UPDATE: FLYERS SELECT GAUTHIER
The top four picks of the 2022 NHL Draft did not go in the most widely predicted order of selection but consisted of the same players -- Juraj Slafkovsky, Simon Nemec, Logan Cooley, and Shane Wright -- which gave the Philadelphia an expected decision between winger/center Cutter Gauthier and Czech defenseman David Jiricek.
The Flyers opted for USNTDP product Gauthier, who is bound for Boston College next season and will at least start out at center. The main question mark about Gauther at center is whether he handles and distributes the puck well enough to play in the middle at the NHL level. His game profile more typically fits that of a winger.
In terms of tools, Gauthier combines size and powerful skating with a quick shot release and a willingness and ability to get to the net along with winning puck battles. Although he was a fine goal-scorer for the USNTDP. he didn't score at an astounding rate. There have been some question marks as to why someone with his shot and other tools hasn't so far scored at just a bit higher rate. There is no question mark about character, work ethic or competitiveness.
For an in-depth profile of Gauthier, see my
running blog on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
2022 NHL Entry Draft
The 2022 NHL Entry Draft is finally upon us. As we do annually on the HockeyBuzz Flyers blog, I will maintain a running blog throughout the day and evening whenever this is actual news to report involving the Flyers, whether it involves a trade or a pick. It appears that the team will keep and use the fifth overall pick in the Draft.
The Flyers currently hold the following selections:
1st round: No. 5 overall
Second round: None
3rd round: No. 69 overall
4th round: No. 101 overall
5th round: No. 133 overall
6th round: No. 165 overall
7th round: No. 197 overall
As final pre-draft prep, please check out Scouts Week on Flyers' Daily. The final edition, which went live last night, features
assistant general manager Brent Flahr discussing the likely wider-than-normal variability of rankings for this year's Draft class, the increased role of video scouting that came about during the pandemic and is now a little more widely used, the effect of the pandemic in creating volatility in certain player projections post-Draft, the Draft re-entry factor, the "Russian Factor", goalie quality and depth (or lack thereof) in the 2022 crop as a whole, and more.
The other installments of the Scouts Week podcast include discussions with Flyers director of player personnel
Alyn McCauley, Flyers European scouting director
Joakim Grundberg and the organization's primary Western Canada based scout
Mark Greig.
During the first round of the Draft, there will be a live Flyers-centric podcast hosted by Brian Smith from the Bell Centre that can be accessed from
Flyers Radio 24/7. Jason Myrtetus and I will also be on the program, working remotely. As with previous years, there will be special guests as available and media availability for the Flyers' first-round selection.
On a leaguewide basis, one of the more intriguing scenarios as the 32 teams gather in Montreal centers around whether the Arizona Coyotes will select US National Team Development program left wing/center Cutter Gauthier with the third overall selection. A Scottsdale native, Gauthier rose in his Draft spot projections during the second half of the 2021-22 season.
With the caveat that most draftees do not reach their developmental ceiling. Craig Button likened Gauthier's upside to Max Pacioretty. It's an apt comparison in terms of physical tools, playing style, physical makeup at the age of 18 and potential ceiling as a pro. Pacioretty was a fine goal scorer in his pre-pro days but nothing astounding (the same can be said of Gauthier so far). Pacioretty went on to become a five-time 30-goal scorer in the NHL, including four consecutive seasons in his Montreal heyday. Whichever team that drafts Gauthier would be ecstatic if the player someday approaches that level, but that's the driving vision of why he's expected to be selected early in the first round.
If there is a run of four straight forwards taken atop the first round -- which would mean that every defenseman in the Draft class remains on the board and open a strong possibility that dynamic Slovakian defenseman Simon Nemec is there for the taking by the Flyers at No. 5 overall. Nemec is a very high ceiling blueliner; one with NHL top-pairing potential and a projectable second-pairing floor.
