Most Philadelphia Flyers fans are scoreboard watching now as the team plays out the string to finish another non-playoff run. If the Sabres and the Predators go on a mild winning streak and the Flyers continue to put up more losses than wins, the Flyers could see themselves in the top three teams when the Draft Lottery occurs either May 5 or May 6 — they won’t officially announce the lottery date until closer to.
But while there are those odds and teams to look at, the two other first-round picks the Flyers acquired in trades last season from Colorado and Edmonton could end up being higher than anticipated.
Of course the worst case scenario for the Flyers would be to see a Western Conference Final pitting the Oilers against the Avalanche, making those two first-round picks in the bottom four slots of the first round. But let’s forget about that for now.
If you remember the Oilers traded their 2025 first-round pick in exchange the Flyers 32nd-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, drafting center Sam O’Reilly in the process. As the Flyers held that last pick in the first round, trading away that pick was a no-lose situation by the numbers. The worse that could happen would be the Oilers winning the Cup this coming playoff season and no spots are lost. However if the Oilers end up not making a deep playoff run, that former 32nd-overall spot (acquired from Florida in the Claude Giroux trade), could end up being a pick that could range from somewhere in the low twenties to possibly the high teens.
Heading into Thursday’s night games, the Oilers have 87 points through 71 games. Eight teams are almost glued together in the standings, from Colorado (now with the league’s fifth highest point total (91 pts)) to Minnesota (85 pts). Edmonton is one of those teams as is Carolina, Los Angeles, Toronto, Florida, and Tampa Bay all in that six-point range. The Oilers are missing both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for what appears to be a few more games. On top of that Stuart Skinner left the Dallas game Wednesday night (a 4-3 regulation loss for Edmonton) with what appeared to be a concussion after Mikko Rantanen hit him in the head with his knee skating by. There’s no word if he’ll be ready for the next game but looks doubtful. So a two-game or three-game losing streak could see them fall a little bit further down the standings, or causing their pick to rise higher in the Flyers favor into possibly the 20th spot. Or a bit higher in the 18th slot.
The Oilers have 12 games remaining and have some games in hand over the aforementioned teams. But the games in hand are only good if you win them. Edmonton play Seattle tonight and Calgary on Saturday night. From there other opponents include two games against the Kings, and single contests against Vegas and Winnipeg, all of who are battling for playoff positioning. St. Louis is another opponent but the other four tilts aren’t great for stiff competiton: Anaheim once and San Jose a ridiculous three times in their final eight contests. So unless they go on a hot streak, the Flyers’ pick should be an improvement (barring a Conference Finals appearance) on what they had last season. It’s also possible they go into a pre-playoff slump and have one or two other teams catch them that are a few points behind them currently. Minnesota and St. Louis are two such teams with 85 points and 83 points, respectively. But for now that particular pick should end up being a higher pick for the Flyers than the thirty-second.
The other team to be scoreboard-watching for would be Colorado. The Flyers acquired the Avalanche pick (which is top-10 protected but will be the Flyers’ pick) when they dealt Sean Walker during the 2024 trade deadline. Colorado has 91 points in 72 games and has the fifth-best record heading into Wednesday night’s games. And their schedule seems to be a bit more trickier than Edmonton’s as most of their opponents are either fighting for seeding or just fighting to get in the playoffs. Colorado will face Los Angeles twice, St. Louis twice, Calgary, Columbus, Vegas, and Vancouver. The other two games? Well they face Chicago on April 2 and close out the season playing Anaheim on April 13. Not as easy as Edmonton’s schedule but a less than stellar 10 games could see them moving down the standings. And making things better for the Flyers in June.
The four teams who end up in the Conference Finals are slotted in spots #29, #30, #31 and #32, with the Cup champion getting the last spot of the first round. Ideally both Edmonton and Colorado fall off a bit and don’t make deep playoff runs. If that’s the case, the Flyers could have three of the top 19 to 23 picks. And giving Flyers general manager Danny Briere a bit more leverage when it comes to possibly acquiring pieces at the draft, namely a high-end center. Or selecting obvious better players with higher selections.
So, in closing, don’t just keep track of Buffalo, Nashville, and of course the Flyers. Take a gander at Edmonton and Colorado to see what they might or might not be doing down the stretch.
