Why the Flyers might have to consider trading the No. 6 pick in the NHL Draft

New York Times

3 days ago

The state of the Philadelphia Flyers' rebuild after two years under general manager Daniel Briere essentially can be summed up like this:
They are not a team that has lost games on purpose (other than maybe the final game of this past season in Buffalo, when they started the leaky Aleksei Kolosov in net for the first time in four months), they have no plans to tank in the future — on the contrary, they plan on trying to win again next season — and, of course, they are still short on elite-level talent.
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At some point, perhaps even sooner than later, Briere is going to have to part with a premium asset or two and take a chance on a player that he views as a future cornerstone.
And for another few weeks, one of those assets at his disposal is the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 draft.
Now, of course, dealing that pick for anything other than a long-term solution at center, a true No. 1 defenseman or a legitimate scoring winger/leader whose game would translate in the playoffs would make little sense. The Flyers still need more depth in their system, particularly at center — and as it turns out, there are plenty of potential top-six centers high on this year's draft board.
Unless Brady Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes or Mason McTavish is available — or someone else of that status who has yet who has yet to appear in any trade rumors — it's still much more likely that the Flyers will end up using the pick, especially if they believe they can add more depth at center to join 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko.
But they've also already bought themselves a Plan B if they do end up trading that pick, in the form of two later first-round picks from Colorado and Edmonton and four more picks in the top half of the second round. They will have an opportunity to find some hidden gems in those slots, either by packaging some of them together to move up or simply using them all and hoping to hit on a few of them.
Notably, Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said last week: 'I think the second round actually has some depth to it.' So there will be other chances there for the Flyers to grab some good players if they do move the No. 6 selection, if you believe Flahr's appraisal.
Briere, when speaking with the media after the season, acknowledged that the Flyers could look into offer-sheeting a restricted free agent this summer. There's a danger in that, too — if they do go that route for a true, high-end player, and that offer sheet isn't matched, it would mean surrendering their 2026 first-round pick — and with it, a chance at Gavin McKenna, who could be the league's next superstar.
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You only have to look at this year's draft lottery to be reminded of the danger of trading a first-round pick, as the New York Islanders moved up from No. 10 in the draft to No. 1. And as much as Briere has spoken about wanting the Flyers to be better next season, unless he can meaningfully fix the goaltending and the power play, finishing in the bottom third of the league again is entirely plausible.
In other words, if they're going to deal their first-round pick for a true impact player, they may be better off doing it this year rather than next.
It seems evident to me, at least based on what I've heard and seen online, that Flyers management believes the team is much closer to competing for a playoff spot than the majority of the fan base and even many in the media who cover the league. Which is understandable. The Flyers finished with the fourth-worst record in the NHL and are still technically rebuilding, and teams in their position don't typically end up trading their highest pick in the draft.
But again, the Flyers aren't approaching this rebuild the same way as some teams that finished below them — the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks, in particular. Briere has said he believes the 2024-25 Flyers were better than their record, while president of hockey operations Keith Jones recently said in a radio interview that the days of trading away useful players in the middle of the season, as they've done for the past two seasons, are probably over.
That pivot was obviously sold to new coach Rick Tocchet, because you don't hire a guy like that if you expect the rebuild to last several more seasons. That's not something the 61-year-old Tocchet would likely be interested in, either.
Many pieces of what Briere and Jones hope will be a perennial playoff team are already in place. Matvei Michkov is here, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim are locked up long-term, and now Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates are re-signed after the steps they took in 2024-25. It's a decent foundation.
But they need more top-end talent, and they're going to have to get creative in order to procure it. That means just about everything — other than that aforementioned group — is likely to be on the table this offseason.
Including the No. 6 overall pick.