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All-time Flyers NHL Draft: Round 6

The sixth round of the Flyers all time NHL Draft features some lesser knowns, some wannabes and a handful of memorable players.

Jan 5, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (95) scores against Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ivan Fedotov (82) during the first period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Flyers made 526 selections leading up to this year’s NHL Draft. Obviously, some of them were great picks, some of them so-so and a glut of late-round picks never got a whiff of NHL playing time. But Broad Street Hockey has decided to delve deep into the picks, creating a seven-round NHL Draft of all-time Flyer selections. Some slots aren’t included because, well, the Flyers never picked at that slot. Other picks may consist of a handful of players who never played a game in the NHL. In some cases the Flyers picked a handful of players at that number but we took what we thought was the best of the best. Here then is the sixth round of the Flyers all-time NHL Draft (#192 to #161, although this writer accidentally put #192 in round seven so we’ll put it here again).

Round Six

#192: Paul Healey (1993 and yes we put him in round seven accidentally, my bad) played six games for the Flyers but his biggest NHL season was during the 2002-03 when he suited up with the Leafs 44 times. After four games with the Rangers the following season, Healey saw two games for Colorado in 2005-06. He scored six goals over 77 NHL games.

#191: Goaltender Rjean Beauchemin (2003) tended the nets for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and some ECHL teams (who can forget the Idaho Steelheads?) before ending his career in the CHL’s Allen Americans in 2011-12. Fourteen picks after the Flyers took Beauchemin, the San Jose Sharks took a chance on Waterloo Black Hawks forward Joe Pavelski.

#189: The best pick the Flyers possibly ever made in the late rounds was selecting blueliner Gord Murphy (1985). Murphy was a steadying presence on Philadelphia’s back end, appearing in 19 playoff games his rookie season before the Flyers lost to Montreal in the Conference Finals. Murphy played three full seasons in Philadephia before he and a draft pick was traded in January 1992 to Boston for Garry Galley and Wes Walz. Murphy played 862 games in the pros while also having stops in Florida and Atlanta. A second stint in Boston in 2001-02 closed out his career. Here he is getting into Mario Lemieux’s face.

#188: Yes, Ivan Fedotov (2015). The Flyers goaltender finally made his NHL debut in relief against the Islanders in the 2023-24 season. Fedotov had several trials and tribulations getting to the NHL after Russia arrested him for eluding military service. He spent time in the Arctic as part of his service but eventually got across the big pond. His play in 2024-25 for Philadelphia didn’t win over many fans, but his backstory is one of the more interesting in Flyers history.

#187: Roman Malov (1996) spent one season with the Kingston Frontenacs and that was it for North American hockey. He spent the rest of his career playing different Russian leagues, with a four-year gap before finishing his career in 2013-14.

#184: The 1983-84 rookie year for Len Hachborn (1981) was pretty good with 32 points in 38 games. Unfortunately he scored 27 points during the remainder of his NHL days, most with Philadephia and a handful with Los Angeles. The Kings traded his rights back to the Flyers for cash in 1985. Hachborn played in Austria for some years when not bumping around the AHL, IHL and WCHL until 2000-01.

#183: Ken Moore (1978) played three collegiate seasons in goal for Clarkson University but that was it for a hockey career.

#182: After several seasons in Sweden, Magnus Roupe (1982) played 40 games for Philadelphia over two seasons (1987-88, 1988-89). But by the end of the 1988-89 season, Roupe was back in Sweden. Roupe scored three times and had five assists over those 40 games.

#181: Having never played in the NHL, Rob Nichols (1983) played with the Kalmazoo Red Wings in 1985-86 where he had 406 penalty miinutes. The following season with the same team he toned it down with a mere 357 penalty minutes. Nichols bounced around the IHL for a few years before the first chapter of his career ended in 1997-98. The second chapter began and ended in 2019-20 when Nichols, then 55 years young, played a game for the Elmira Enforcers of the Federal Prospects Hockey League.

#180: Glen Wisser (1989) was drafted out of the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers. But that was as close as he came to the NHL Flyers, concluding his brief amateur career with the ECHL’s Dayton Bombers in 1991-92.

#179: Nick Luukko (2010) played for The Gunnery but didn’t have much of an career in the pros, playing just seven games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms over two seasons. However he remains in hockey. In 2024 the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hired Luukko as an assistant coach to Kirk MacDonald.

#178: Flyers tough guy (one of dozens I know) Zac Rinaldo (2008) played five seasons with the Flyers, coming up for some playoff games in the 2010-11 season. Rinaldo was suspended a few times over his career, the most infamous probably his head shot to Penguins defenseman Kris Letang which cost him eight games.

#177: Having played in Russia his entire career, Andrei Razin (2001) was taken with the draft pick the Flyers received in a trade sending Marc Bureau to Calgary. He’s not to be confused with a popular Russian singer with the same name.

