The Philadelphia Flyers made nine picks in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft: two in the first round, four in the second, two in the fifth, and one in the sixth. Meanwhile, free agent season looms on Tuesday.
Final Thoughts from Flyers Draft Weekend
Coming into the Draft week, the Flyers’ main goal — apart from landing a potential future impact player at sixth overall — was to add an influx of players who are big and physically aggressive. With only a couple of exceptions — Finnish forward Max Westergard in the fifth round, Nathan Quinn in the sixth — the Flyers drafted a lot of big-framed players who like contact. In particular, second-round pick Shane Vansaghi is someone who seems destined to someday be a fan favorite among Flyers fans drawn to crash-and-bang hockey. As with most second-round forwards, he’s a projected third-line or fourth-line forward but one who (in the words of Daniel Briere) “bring everyone into the fight”.
I do not believe in giving knee-jerk letter grades to a Draft class immediately after it ends. Wait until players have at least their draft-plus-one and draft-plus-two seasons to see how many develop into likely NHL pros. First-round pick Porter Martone has first-line wing upside and is perhaps one season away from being NHL ready. The rest, including 12th overall pick Jack Nesbitt, are going to need more time.
Agree or disagree, the Flyers people felt the decision between Martone, James Hagens and Jake O’Brien came down to this: a near can’t-miss first line winger or a second-line center? The Flyers Hockey Ops folks did not feel there were any can’t-miss first line centers in this year’s Draft but a slew of second-line and third-line centers at the top with lower-end first-line ceilings. That included Michael Misa and Hagens. All along, there’s been an undercurrent of belief that Misa could become a first-line winger but has a jump to make to be a top-of-a-winning-lineup center.
I’m personally not willing to place such a description yet on Misa or Hagens. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a bonafide second-line center (if that is, in fact, one’s ceiling). It’s not an insult. In fact, a team can contend with two “second-line centers”. Depth matters more than labels.
Martone is fairly easy to project as a future first-line winger. His skating isn’t great, and he can improve some of his defensive play. However, he’s expected to ultimately be fine in both areas. As for Nesbitt, I tend to put more weight in Bob McKenzie’s rankings (because of his extensive network of NHL scouts and scouting directors) than other sources. I had Nesbitt going 28th in my mock Draft, but that was because he didn’t have a good finish to his season (he was on fumes) and because I’m not sure of his offensive ceiling. Both Briere and Brent Flahr believe Nesbitt has another offensive level to his game. If not, he’ll be kind of an old-school third-liner whose point totals may not reflect how many came in key situations. As always, time will tell.
Final throught: My favorite Day 2 pick for the Flyers was defenseman Carter Amico. He would have been a first-round pick all the way this year, maybe even top-20 to 22, but missed the latter three quarters of the season due to a broken kneecap. He lost nearly a year of development and had to undergo two procedures. However, the word from the Combine onward has been that he’s 100 percent healthy. He won’t put up a lot of points from the back end but he can do most everything else if healthy. He has a huge frame (6-foot-5 plus, 232 pounds) but isn’t a lumbering battleship. Hopefully, he’s truly as healthy as the reports and the player say. This is a real good prospect at 38th overall if so.
Free agent “Silly Season”: Goalie tops Philly’s list
Don’t expect the Flyers to do anything earth-shaking in free agency this week. They are aware of the need to supplement Samuel Ersson with another goaltender. Whether that’s Jake Allen (who reportedly wants a three-year deal), a backup such as Dan Vladar or someone else, I don’t know. But they’ll sign or trade for a goaltender this week.
This week, KHL winger Maxim Shabanov will reportedly make up his mind about an NHL destination. The Flyers are the front runner, per multiple reports. The Flyers are also looking for a big winger with scoring upside (they won’t rush Martone) via trade or free agency. It won’t necessarily be a star but someone who can win puck battles and score near the net.
In the bigger picture, I was told, the Flyers don’t think they are ready this off-season to go “big game hunting” and prefer to have more flexibility for the next year or two. They’d like to at least contend for a playoff spot (ala 2023-24, which came down to the final game of the regular season before being eliminated from the postseason). I’m sure that won’t please everyone, but that seems to be the direction.
Hi Bill. Saw that you stated that you liked the Amico pick. Was wondering if you thought Fiddler was comparable. Seemed Fiddler had a little more offensive upside to his game than Amico does. Or was it that Amico was head and shoulders above him defensively? He gives up some size, but 6’4” 210 lbs isn’t too shabby either. Thanks.
Amino, if healthy is the better and smarter defenseman.
What was Mckenzies rating for Nesbitt? I am positive by nature and do think his issue is one that if fixed raised the kids ceiling
17th…. within 5 of his actual spot after the bigger names were off the board.
Bob had him 17th.