The Philadelphia Flyers have made 526 selections at the NHL Draft in their franchise history. Not all of them turned out obviously, but there have been some keepers in that time.
The latest the Flyers ever selected was the 291st pick (last) in the 2004 Draft when the league had nine rounds. John Carter was the draft pick but never played a lick in the NHL. Triston Carter (286th in 2004) played eight games for the Flyers in 2006-07, the latest pick that actually dressed for Philadelphia. The only noteworthy selection the team made over pick #250 was in 1985 when Paul Maurice, a then blueliner for the Windsor Compuware Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, was chosen 252nd overall. Maurice never suited up for a NHL game but made his name as one of the better, established, and respected coaches. Oh, and the Stanley Cup ring helps too.
Obviously, it would take a lot of bandwidth to go through all 526 picks. But Broad Street Hockey likes a challenge. Hence, we’ve decided to look at the best (or who could’ve been the best) Flyer picked through each of the top 224 picks (using this year’s model of seven rounds with 32 selections per round) in franchise history. If they didn’t pick at that slot in their history, that slot won’t be included obviously.
So to Bruno St. Jacques (253rd, 1998), Petr Hubacek (243rd, 1998), Martin Houle (232nd, 2004), Jeff Lank (230th, 1995 (re-entered draft after Habs drafted him in 1993), Guillaume Lefebvre (227th, 2000), Neil Little (226th, 1991), and David Printz (225th, 2001), thank you for your service to the Flyers (albeit one game for some) but your selection didn’t make the cut.
Here then is the seventh round (picks #224 through to #193) in the All-Time Flyers NHL Draft:
#224: The Flyers never had a draft pick pan out in this slot. David Nystrom (1999), Scott Billey (1988), and Rick Gal (1982) never got a shift of NHL action combined.
#223: Chris Herperger was drafted in 1992 but never played for Philadelphia. He had some time with Chicago and Ottawa before playing with the Swiss League’s Kloten Flyers in 2006-07. Herperger ended his professional career in 2012-13 with the Hannover Scorpions.
#222: Matt Brait (1989) was selected one slot after the Detroit Red Wings selected defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov. Brait never saw NHL action, ending his career playing collegiate hockey. Meanwhile, Konstantinov was critically injured six days after the Wings defeated the Flyers in a sweep during the 1997 Stanley Cup Final. He never played another game.
#221: Brian Jopling (1983) went in round eleven but experienced hockey at the NHL level. If Jopling and his parents stuck around waiting to be drafted at least it wasn’t in vain. Jopling had a successful business career after hockey. Sadly he passed away in 2005.
#220: Alexis Gendron (2022) played 63 games for Lehigh Valley this past season, scoring 20 goals with eight helpers. His father, Martin, is an amateur scout for the Flyers covering Quebec.
#219: Craig Arvidson (1974) had four seasons with the University of Minnesota-Duluth, getting 14 goals and 17 assists in his fourth and final collegiate year.
#218: After his rights were traded from Philadelphia to San Jose, goaltender Johan Hedberg (1994) was eventually shipped to Pittsburgh to begin a 12-season career with Dallas, Atlanta, the Devils, Penguins and Vancouver. He had a solid stint with 373 regular season games, a .901 save percentage and 2.82 career goals-against average. The other Flyers draftee in this slot was Tripp Tracy (1993) who has been the color commentator for the Carolina Hurricanes radio (and some television) broadcasts for several years.
#215: Matt Clackson (2005) played two years with the Flyers’ American Hockey League affiliate beginning in 2007-08 with the Philadelphia Phantoms. Clackson was part of the package shipped out to obtain the negotiating rights to Ilya Bryzgalov on June 6, 2011. Bryzgalov signed a nine-year deal and we all know how that played out. Clackson never played in the NHL.
#214: Tommy Soderstrom (1990) was perhaps best known for his rather large helmet with the wire mesh. Soderstrom played 78 games for the Flyers over two seasons (1992-93, 1993-94) before the Flyers traded him prior to the start of the 1994-95 season to the Islanders. Philadelphia reacquired Ron Hextall in the same deal. He also had this blooper reel highlight but it was no fault of his own.
#213: Center Jeff Milleker (1996) was a big center (6’2″, 213 lbs) for the Moose Jaw Warriors and had 181 penalty minutes for the Weyburn Red Wings in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. That didn’t translate to the big leagues.
