More trades? How many picks? 5 Flyers things to know for NHL draft 2024

More trades? How many picks? 5 Flyers things to know for NHL draft 2024 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

As he constructs the Flyers‘ rebuild, Danny Briere knows the importance of the NHL entry draft.

It’s widely considered the best way to acquire and keep high-end talent. And from 2023 to 2025, the Flyers are slated to make six first-round selections.

“Those are really critical drafts for us when you’re doing a rebuild, especially now in a cap era where it’s really tough to go out and sign free agents,” the Flyers’ general manager said a little over a week ago. “That’s kind of what we hope to be the base for us moving forward.”

Their next two first-rounders are ahead at the 2024 NHL draft in Las Vegas. The first round is Friday (7 p.m. ET/ESPN), while Rounds 2-7 are Saturday (11:30 a.m. ET/NHL Network).

Like last summer, the Flyers could have up to 10 picks. Briere has been involved in the team’s draft operation since 2020, but this marks his second as GM. Brent Flahr, who oversees the club’s amateur scouting efforts, is running his sixth draft with the Flyers as assistant general manager.

“From Day 1 here, one of the things that Dan Hilferty has stressed is we collaborate on everything,” Briere said. “I need help when it comes to the draft and I rely a lot on our scouts. I think we have one of the best scouting teams, led by Brent Flahr. I trust him and his team a lot.”

Let’s look at five things you need to know as the Flyers head into a busy, roster-shaping stretch of their offseason.

Any potential trades?

Briere said the Flyers were open for business last offseason and he showed it, putting an aggressive focus on the future. He traded Ivan Provorov three weeks before the draft, Kevin Hayes a day before the draft, almost traded Travis Sanheim at the same time and bought out Tony DeAngelo‘s contract in July.

Are the Flyers still open for business?

“Yes, absolutely. It hasn’t changed for us,” Briere said. “We’re still looking to acquire assets that are going to help us in the future. We know where we’re at as a team. It was awesome what happened last year, playing games that mattered all the way to Game 82 even though we missed. But we realize we’re not a Stanley Cup contender yet, we still have lots of work and the future is still what we’re targeting.”

Last summer, Briere was really putting his imprint on the rebuild in his first offseason. Expect him to still be open-minded and creative. He said the Flyers would jump on a trade if it makes sense.

However, while he’ll continue to field calls and look to further supplement the future, there’s a good chance he likes his roster better now compared to a year ago. But if the Flyers do subtract again, who might be the candidates?

There’s definitely a decision to make on Cam Atkinson‘s future (more on that below).

Scott Laughton has heard rumors the last three trade deadlines and he expected those to pick back up as the draft neared.

The Flyers are challenging Joel Farabee to take another step after his career year. Perhaps he’s a young forward the club could dangle on the market because there’s a lot of value to him.

There was moderate trade buzz around Morgan Frost last season. He’s a playmaking center who would have interest, especially considering the Flyers haven’t committed to him long term, at least not yet.

Rasmus Ristolainen and Nicolas Deslauriers are names to not forget, too. But both could be more in play during the season and closer to the deadline. Ristolainen is coming off an injury-plagued year and Deslauriers will no longer have a modified no-trade clause come noon ET on Monday.

When do the Flyers pick?

Here’s a full breakdown of the Flyers’ 2024 selections:

• Round 1 — No. 12 overall

• Round 1 — No. 32 overall

• Round 2 — No. 36 overall (CBJ has option to give up this pick or 2025 second-rounder)

• Round 2 — No. 51 overall

• Round 3 — No. 77 overall

• Round 5 — No. 148 overall

• Round 5 — No. 150 overall

• Round 6 — No. 173 overall

• Round 6 — No. 177 overall

• Round 7 — No. 205 overall

More: Flyers surrounding Michkov with help just as important as his arrival

Who are the Flyers’ targets?

We profiled 11 prospects the Flyers could consider with the 12th overall pick:

• Flyers should like Helenius, ‘one of the top talents in the draft’

• Flyers draft target Catton has ‘ingredients’ to be first-line center

• Flyers could have shot at Yakemchuk, a defenseman with ‘rare combination’

• Flyers draft target Iginla has impressive NHL lineage and ‘very high ceiling’

• Eiserman, ‘the best goal scorer in this draft,’ an option for Flyers?

• ‘The full package’ Connelly has interesting draft case for Flyers

• With ‘no real holes to his game,’ Jiricek an option for Flyers at No. 12

• Is Brandsegg-Nygard close to pro-ready and a possibility for Flyers?

• Sennecke, a big winger set to ‘explode offensively,’ will be on Flyers’ radar

• Should Boisvert, a future ‘impact center,’ have Flyers’ attention?

• ‘He’s a special, special hockey player’ — Greentree a fit for Flyers at No. 12?

Will the Flyers move up or back?

Briere didn’t rule anything out a little over a week ago.

“Everything’s on the table for us, we’re looking at all kinds of options,” he said. “When I talk to teams, we’re not stuck in just one mode of trying to move up or trying to move back. I know there are teams that have called and said, ‘Look, we want more picks, so we’re looking to move back and just get more shots.’ We have the picks, so it gives us more possibilities to do either or for us.”

According to a report Thursday by Pierre LeBrun on TSN, the Flyers made a “pretty aggressive pitch” to the Blue Jackets in an attempt to climb from No. 12 to No. 4, but they were turned down (h/t Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers).

As we noted at the top, the Flyers have two first-rounders in 2025, which is expected to be a strong crop of prospects. Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones called it “a very important draft.” It’ll be interesting to see if the Flyers try to acquire more 2025 picks over the next two days or if they use some 2025 picks as trade chips for this draft.

“We’re looking at all kinds of things,” Briere said. “We’re looking to possibly move up with certain picks, we’re looking to move back. Obviously if we move up, we might have to give up a pick or two, but if the value is worth it to move up, to give up a pick on the back end to acquire a player or pick a player that we really love, we’ll jump on it. On the flip side, if there’s a clump of players that we feel comfortable with, we might try to move back to acquire more assets, either later in the draft or next year.”

Could we see a buyout?

Atkinson’s role diminished down the stretch last season and he sounded open to a change of scenery in his exit interview. The Flyers are expected to explore the trade route with the veteran winger, but if they don’t find a partner, they may consider buying out the final season of Atkinson’s contract.

Cal Petersen, with one more year on his contract, as well, is also a buyout candidate.

Sunday is the final day clubs can buy out a player.

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