Christmas gift lists. After the Flyers drafted him, and played all of 11 games with them, he was placed on waivers. Pittsburgh claimed him, and Friedman rarely hid his vitriol towards the Flyers as a Penguin. Obviously the Penguins didn’t think much of Friedman as a player, trading him to Vancouver in 2023. He’s played primarily in the minors, with five games for the Canucks this past season.
#85: Alexandre Picard (2003) played a few games for the Flyers in 2005-06. The following year he had 22 points in 62 games, including a game against New Jersey in 2007 where he had five assists. Following stops in Tampa, Ottawa, Carolina, Montreal, and Pittsburgh, Picard concluded his playing days in Europe, with his final season in Germany.
#84: Taras Zytynsky (1980) had two chapters to his professional hockey career. The first portion ended in North America in 1985-86 for the Rochester Americans. A five-year gap took place before his second chapter in hockey commenced in Europe in 1990-91. Zytynsky played through the next ten years in Europe before a few years in the Quebec Senior Professional Hockey League in 2000-01.
#83: The Flyers drafted Mark Bar in 1986, Bar’s last season in the OHL was with Peterborough, who were stacked with future NHLers. Mark Freer, Jody Hull, Tie Domi, Mike Ricci, Corey Foster, and Dallas Eakins (ok, NHL coaches too). Bar wasn’t a future NHLer, playing one more season in 1989-90 before ending his career.
#82: Carsen Twarynski (2016) played 22 games for the Flyers, a 15-game stint in 2019-20 and another seven games the following year. He’s best known as the pick the Flyers acquired along with Jordan Weal from Los Angeles in January 2016 in exchange for trading (dumping?) Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn. In 2021, the Seattle Kraken claimed him from the Flyers in the expansion draft. Twarynski is still playing, having split his time between two AHL clubs in 2024-25.
#81: Stefan Ruzicka (2003) had the size and heft to survive the NHL. Yet things didn’t pan out for him with Philadelphia. Ruzicka spent all of his time in Philadelphia, but primarily with the Phantoms who at the time called Philadelphia home. A single Flyers game in 2005-06 was followed by 40 games in 2006-07 where he scored three goals and had 10 assists. After another year mostly in the AHL, Ruzicka spent the rest of his career in Europe and Russia.
#80: Russian goaltender Kirill Ustimenko was selected with a pick the Flyers got from Boston, trading away Zac Rinaldo in the process. Ustimenko spent two seasons in North America and a handful of games over two seasons with Lehigh Valley. However, he returned to Russia and is still continuing his career between the pipes.
#79: Kudos to Jon Matsumoto (2006). While only playing 14 games between Carolina and Florida in 2010-11 and 2011-12, Matsumoto plodded around the AHL before heading across the Atlantic, winning two league championships in Germany with Munich. He put up 50 points in 50 games this past season with the Krefield Penguins.
#78: One that some still rue for getting away, Shayne Gostisbehere (2012) was something to behold when the Flyers called him up early in the season. Gostisbehere dazzled, scoring 17 goals to go with 29 assists in 64 games. His speed and rover-like mentality made him a fan favorite despite his small size on the back end. Gostisbehere was sent out to Arizona along with two draft picks for essentially nothing in return. He played for Detroit and is enjoying the second of two stints he’s had with Carolina. Gostisbehere had 219 points in 361 games for Philadelphia.
#77: Czech native Milos Holan (1993) saw action with three different teams (and three different leagues) in 1993-94. A few games in the Czech league, 27 with the Hershey Bears (then the Flyers AHL affiliate), and eight with the Flyers. Holan scored a goal and had an assist in those eight games. He was later traded to Anaheim in 1995 for Anatoli Semenov. Holan played 41 more NHL games with Anaheim prior to playing in Europe.
#74: Michel Latreille (1973) never played a game in the NHL. His lone season of minor league action was split between the IHL’s Dayton Gems and the AHL’s Richmond Robins.
#72: Goaltender Rick St. Croix (1975), like a few others of the era, was drafted by Philadephia and a WHA team (Houston Aeros). St. Croix served as a backup for most of his seasons with the Flyers with his 1980-81 season his best in Philadelphia with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. St. Croix was traded to Toronto for Michel “Bunny” Laroque in 1983.
#71: Vaclav Prospal (1993) was a five-time 20-goal scorer in his career. “Vinny” had his biggest year with Philadelphia during his brief second stint with them in 2007-08 when the Flyers acquired him at the trade deadline for Alexandre Picard. Prospal had 13 points in 17 playoff games. Prospal played over 1100 NHL games with his best seasons with Tampa Bay, including getting 80 points in 2005-06.
#70: Swedish goaltenders have not been the exception for the Flyers over their history. Felix Sandstrom (2015) played just 30 games so far with Philadelphia, including 20 in 2022-23. But with Sandstrom’s poor play, and a short leash from John Tortorella, the netminder never found his footing with the club. Last signed he signed as a free agent with Buffalo.
#69: Colin Fraser (2003) was a depth centerman for a handful of NHL teams. He never saw a game with the Flyers as they traded him in 2004 as part of a package to Chicago for a draft pick and Alexei Zhamnov. Fraser potted 20 goals in 359 games with the Blackhawks, Edmonton, Los Angeles and St. Louis.
#68: Pest Nick Cousins (2011) was one of two picks (and Jakob Voracek) the Flyers acquired as part of the Jeff Carter trade back in 2011. Cousins has been an energy bottom-six player most of his career. He never had much offensive upside, but he’s still in the league and driving opponents crazy in the vein of Garnet Hathaway. Cousins has a Stanley Cup ring thanks to his role in the Florida Panthers’ 2023-24 run.
#67: Marc-Andre Bourdon (2008) was a big, burly blueliner. Yet he only saw 45 games with Philadelphia back in 2011-12, scoring four goals and adding three assists.
#66: Garrett Klotz (2007) is still playing, despite never playing in the NHL. Klotz has spent most of the last decade in the ECHL, playing most of those years with the Rapid City Rush. At 6’6″ and 250 pounds, Klotz has maintained his career by being an enforcer and dropping the gloves when needed.
#65: After scoring 111 points for the Regina Pats in 1981-82, Dave Michayluk (1981) should’ve been a producer for the Flyers. Yet he only ended up with 14 games under his belt in 1981-82 and 1982-83. Michayluk racked up an incredible run of great IHL seasons, including eight consecutive seasons of over 100 points (he was one point shy of it being nine straight years in 1993-94). He had 137 points for the Mukegon Lumberjacks in 1987-88.
