Jay O’Brien was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers with former general manager Ron Hextall’s last first round pick in 2018 before he was fired later that year. O’Brien is one of three players drafted in the first round of the 2018 draft not to play a NHL game and only one of two not to be signed yet. Since being drafted, O’Brien has played for two different colleges, the Team USA U-20 squad, and a BCHL powerhouse. He has had a roller coaster-like pre-professional career, and it is just getting started.
When Bobby Clarke called out Ron Hextall for drafting Nolan Patrick over Cale Makar and Miro Heiskanen, Clarke mentioned that “we got two or three first round picks that are never going to play.” The fans have taken that to mean O’Brien and German Rubtsov. The Flyers traded down for Rubtsov and ended up getting a high 2nd round pick that they used on Pascal Laberge. Laberge had a good draft year but suffered a bad concussion on a dirty hit the next season and never seemed to recover. Rubtsov has only played 4 NHL games for the Flyers and currently has 6 points in 27 AHL games with the Phantoms this year. The only way he has a chance to get in the Flyers’ lineup is if they trade 6 of their forwards. Players like Connor Bunnaman and Jackson Cates seem to have passed him on the organizational depth chart.
Most drafting publications had O’Brien in the early to mid-2nd round range before the 2018 NHL Draft. Central Scouting had him as the 32nd ranked North American skater, Bob McKenzie had him as the 34th overall prospect, McKeen’s Hockey had him as the 48th overall prospect, and Future Considerations had him as the 40th overall prospect. So, O’Brien being selected at 19th overall was quiet a surprise.
There were even rumors that the Rangers and Bruins were trying to trade up with the Flyers to select O’Brien. During the draft broadcast, Pierre McGuire even says that the Rangers were upset that the Flyers got O’Brien. The Rangers later traded up to draft defenseman K’Andre Miller, who has already played almost 100 games in the NHL. It is odd how the Flyers absolute nailed the Joel Farabee pick and five selections later they might have drafted one of the few players that might not even make it to the NHL drafted in that first round.
O’Brien did come in with pedigree. He came from the same high school as former Flyers Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte plus former and current NHLers Brooks Orpik and Charlie Coyle. O’Brien had 43 goals and 80 points in 30 games during his draft year. Almost 3 points a game plus more than a goal per game is very impressive even against high school competition. The closest draft year equivalent was Ryan Donato, who was a 2nd round pick of Boston in 2014. Donato’s career high is 25 points in 56 NHL games. Donato was also traded for the aforementioned Charlie Coyle. Donato is a solid player but not someone who you would want with a top 20 selection.
O’Brien was committed to Providence College but only played one year, there scoring 5 points in 25 games. That Providence team was a top College team and ended up losing in the Frozen Four. O’Brien played down in the lineup and missed time with his college team competing in the World Juniors where he was basically the 13th forward. He had zero points during that tournament.
O’Brien transferred out of Providence and played his draft year-plus two in the BCHL with the Penticton Vees. He led the team with 66 points in 46 games and was teammates with a who’s who of former NHLers’ sons including Danny Weight (son of Doug), Lukas Sillinger (son of Mike), Jackson and Joshua Niedermayer (sons of Scott), Tristan Amonte (son of Tony), and Jack Barnes (son of Stu). O’Brien led the team in playoff points with 10 points in 5 games when the playoffs were shut down due to COVID.
He started his career with Boston University in the 2020-21 season. He had 16 points in 16 games in the abbreviated college season which was tied for the lead with Nashville draft pick David Farrance. He also led the Terriers with 8 goals. This production is solid. A point per game in college in what would have been his junior year is on par with current Flyer and former first round pick Kevin Hayes, who had 25 points in 27 games during his junior year at Boston College.
2021-2022 started with O’Brien missing time with an injury. O’Brien has 15 points in 15 games this year which leads his team on a points per game basis. It would have been nice to see his production jump up like Hayes’ production did in his 22-year-old season (65 points in 40 games and a Hobey Baker finalist).
O’Brien has another year of eligibility in college hockey and the Flyers will lose his rights in August of 2023 if he doesn’t sign by then. If the Flyers do not sign him to an entry level contract, they will receive a compensatory 2nd round draft pick that is 30 or 31 picks later than where they drafted O’Brien in the 2024 NHL Draft. Since Fletcher and company did not draft him, maybe they will opt for the draft pick.
If the Flyers do plan to sign O’Brien, he should turn pro after this season. He will get better development playing in the AHL in double the amount of games than he will playing in another college season. O’Brien was always going to be a 3-to-5-year project. Most players drafted out of high school; even highly touted ones take awhile to mature into NHL players. Kevin Hayes and Chris Kreider took four seasons, Ryan McDonagh got traded and took 3 seasons.
Hopefully, O’Brien can continue improving his game and will be a player that will not only don the Orange and the Black, but excel in it.
