Nothing should ever surprise me when it comes to the Flyers, but I will be rather shocked if, drafting at No. 11, this weekend, they don't take a defenseman.
The Flyers are depleted at this position within the organization and as I pointed out last month, they don't have a single drafted defenseman playing regularly for them over their previous 13 drafts which is a disgrace.
One source, who was paying careful attention to the Flyers at the scouting combine, says that they have their sights on 3 players they feel might be available at that pick:
1) Ryan Pulock, who I mentioned a couple of times.
2) Rasmus Ristolainen, from Finland, who like Pulock, GM Paul Holmgren spoke highly of and,
3) Nikita Zadorov, who is tough as nails.
Here is the Flyer transcript of Holmgren's pre-draft presser with the media. Note that he admits the club needs to start exercising some patience in holding onto defensive prospects.
FLYERS GM PAUL HOLMGREN - June 26, 2013
Q. Paul, the 2003 draft is said to be maybe the best of all time and a lot of people, a lot of scouts are saying this is real good too. How do you compare this draft with some of the top notch drafts of recent years?
A. Well it's certainly one of the better ones probably in the last couple of years in terms of overall depth. Compared to '03, It’d be difficult now because you look back at those players. There was a lot of impact players from that draft. So, that's probably for future debate.
Q. There was something like 8, 7 or 8, defensemen from that draft that really became guys that -
A. Even if you get down into the second round
Q. - second round, right.
A. Matt Carle, Shea Weber was a second round pick.
Q. Are there enough defensemen that you could look at it and say we could probably match it?
A. Well, potentially, yeah. It's a deep draft for defensemen.
Q. Has your thought changed at all what you want to do, whether it's staying put at 11, moving up or moving down?
A. We probably have to be prepared to do anything if the right thing comes up. I think everyday there's more and more talk from around the league. I know I've talked to more guys in the last few days, so I know there's certainly potential for movement of picks. Up, down, I think some teams are looking to trade their picks for the right player.
Q. Would the 7th spot, there's been reports out of Edmonton that they would deal the 7th spot, be attractive enough for you? Or would you feel like you have to get in the top 5?
A. I like where we're at. I think we're going to get a good player at 11. I mean if you can move higher then you know, to get into the guys you really like, that you think are probably franchise players, you probably got to get up in the top 4.
Q. Will this draft, in your opinion, be impacted by the buyouts that may or may not happen? Will some clubs be holding out until the end, maybe think about trading? Packaging a trade with a draft pick?
A. I think there's going to be lots of funny stuff happening in the next 10 days or 9 days, leading up to July 5th.
Q. Paul, will yesterday's decision to buyout Bryz, will that have any effect in the draft and that you're looking now maybe at a goalie in maybe later rounds? Maybe you weren't before, but now you are?
A. No, I wouldn't say that that would change, in a way. There's probably a point in the draft where we would look at a goalie, and it may very well be at 11. I don't know, it depends on how we do things. There's a couple of guys we like that we believe are going to go first round, go in the first round, so we'll see how it all shakes out.
Q. When you say there's lots of funny stuff that could happen, do you anticipate that you guys perhaps get caught up in that? Could you be funny yourselves?
A. Say that again?
Q. Could you be funny yourselves?
A. We could be, I guess.
Q. It's almost - to follow up on that – it's almost expected that you guys will do something before the draft.
A. Oh, pressure.
Q. I mean, you have done things a day or two before each of the drafts or right during the early rounds of the draft.
A. There's potential for lots of things to happen because of the buyout, potential buyouts which might become another point. It's a very competitive league and we're all trying to do what the Blackhawks just did.
Q. Do you put any stock into the kind of posturing that's going on from some teams at the top of the draft? Colorado saying already that they're gonna take a forward with the top pick. Do you buy any of that, or is it just kind of -
A. Posturing.
Q. You think it's fluid?
A. I think it's probably posturing. I don't know – if we had the first pick, right now, I could say today I'm not sure who we'd take. Maybe it's fair for them to say that. Patrick Roy probably saw Drouin and MacKinnon play, I don't know, 20 times in the last couple years. They're pretty exciting players. He probably hasn't seen Seth Jones play nearly as much as those guys or Barkov or any of these top names that are being talked about so I imagine their debates in the Colorado office are pretty intense. Joe and Patrick and Greg Sherman, they probably don't know what they're going to do yet. Or maybe they do and they're just not saying.
