Tonight’s NHL Draft Lottery had plenty of people watching, eager to see who would come out on top and receive the coveted first overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
After this disastrous season, the Philadelphia Flyers and their fans were hoping for a little good luck to jump from their projected fourth spot and into a top-two selection; and just like how the season went, tonight was met with more disappointment in the Delaware Valley as the Flyers ended up dropping a spot from where they finished in the standings and will pick fifth in the draft.
The Flyers entered the draft with a 9.5% chance of winning the first overall pick and 9.4% chance of winning the second overall pick. The first pick went to this year’s draft hosts in the Montréal Canadiens, who entered with the best odds at 18.5%. The New Jersey Devils leapfrogged the Flyers, Arizona Coyotes, and Seattle Kraken to pick second overall, while the Coyotes and Kraken will pick third and fourth overall, respectively.
Without winning a top pick, the Flyers are likely to miss out on Shane Wright, a center for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs and the projected top player in the draft. Other top players in the draft class such as Logan Cooley, Matthew Savoie, and Juraj Slafkovský could be off the board once Philadelphia is up to make a selection. Plenty of other fine players could still be had however, such as Conor Geekie, David Jiřiček, Šimon Nemec, and Cutter Gauthier, among others.
This is the first time the Flyers will pick fifth overall in an entry draft since their inaugural season in 1967. Philadelphia would use their first ever draft pick in the 1967 NHL Amateur Draft to select winger Serge Bernier, who suited up for 123 games as a Flyer and racked up 35 goals and 40 points for 75 points in that span, before playing for the Los Angeles Kings and Québec Nordiques. Bernier was also elected to the WHA Hall of Fame in 2010.
Whoever the Flyers select will be the eight player to picked in the top five by Philadelphia all-time. They’ll join the likes of Bernier (5th in 1967), Mel Bridgman (1st in 1975), Ron Sutter (4th in 1982), Mike Ricci (4th in 1990), Joni Pitkänen (4th in 2002), James van Riemsdyk (2nd in 2007), and most recently Nolan Patrick (2nd in 2017).
