BUFFALO — The Philadelphia Flyers were busy here at the 2016 NHL Draft, and when all was said and done they made a total of 10 picks over seven rounds. Let’s get caught up.
- 22. German Rubtsov, center from the Russian under-18 team.
- 36. Pascal Laberge, center from Victoriaville of the QMJHL.
- 48. Carter Hart, goaltender from Everett of the WHL.
- 52. Wade Allison, winger from Tri-City of the USHL.
- 82. Carson Twarynski, winger from Calgary of the WHL.
- 109. Connor Bunnaman, center from Kitchener of the OHL.
- 139. Linus Hogberg, defenseman from Sweden.
- 169. Tanner Laczynski, center from Lincoln of the USHL.
- 172. Anthony Salinitri, center from Sarnia of the OHL.
- 199. David Bernhardt, defenseman from Djurgarden in Sweden./
The Flyers also made two trades during the Draft. They originally held the 18th overall pick and they traded back with the Winnipeg Jets, sending that pick and the 79th overall pick to the Jets in exchange for the 22nd pick and the 36th pick.
On Day 2, the Flyers first acquired the 120th overall pick, sent to them by Arizona to finalize last year’s trade that sent Nicklas Grossmann and Chris Pronger to the desert. The Flyers then flipped that 120th pick to the New York Islanders in exchange for NYI’s fourth rounder next year. At face value that’s a straight up swap of fourth round picks, but since the 120th overall is just two picks from the end of the fourth, there’s a really solid chance that the 2017 fourth that the Flyers acquired will be higher than 120 next year. So, smart move there.
There was definitely a method to Ron Hextall’s madness here. The Flyers went heavy with forwards, and nearly all of them feature the words “aggressive” or “checking” or “size” in their scouting reports. They opted to get bigger and deeper at the forward position with several guys selected in the middle rounds who play a physical style. There wasn’t much in terms of speed or high-end finesse among these middle-round picks on Saturday — at least not among the forwards taken.
Overall, the Flyers end the 2016 NHL Draft with seven forwards, one goaltender (Hart was the top goalie ranked in this draft) and two offensively-focused defensemen from Sweden.
We’ll have much, much more analysis on these picks later. For now, what are your thoughts?
