The Flyers hockey operations staff arrived at the organization’s Draft head quarters in Atlantic City for pre-Draft meetings ahead of the decentralized 2025 NHL Draft on Friday and Saturday. On Flyers Daily last week, Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr provided a few small glimpses (not about particular players, of course) about what he expects this weekend.
First and foremost, few teams’ scouting departments have clear consensus on their final rankings or the specific drop-off points between the projected “tiers” of prospects.Flahr said that it’s common for teams’ internal rankings to differ markedly from the publicly available rankings from Central Scouting and assorted pundits. He expects this year’s actual selection order, even within the top-five picks and certainly the first eight to 10 names called, to differ markedly from the public rankings. The Flyers, of course, hold the sixth, 22nd, and 31st picks of the Draft.
How ranking lists get fine-tuned
Now-retired Flyers scout Simon Nolet described in Flyers at 50 what the final meetings and Draft day atmosphere are like.This is what the scouts have worked for all year, and there’s a lot of quibbling and debate (which can get heated before there’s a consensus ). Sometimes, however, the general manager or assistant general manager calls an audible on the Draft floor.
“It’s not about ‘my player’ against ‘your player’ or my territory against yours,” Nolet told the late Jay Greenberg. “We’re all working for the same team. Sometimes, you feel real strong about a player, so you speak up. But it’s all about trust. You have to trust each other.”
Paul Holmgren once told me the Draft is like the Super Bowl for the scouts, and they love their teams to have lots of picks. However, changing on the fly and being ready to move up or move back is part of the process. So is not always getting the player someone really wants.
And example: Nolet beat the drum for the Flyers to take Patrice Bergeron with the first pick of the third round in 2003 . Philly didn’t have a second rounder that year). Unfortunately, the Boston Bruins saw the saw thing the Flyers did. Even though Bergeron was not on The Hockey News’ top-50 and was also pretty far down on the Central Scouting list, the Bruins took the future multi Selke Trophy winner with the 45th pick.
On the flip side, Nolet pushed unusually hard for then-obscure University of Vermont forward Patrick Sharp in 2001. He spoke up in the second round (here, too, the Flyers didn’t have a pick) and general manager Bob Clarke asked if the Flyers needed to trade up. Nolet said he thought Philly could wait. On this occasion, the forecast was correct. The Flyers took Sharp in the third round, 95th overall. (Side note: Yes, Nolet lamented to Jay that the Flyers traded Sharp some years later before the player blossomed in Chicago).
Of course, even the sharpest scouts have plenty of misses among players they liked. There are also players they didn’t see much in who go on to prove their lukewarm assessment wrong. That’s part of why every team does crossover scouting and tries to have multiple viewings. Video scouting has grown considerably over the last decade (especially during the pandemic) but there’s still no substitute for boots-on-the-ground (in person) viewings.
Meanwhile, Flahr served as Chuck Fletcher’s assistant GM in both Minnesota and Philly before working under Daniel Briere. Flahr still prides himself in being especially plugged into the Minnesota hockey scene. Even though they are now in the same organization, Flahr is still incredulous that the Flyers snapped up Minnesota high school star Noah Cates in the 2017 fifth round. Later, with Flahr aboard as Philly’s AGM, the Flyers grabbed Alex Bump in Round Five (2022).
Come Saturday, as the Draft moves past the first round into the deeper recesses of the Draft, one can look to certain regions and leagues to guesstimate where the Flyers may be a little more or less likely to choose a player. For example, Philly went through a very long dry spell in Finland (since rectified to a large degree). Philly’s Russia coverage and connections have been strengthened considerably the last few years. Having a chief European scout (Joakim Grundberg) overseeing that aspect and having added more scouts overseas has helped.
Russian players in the 2025 Draft
The Flyers hold picks No. 22, 31, 36, 40 and 48 in this year’s Draft. This is prime territory, if there’s a player or two the Flyers’ scouts particularly like, to snag some combination of a middle-six center, a Russian prospect, a big defenseman with mobility, and/or a top-rated goaltender. I covered some of these possibilities yesterday in an article for the Flyers’ official website. One name I forgot to mention: Beijing-born defenseman Haoxi “Simon” Wang. Strictly in terms of the coveted sheer size/mobility combination, the 6-foot-6, 215-pound blueliner intrigues many. He doesn’t bring offense. It’s his ranginess and wingspan that hold allure.
Specific to the Russians, I discussed divisive USHL forward Ivan Ryabkin in a previous blog. In terms of players currently in the MHL and/or KHL, here are three names to track: winger Daniil Prokhorov, Alexander Zharovsky and defenseman Kurban Limatov.
Prokhorov is huge (6-foot-6, 218 pounds) with more of a “North American game” than most of his countryman. He’s a power forward who has had 20 regular season goals and four postseason tallies (eight games) this season. Keep in mind that it came at the junior level against physically overmatched competition. There’s not overwhelming finesse, judging off his “Cy Young Award” stat lines as he’s risen through the ranks).But he’s not afraid of contact.
Zharovsky is more of a “traditional” Russian prospect. He’s gained a reputation as one of the best puckhandlers in this year’s Draft class, and he’s someone who jumps out with high-skill passes and slick finishes on highlight clips. He’s going to have to score at a top-six level in order to earn an NHL role. He’s put up gaudy MHL stats against generally weak junior competition. It’s not Matvei Michkov-type production even in that context but it’s still well above-average. Next step: earning KHL ice time, which is often quite tough for young players. By all accounts, Zharovsky’s offense right now is ahead of his overall game.
Limatov is a tall (6-foot-4, 190 pounds) and mobile MHL/KHL defenseman Kurban Limatov with an aggressive playing style. He’s more of a puck mover than a true offensive defenseman. However, he did chip in eight goals in the MHL this season and added two more in seven playoff games. Limatov briefly made his KHL debut (one game) this season for the Dynamo Moscow pro team.
Prospect Pipeline: Flyers Pre-Draft Edition
Late on Tuesday morning, Brian Smith and I recorded a special pre-Draft edition of the Prospect Pipeline podcast for the Flyers Broadcast Network. We lead off by discussing the Trevor Zegres trade. Thereafter, we quickly switch gears to talk about the 2025 Draft. The Draft talk has been part of other recent pods for Flyers Daily. However, it’s more concentrated as the sole focus here. The show runs 27-plus minutes.
TSN: Button’s Mock Draft Special
For a more leaguewide focus on the first round, Craig Button’s NHL Mock Draft special on TSN predictably triggered instant discussion and debate. Craig is never shy about his opinions. He also isn’t afraid to deviate to other pundits. He was perhaps the first one who pegged Brady Martin (pretty much ever since the Under-18 World Championship) as a top-five to top-10 pick this year. Now that’s the norm rather than the latter one-third of Round One.
