The first purpose of the NHL Draft is to get some young players in your organization and maybe get the next franchise cornerstone — or maybe get your giant 6-foot-8 defenseman that you hope is good enough to be a No. 4 — and improve the outlook of your team. The second purpose is having some good stories going on.
With the 53rd overall pick, the Philadelphia Flyers selected right-handed defenseman Brek Liske from the WHL’s Everett Silvertips. On the surface, it looks like a very good pick. A steady defenseman who is a solid size at 6-foot-2 and his mediocre offensive production was really only from playing behind projected top 2027 pick Landon DuPont and Ducks prospect Tarin Smith. Liske wasn’t able to put his skills out there that often playing behind those higher-end players but every scouting report reads that he’s more of a jack-of-all-trades type of player and that could be useful and projectable.
That’s the on-ice fit and it’s good. What makes this pick even better is that Liske’s family appears to be Flyers superfans.
That is a whole other level. You would think, looking at those pictures, that this is a family from around the area. A nice little quaint family of four from Berlin, NJ, or out there in Berwyn, or somewhere within a short drive. But no, Liske is from Beausejour, Manitoba, a town roughly 45 minutes outside of Winnipeg. While being surrounded by Jets fans, his family stood tall in orange and black.
Brek Liske was born to be a Flyer, apparently
At least the newest Flyers prospect was able to somehow explain why he’s like this and one of us.
“My dad was always a big Flyers fan throughout his whole life and he kind of brainwashed me into it,” Liske said as he met with the media after being selected by the Flyers on Saturday. “From a young age I was going to Flyers games, wearing Flyers stuff — yeah, I’ve just always been a Flyers fan. … Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve always loved Philly.”
Liske then, hilariously, had to confirm that he was in fact wearing a Flyers jersey while on the Zoom call with the media. He was up at his family’s cabin and said that there were roughly 30 or so people wearing Flyers jerseys all at an NHL Draft watch party.
“There are a lot of Giroux jerseys,” Liske said. “For myself, I was a big Giroux fan. My number was 82, so I just flipped around No. 28.”
The Flyers knew of Liske’s dad fandom, as apparently that was the first thing they asked their newest prospect when he got into the interview at the Draft Combine earlier this month. He was then asked what his dad’s reaction was when it was revealed that he was going to Philadelphia.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard him yell so loud. There was a big cheer but I could distinctly hear my dad’s voice. He’s wearing his Flyers jersey very proud right now. I think he’s a little bit more in awe right now.”
That’s the stuff.
Just last year, we got to see the childhood photos of Porter Martone, decked out in Flyers gear or meeting childhood idol Wayne Simmonds (we feel so old). And now, Liske is maybe the biggest Flyers superfan in all of Manitoba.
Are the Flyers just building a prospect pipeline of Flyers fans? Kids who grew up experiencing some absolutely terrible hockey where this team was not very relevant other than a couple of blips on the national radar because they had Claude Giroux on the team. Because after all, these children were born in the 2006, 2007, 2008, and so on.
Their first memories of Flyers hockey might have been the 2013-14 season where Craig Berube took over from Peter Laviolette and they lost in the first round. The peak of their hockey fandom as they celebrated their ninth birthday, they were watching Dave Hakstol be behind the bench of their favorite team. Andrew MacDonald is someone they might recognize. When they got older and understood the game more as their own game developed and they were finding some success in minor hockey, Mike Yeo was coaching and Cam Atkinson was somehow one of the most important offensive players on this team.
If anything, if these prospects were Flyers fans growing up and still enjoy the game of hockey so much that they got good enough to get drafted, they might be the most impressive hockey players on this planet.
Maybe this is a new strategy from Danny Briere and Brent Flahr — target the guys who grew up watching this team during some dark days so they can be resilient and want the best for the Flyers.