#211: Brad Morrow (1974) never played a NHL shift. Three picks later the Islanders selected Stefan Persson, a solid defenseman who was part of New York’s dynasty in the ’80s when they won four consecutive Stanley Cups.
#210: Current Bruins color commentator Andy Brickley (1980) played three games with the Flyers in 1982-83 before he was traded in a package deal to Pittsburgh that saw Rich Sutter become a Flyer. He spent four seasons with Boston before closing out his NHL career with the Jets.
#209: Shaun Sobol (1986) got two NHL games and never registered a point. The upside? His career was twice as long as Flyers draft picks Vaclav Pletka (1999) and Brendan Ranford (2010), the latter playing his lone NHL game for Dallas.
#208: You have all you need to know about Vaclav Pletka (1999) who never registered a point either in his lone NHL contest.
#206: While three prospects were taken by the Flyers all-time here, none were NHL worthy. The jury is still out on Owen McLaughlin (2021) who just wrapped up his third year at the University of North Dakota.
#205: Four prospects in this slot never saw NHL action, although this writer did see Steve Tsujira (1981) play with the Maine Mariners (Philadelphia’s then AHL affiliate) against the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. Also Austin Moline (2024) still is a work in progress and could end up with the Flyers if everything falls into place for him.
#204: Josh Bartell (1991) was one of three prospects Philadelphia took in this slot. Prior to Bartell’s pick, the Winnipeg Jets selected Igor Ulanov. Ulanov had a journeyman’s career with Winnipeg, Washington, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Edmonton, the Rangers, Florida, and wrapping up his NHL tenure with the Oilers in 2005-06.
#203: Neither Jeff Dandretta (1988) nor Tom Allen (1982) saw any action as a Flyer or in the NHL.
#202: No relation to Claude (although his father has the same first name), Ray Giroux (1994) had his rights traded to the Islanders in 1998 for a sixth-rounder. He played 38 games with the Islanders and Devils in call-up roles. But primarily spent his career in the minors.
#201: The Flyers in this slot have gone zero for five in terms of drafting NHL talent as Valeri Vasiliev (2012), Mathieu Brunelle (2002), Al Kummu (1989), William McCormick (1983), and Richard Guay (1974) were all essentially misses.
#200: Philadelphia decided on Pavel Kasparik (1999) but the Czech forward didn’t pan out. Still there for the taking was Henrik Zetterberg, who Detroit took 10 selections later. That pick did pan out for the Red Wings.
#199: Matteo Mann (2023) had the best chance of becoming the first Flyer prospect at this number to end up with the big club. The defenseman spent this past year with the Saint John Sea Dogs, scoring eight goals and adding eight assists in 56 games. The Flyers and Mann parted ways recently, enabling him to become an Unrestricted Free Agent.
#198: The Flyers decided to add a Stastny to their team when they picked Anton Stastny (1978), brother of Peter. However, the league deemed the pick null and void due to the fact Anton wasn’t the necessary age needed to be drafted. He went back into the draft the following year where Quebec selected him. Anton Stastny averaged almost a point a game in his career, with 636 points (including 252 goals) in 650 games.
#197: Santeri Sulku (2022) appeared with the Flyers in an exhibition game last September against the Rangers, getting an assist on a first-period goal.
#196: The best of the quartet found at this number is Oliver Lauridsen (2009). He had 15 games for the Flyers in 2012-13, scoring once and assisting twice. The following season he was in a lone game for Philadelphia yet ended up with 10 minutes in penalties.
#195: Tomas Divisek (1998) played five games with Philadelphia over two seasons. He scored once in the latter season. Divisek ended up in the Czech league until 2015-16, bouncing around a handful of teams starting back in 2002-03.
#193: Joey Mormina (2002) never received a contract from the Flyers. He would later sign with Carolina where he played one NHL game. He suited up for 670 AHL games.
#192: Although he only competed in six games with the Flyers, Paul Healey (1993) was a journeyman minor leaguer (for the most part). He played 77 NHL games but played with a boatload of minor league teams ranging from the AHL (San Antonio Rampage and Lowell Lock Monsters to name two) to the Vienna Capitals in the Austrian league.
