Game Three of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final is in Sunrise, Florida, on Monday. Longtime Capitals star T.J. Oshie is set to formally announce his retirement. The NHL Draft looms in a couple weeks. Meanwhile, here are your Philadelphia Flyers Quick Hits for Monday, June 9, 2025.
What is your risk tolerance with the sixth pick of the 2025 Draft?
The 2025 NHL Entry Draft is nothing if not intriguing. The first five selections of the first round could go a variety of different ways. The annual rumor mill churns over top-five selections being available in trade . Those rumors rarely pan out in actual trades because the asking price is always exorbitant. Last year, the Flyers attempted to trade up, reportedly with the goal of selecting Ivan Demidov. They were unable to do so. Back in 2014, with the Draft in Philly, the Flyers tried and failed to acquire the first overall pick (Aaron Ekblad).
Historical note: At the 1988 Draft, Flyers general manager Bob Clarke worked feverishly to trade up into top 10 of the selection order. Per the late Jay Greenberg’s Full Spectrum, the Flyers top targets were Rod Brind’Amour, Teemu Selanne, and Jeremy Roenick. Unable to make a deal, the Flyers stood pat with the 14th overall selection. Roenick went eighth to Chicago. St. Louis selected Brind’Amour ninth. The original Winnipeg Jets chose Selanne 10th. Picked 14th by the Flyers, power forward Claude Boivin was later derailed by a serious knee injury. He eventually reached the NHL but he never became an impact player.
Trading up or down at the Draft entails some risk. So, too, does selecting a player with injury concerns. Likewise, there is a calculated risk in taking a player who has torn up lower-grade completion (Junior A, NAHL, lesser European leagues) but is thus far untested against the top competition his age. That player could turn out to be Junior A defenseman Cale Makar. It could turn out to prep school player Roenick. Or it could turn out to be Jay O’Brien, who attended the same prep school as Roenick and Tony Amonte, but never landed a pro contact after being a first-round pick.
For the 2025 Draft, how much risk tolerance should the Flyers have with the sixth overall selection? Should they roll the dice on someone with a very high ceiling but a bonafide risk of being a bust? Or should they ensure the player has a relatively high floor but perhaps a lower ceiling?
Roger McQueen fits in the first category. The 6-foot-5 Brandon Wheat Kings center has elite tools. He also carries some of the highest risk factors in the entire Draft class. Even if his back fracture is fully healed and presents no further concerns, McQueen’s allure is 100 percent projection. He only played 17 regular season games this year plus three playoff matches. Thus far at the Western Hockey League level, he’s shown stretches of dominant play but not a sustained level in which he’s clearly far ahead of the field. He’s also a late-year birthday. He’ll turn 19 on October 2. By comparison, projected top-two pick Matthew Schaefer won’t turn 18 until September 5. Michael Misa turned 18 on February 16 of this year.
By comparison, Caleb Desnoyers fits more into the second category. He’s a rather safe pick: perhaps not one with superstar upside but one who should, at minimum, become a good to very good all-around NHL center. He’d be fine in any junior league. The fact that the Moncton forward plays in the QMJHL — a circuit with a reputation for less physical play and “softer” stats — is irrelevant in this player’s case. He, too, carries some injury concerns. Desnoyers may need procedures on one or both wrists. However, “wrist injury” doesn’t spook folks the way “back injury” does.
The Flyers find themselves in a situation where they absolutely cannot afford to swing and miss with the sixth pick of the Draft. They also can’t hit a single (AKA draft a future role player). This isn’t a Draft year with many likely home run picks (future superstars) but there are potential impact players to be had. How much risk would YOU be willing to take on at No.6? Injury concerns? Going “off the board” for a non-consensus prospect? Paying the inflated cost of trying to trade up into the top two?
Flyers Daily: Mondays with Meltzer (June 9, 2025 edition)
In a whirlwind edition of Mondays with Meltzer, Jason Myrtetus and I cover a wide array of topics in just over 45 minutes. We discuss the news out of the NHL Draft Combine, undervaluing Owen Tippett and/or Cam York, the Flyers emerging “Russian Connection” and how it can help the Flyers future, how an acquired player will affect the roster that finished last season and tons more.