#176: Petr Placek (2011) is the lone pick in this slot in Flyers history. Like many around this portion of the draft, he ended up being a miss after three seasons playing for Harvard University.

#175: The Flyers took a swing on Claude Jutras (1992) and hoped his minor league career would translate. During the 1993-94, while playing for Hull in the QMJHL, Jutras had 31 goals and 37 assists for 68 points. Oh, and he had 351 penalty minutes that same year (down from his previous season). In his final season in the ECHL, split among three teams, Jutras managed to have at least 126 penalty minutes with each of the three teams for a total of 399 penalty minutes. In 52 games.

#174: It’s too early to predict but perhaps Ethan Samson (2021) ends up being the first player to play NHL hockey for Philadelphia at this number. Three other prospects never panned out.

#173: And just like Samson, the jury is still out on Ilya Paultov (2024), a Russian right-winger who put up 45 points for the junior Red Army club this past season.

#172: Known for being a hard defender to play against, Dennis Seidenberg (2001) spent parts of three seasons with Philadelphia. He also had time with Phoenix, Carolina, Florida, Boston, and the Islanders before hanging up his skates after the 2017-18 season. He earned a Cup with the Bruins and played 859 regular season NHL games.

#171: The late Roman Cechmanek (2000) had just three seasons with the Flyers. But what seasons they were! Cechmanek’s best was 2002-03 was when he played 58 games and ended up with a miniscule 1.83 goals-against average (and a .925 save percentage). Cechmanek was traded in May 2003 to the Kings for a second-round draft pick. Cechmanek returned to Czechia and continued played through the 2008-09 season.

#170: The Flyers drafted Ladislav Scurko (2004) but he never played in the NHL, instead played most of his career in Slovakia after three seasons in the Western Hockey League with the Tri-City Americans and Seattle Thunderbirds. In 2009, Scurko confessed to murdering a referee at a service area in Slovakia, stabbing him to death. He served eight years after being deemed not responsible due to “diminished sanity.” After serving his sentence in two stints, Scurko continued his career, playing until 2021-22 season.

#169: Tanner Laczynski (2016) played 46 games so far in his career, 38 with the Flyers and eight this past season with the Vegas Golden Knights. Laczynski spent most of the season with the Vegas AHL affiliate the Henderson Silver Knights.

#168: The Flyers took goaltender Antero Niittymaki (2000) and delivered some decent seasons. His best season with Philadelphia would be his last as Niittymaki joined the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009-10. Four of his five career shutouts came as a Flyer.

#167: Murray Baron (1986) only played 83 regular season games for Philadelphia. But he played a key role in a franchise-altering trade with St. Louis. In September 1991, Baron and Ron Sutter were traded to the Blues in exchange for Dan Quinn and Rod Brind’Amour. Baron played just shy of 1000 regular season games with St. Louis, Montreal, Vancouver and Phoenix. He had 10 of his 35 career goals as a Flyer.

#166: Colin Forbes (1994) played three games for the Flyers in 1996-97, getting his first NHL goal in that stint. After two more seasons with the Flyers (and 129 regular season games), Forbes and a draft pick were traded to Tampa Bay for Sandy McCarthy and Mikael Andersson. Forbes played for a handful of NHL clubs before heading to Germany where he played through 2010-11.

#165: The Flyers remain high on Hunter McDonald (2022) and they should be. The blueliner helped Lehigh Valley defeat Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the play-in round of the AHL playoffs. And he helped take the Phantoms to five games against the two-time defending Calder Cup champs Hershey Bears to five games before being eliminated.

#164: Todd Fedoruk (1997) played 268 of his 545 NHL games with Philadelphia, scoring 13 times and 26 assists in that time. He was also traded by Philadelphia in 2005 to Anaheim for a second-round pick. A year later he was back with the Flyers as Anaheim swapped him back. After stints with Dallas, Minnesota, and Phoenix, Fedoruk ended his career with Tampa in 2009-10. Fedoruk has been the color commentator on Flyers radio broadcasts since the 2023-24 season.

#163: In 1984, Luke Vitale was selected by the Flyers. His career ended in the ECHL in 1990-91. He’s not to be confused with an actor of the same name.

#162: Merrick Madsen (2013) had four great years at Harvard University playing goal. But that didn’t translate into the National Hockey League. Madsen was traded to Arizona in 2017 along with Nick Cousins in exchange for Brendan Warren and a fifth-round pick. The Flyers used the pick to take Wyatt Wylie.

#161: Despite an honorable mention to Pat Maroon (2007), this writer leans more towards Pelle Eklund (1983) in this slot. Eklund played all but five games in his career with Philadelphia. He was also crucial in the Flyers’ deep playoff run in 1986-87 where he had 27 points in 26 playoff games, including back-breaking goals against the Canadiens that eliminated Montreal in six games.

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