NHL Mock Draft 2020: Philadelphia Flyers select Dylan Holloway with no. 23 pick

We have the Flyers taking the Wisconsin forward in the first round.

Brad Keffer

Oct 5, 2020 • 2 min read Front Page

Assuming that the Flyers don’t trade their first round pick in the next 24 hours or so, tomorrow they’ll be making the 23rd selection in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. We’ve been running our community board, have gone through a number of draft profiles, and it’s finally time to make our pick in the SB Nation mock draft.

With the 23rd selection, we have selected Dylan Holloway, who was no. 19 on our community board.

The University of Wisconsin forward is a bit older for this draft class, and has already finished his freshman season. His prototype is that of a two-way forward, getting praise for not only his offensive skills, but his defensive commitment. He scored 8 goals and was credited with 9 assists in 35 games with the Badgers this season.

What might make this a somewhat polarizing selection would be the lack of flash. We had this to say about Holloway just four days ago:

“It isn’t really so much a weakness in his game, but there are some debates among scouts about how high his offensive upside really is. Some think he can develop into as much as an elite playmaker, others think he isn’t that dynamic, though he may still cap out as a serviceable NHL player.” (x)

Holloway feels like a Flyers pick, selecting the safer two-way forward over the flashier, boom or bust type player in someone like Noel Gunler. But, that’s not to say Holloway doesn’t have that flash — it’s said that there were real glimpses during the season, but it just wasn’t all that consistent.

Colin Cudmore’s expected range, that draws from 40 different sources, has Holloway ranked 17th in the draft, with an xRange of 13-21. So it’s possible that he won’t even be an option for the Flyers at 23, but he was for us in this mock, and that’s the decision that was made.

Do you agree with our pick? Who would you have selected with the 23rd overall pick?