The 2025 NHL Draft is just a few days away and it is going to be a very crucial 24 hours of decision making for the Philadelphia Flyers. After adding Trevor Zegras to the mix in a trade on Monday, the future outlook of this team is becoming a little bit clearer. And thanks to a recent report, who they might take with the sixth overall pick on Friday night is also becoming a little bit clearer.
According to The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, the Flyers are targeting three specific players at sixth overall: Brantford Bulldogs center Jake O’Brien, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds center Brady Martin, and Boston College center James Hagens.
More draft week intel from my mock:
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) June 24, 2025
Sounds like Bruins also have interest in moving up.
My sense is the Flyers and Bruins at 6-7 like the same three players: Martin, O'Brien and Hagens. Everyone keeps telling me those three won't get past 6-7. And yet, there appear to be eight…
While the Flyers current regime has historically kept their preferences extremely private and any ongoings are not discussed until seconds before they are announced by the team, this does make a whole lot of sense. All three are obviously centers, and the Flyers obviously need more players to play in that position for when the team expects them to be making the playoffs on a regular basis again.
It doesn’t include winger Porter Martone, who could also be available at sixth overall, but considering the positional need right now, it somewhat makes sense.
Hagens has the top ceiling out of these three reported preferences. The projected first-overall pick as of early in the 2024-25 season, the Boston College center is an incredibly agile forward who can stickhandle his way through defenses and transition the puck up the ice so, so well. That does sound perfect for this team, but the only knock on him — and why he could be there at sixth overall and why the Flyers might pass on him for other centers — is his height of being “just” 5-foot-11. Despite his overwhelming skill and a game that should translate into being an impact NHL player, there are some questions that NHL teams have about getting a more projectable player.
That is where someone like Brady Martin comes in. The rough-and-tumble, physical checking center out of the OHL is someone that more hockey traditionalists might like to have on the Flyers, but his ceiling is limited to maybe being a second-line center. Could having hyper offensive wingers like a Konecny or Michkov counterbalance that and make him a top-six center? Certainly, but you’re giving up some self-driving potential with that pick. But again, we can totally understand why teams want someone who likened himself to Sam Bennett, Tom Wilson, and Matthew Knies recently.
O’Brien is sort of the in between. He is a smooth and fluid playmaker out of Brantford and his 6-foot-2 frame gives him much more room to grow. O’Brien is potentially the best-passing center in the entire draft and that would give his NHL team so much to dream on. And specifically for the Flyers, could he be the Nicklas Backstrom to Michkov’s Alex Ovechkin? Maybe. It all depends on his development which should include more focus on 5-on-5 production and increasing his pace of play.
As we inch closer to general manager Danny Briere and the rest of the Flyers front office calling in from their headquarters in Atlantic City on Friday night, the picture becomes a whole lot clearer. It does make sense that they want to take a center there and it’s not like they would have to sacrifice much potential (or any at all) to go for that positional need.
Or, all of this could be a smokescreen and the Flyers are sending out false reports about their preference to get other teams off their scent, for them to take their actual preferred prospect. That is a possibility too. No one really saw the connection to Jett Luchanko, after all.
We’re counting down the hours until Friday.