I'd be a little bit surprised if this is the case, however. I don't think Nemec makes it past the Seattle Kraken with the fourth overall pick. That's where the Gauthier-to-Arizona scenario at number three overall has direct bearing on the Flyers. Let's assume (although it's not a mortal lock) that Shane Wright and Juraj Slafkovsky are the first two picks off the board, in either order, to the Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils. We'll also venture a guess that Nemec goes off the board before the Flyers turn comes up.
In this scenario, if Arizona selects Gauthier, fellow USNTPD product Logan Cooley will fall to the Flyers at number five. Cooley is a dazzling pure offensive talent -- widely considered the most skilled and creative stickhandler in the Draft class, one of the projected top three or four playmakers, and a very fast and elusive skater. Cooley is a good shooter, too, with deceptive hands but it's the plays he makes with the puck that are the bedrock of why he surpassed USNTDP teammate Frank Nazar (another dazzling skater with high-end natural skills who could go in the top 10 or so picks) in the consensus public rankings. Pittsburgh native Cooley is small, has work to do in elevating his 200-foot game to NHL standards, but has the potential to someday be the breakout point-producer of his Draft class.
If Cooley goes in the top four based on his ceiling and defenseman Nemec also goes off the board before the Flyers' turn comes up, Gauthier would appear to be the odds-on favorite to be Philadelphia's pick unless their internal BPA rankings have someone else atop the list that differs from the publicly available projections. But it would not be surprising if Gauthier checks off enough boxes -- size plus powerful skating, a willingness and ability to battle for pucks and get to the net, strong character and potential to either play left wing or center (he's expected to see time at center for BC, although there are questions over whether he handles and distributes the puck well enough to be an ideal center).
A shutdown defenseman with a cannon of a point shot and good size to go along with some physical bite, Czech defenseman David Jiricek would be a conservative pick in the No. 5 slot. At the IIHF World Championships in Finland, he moved around well enough to put to rest some of the fears that arose when he injured a knee in the WJC opener in January and lost several months to ensuing surgery.
I am personally intrigued by the Djurgården trio of right winger Jonathan Lekkerimäki (a potential top 10 pick who needs physical development but who showed well against grown men in the SHL and was one-third of a dominant junior team line), center Noah Östlund (gifted playmaker and stickhandler, very smooth skater, surprisingly well-rounded in his overall game, but physically small at present, there are rumors that he will be selected higher than his public consensus latter first-round selection range), and left wing Liam Öhgren (projected currently as a top 15 candidate; physically big and well-rounded as a player including a goal-scorer's touch).
As a trio, these three players stole the show at the Under-18 World Championships in similar fashion to the way they tore up their junior team competition with Djurgården J20. All three also saw time with the DIF men's team in SHL but Östlund and Öhgren got the usual limited ice time that most teenagers see as they get their feet wet in the top domestic league. Lekkerimäki, meanwhile, had the highest SHL goal total by a Draft-eligible Swedish player since Daniel Sedin for Modo in 1998-99.
Finnish sniper Joakim Kemell rocketed out of the gates in 2021-22 with 12 goals in the first 16 games of the Liiga regular season but, after a shoulder injury, went ice cold the rest of the season but his falling Draft stock stabilized after he racked up six goals in five games at the U18s. Kemell, a righthanded shooter, has an elite-grade one-timer from the left circle and is a plus skater. The aforementioned Nazar is another dark horse who could fall high with some team's internal BPA list.
Flyers Announce 2022-23 Regular Season Schedule
On Wednesday, the NHL and each individual team unveiled their full 2022-23 schedules. For the Flyers' schedule,
click here or see the embedded Tweet below.
The Flyers' schedule includes 14 back-to-back games, the Penguins as the Metro Division team the club will only play three (instead of four) times during the season, and a late-season schedule that is light on remaining divisional games (only three of the final 13) and heavy on inter-Conference travel. Also, the Flyers will play nine of 11 games on the road around the winter holiday season in latter December into January. They'll have a seven-game homestand in the latter part of March.
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