One of the most frustrating aspects of following the Flyers over the years - decades - is how they have handled themselves regarding defensemen in the NHL Draft.
As much as you can make the case they have consistently failed to produce a No. 1 goalie of any "ilk" who took them to a Stanley Cup Final since Ron Hextall, the situation on defense is just as depressing.
Can you imagine if the Flyers had a Patrick Roy back in 1997 or 2000? Or a Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer back then?
What if Michael Leighton had played Chicago the way he played against Montreal in 2010?
This week I examined the whole draft situation since Chris Therien in 1990 and it was pretty shocking when you looked at the overall numbers.
After the club selected Therien that year, they would go to draft 198 players right up through the 2012 draft. Of that group, not a single defensemen is left who is playing regular minutes for them, although there are 3 they drafted playing elsewhere.
I don't follow the amateurs as close as Bill Meltzer but I looked at some video recently of Seth Jones and I was amazed as how advanced he seemed against his peers.
I thought I was looking at a young Bobby Orr with the way he moved on the ice, the power of his skating, his ability to shift gears from 1st to 4th in an instant.
A guy asked me at Planet Fitness today if I could envision what he would look like on the Flyers and I replied that would be a franchise kid to build around. The one player who could perhaps change everything for the Flyers here forward.
Really, all it takes sometimes is one player to make a difference. You ask Pens GM Ray Shero about some of the moves he made in 2008 and 2009 to get that last Stanley Cup and he'll tell you if you can get the right mix and win, it doesn't matter what you gave up. You won your Cup, you've bought yourself some time.
Flyer fans have suffered through a 38-year drought without a Cup, but if they get one a year from now, a lot of past misery fades away. They buy themselves time and good will.
We will all wonder "what if" the Flyers had gotten Ryan Suter or Shea Weber last summer. What if Pronger's career had not ended with post-concussion syndrome.
The Flyers will get a quality d-man in this summer's draft but not an immediate impact guy like Jones.
But like many fans, I feel the organization has to make a renewed commitment to start drafting by "position" instead of by "best athlete" when it is painfully obvious your organization is lacking in certain spots.
We hope it begins this draft.
Here's more hockey plus the d-man breakdown piece I wrote on CSNPhilly.com:
click here 
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