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Ottawa Citizen

Flyers deal two first-round picks to move up and take Spitfires' Nesbitt with 12th pick in NHL Draft

Article content Windsor Spitfires' centre Jack Nesbitt must have made quite the impression. Article content With the six-foot-five, 186-pound centre still on the board in Friday's first round of the NHL Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers stepped up big. Article content Article content The Flyers sent a pair of first-round picks – at No. 22 and No. 31 – to the Pittsburgh Penguins to move up to the 12th pick overall and select Nesbitt. Article content Article content 'We try not to show our hand and didn't want anybody to know, but you were our guy all along,' Flyers' general manager Daniel Briere said to Nesbitt on the national broadcast. 'This is really, really exciting for all of us.' Article content Article content The 18-year-old Nesbitt was named the most improved player in the Western Conference in the annual OHL coaches poll after make a 46-point offensive improvement from his rookie season. He was fifth in scoring for Windsor with 25 goals and 64 points in 65 games while finished tied for second on the team with 74 penalty minutes. Article content 'He looks like a Flyer to me,' Philadelphia president of hockey operations Keith Jones said on the national broadcast. 'We're fired up about it. We love the way he plays the game. (Brier) mentioned the grit, he's got some high-end skill to go with that and we think he's just going to develop into an outstanding player for us.' Article content Article content Nesbitt was taken one pick before the Detroit Red Wings selected forward Carter Bear with the 13th pick overall from the Everett Silvertips. Article content Nesbitt was the second player selected by the Flyers in the first round with the club grabbing six-foot-three, 204-pound Brampton Steelheads' forward Porter Martone with the sixth pick overall. Nesbitt was the sixth OHL player taken in the first 12 picks of Friday's first round.