Q. You guys were winning a lot of games at the end of the season after you had been eliminated, was there any part of you that sort of cringed, realized you were losing draft spots -
A. No, not really. To me winning is always more important than draft position. We can joke about, because I think at some point we were probably picking 3rd or 4th. But no, I was happy for the guys.
Q. Can what you do with the draft depend on health of a couple of guys, too, going forward. Grossmann, Meszaros, do you expect them -
A. All of our guys are, other than Andrej who hasn't been completely cleared yet, but when he left to go back he's - probably by the end of July he’ll be fine and ready to go. Nicklas was cleared, Braydon was cleared, so we're fine on that end.
Q. Along those lines the Flyers haven’t had much luck when it comes to using their high pick on a defenseman and then developing him all the way up to the top and you know having them be a 10 year guy. Does the team ever talk about that internally and perhaps think –
A. I hear that all the time from Mr. Snider, he’s always telling me we’ve never drafted a top defenseman. I’ll say it again from a depth of our franchise that’s probably an area that we lack, but I’m not gonna waver. If we could get to the 11th pick, if that’s what we’re picking in the first round, and a guy we like best is a forward that’s what we’re gonna draft.
Q. Is it tougher for these 18 year olds to be NHL ready as a defenseman than a forward?
A. I think that’s a fair, a very fair comment - yes.
Q. Do you place a premium then on – say if you keep number 11 and you draft there - are you looking more in terms of players that can make an impact?
A. No - I think you’ve got to think down the road at 11 for sure. Could he play for the Flyers next year? Yeah. I mean we’ve tested Williams who I think was like the 27th pick and he played for the Flyers right away, so you never say never with these young kids. Some of them are built differently than others, but you got to be prepared to look forward too and be prepared to go through the process and development.
Q. Because of his connection to Donovan McNabb, there’s a lot of interest in Darnell Nurse. What’s your evaluation of him and do you think he’ll be around at 11?
A. I’ve seen Darnell play a few times and he’s a hard-nosed kid. He’s still probably like 6’4 and I’d venture to guess he weighs like 210 lbs. When you watch him play – he’s still a lot of elbows and knees, but he’s a rugged hard-nosed player that can fight pretty good with a puck and he continues to get better, but I have no idea if he’ll be there at our pick.
Q. What about Ryan Pulock
A. Another good player- Big shot. Not as physical as Nurse, but a good solid prospect
Q. Just a follow up question to that other one, it takes patience, as Frank eluded to, it takes maybe more time as a defenseman. Is that something that the organization has to look at in terms of committing to that?
A. Absolutely, yeah. You know, sometimes we do things out of immediate need. I’ll look back over some trades that were made - Dennis Seidenberg we traded away and at that time Primeau was hurt, Forsberg was hurt- we needed a center and we got Nedved. So sometimes you do funny things because of what you need at the time, and I think the Flyers have always done at least in our minds what’s best to help the team win now and maybe we have to be a little more patient
Q. Does that especially go to the defense considering the way the league is?
A. I think it does – it generally just takes them longer. I think the league is becoming younger and younger and there’s certainly younger defensemen playing more now than maybe five years ago. I think that process will continue because the league is just continuing to get younger. So there’s going to be more over the next few years to come on quick, develop quicker, or put in to develop quicker.
Q. What you’re telling us now, by the time you get in there on Sunday -
A. Oh I’ll probably change my mind completely (laughs).
Q. Do you have a pretty good idea of when this all happens how it’s going to play out or is it really –
A. You have a lot of scenarios that you run through and mock drafts that you run through, so yeah you generally have a pretty good idea but I guarantee you that there’s going to be at least one player that’s taken before we pick that we didn’t think would go there. And that all of a sudden throw things into a little bit of a change of dynamic at the time.
Q. Going back, did you know Kane was going to be the first pick in that draft or were you hopeful?
A. Probably, I think we knew that.
Q. Do you ever think what might have been if he’s got two cups in the end?
A. I mean why bother?
Q. Do you think it’s pretty fair to say you’ll draft the best player who’s available or will you -
A. Yes
Q. And if defensemen and forward are equal?
A.Well that probably lean towards the defensemen then just because of our needs.
Q. Are you going up early or are you -
A. We’re staying here. We’re going to leave in the morning on Sunday.
Q. Because of those funny things that can happen?
A. Well what is there, 10 million people in New York? So the odds of bumping into another GM in NY probably aren’t very good, so I’d rather just stay here.
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