The Flyers used their first pick of the THN Mock Draft to select one of the top forwards available.
With the No. 7 overall pick, the Philadelphia Flyers select ... Oliver Moore, USNTD (USHL)
Why pick him? The Flyers have lacked elite speed in their lineup for years. The club is undergoing a rebuild, and now is as good a time as ever to mold the roster into more of a speed-centric group than in years passed. Moore, arguably the top burner in this year's draft class, makes sense for the Flyers. Not only because of his blazing speed, but also due to his impressive production with the national U-18 team. Moore, now 18, is coming off a 31-goal, 75-point season in 61 games with the U-18 squad. He also logged over a point per game with the USHL's USNTDP club. Moore could be a reach at No. 7, but if the Flyers are serious about adding a top-tier skater to the pipeline, they could do much worse than Moore.
Who are the other options? The Flyers will have plenty of options at No. 7. Not only will Moore potentially be available, but so could Zach Benson, Dalibor Dvorsky, or David Reinbacher. And if the Flyers get really lucky, they may have the opportunity to select Matvei Michkov, who, despite all of the red flags, would be worth the gamble. At 16 years old, Michkov broke Alex Ovechkin's record as the youngest player ever to suit up for Russia's men's national team. And now, at 18 years old, he's coming off a spectacular season in which he averaged 0.74 in the KHL — the highest point-per-game total in league history by a player under 19 years old. Under normal circumstances, Michkov would probably be the No. 2 prospect in this year's draft, but given the geopolitical climate in Russia and the fact that he's signed in the KHL for three more years, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he could slide to the Flyers at No. 7.
What else is on the agenda? The Flyers have been extremely busy over the last several days. They're now working on a pair of trades that could potentially earn them even more draft capital prior to the start of the first round — one involving Kevin Hayes being shipped to the St. Louis Blues, and another that could potentially send Tony DeAngelo back to the Carolina Hurricanes, where he flourished during the 2021-22 campaign. And this all comes just a few weeks after Ivan Provorov was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a hefty package. Flyers general manager Danny Briere has made it known that he'd like to add to his stockpile of draft picks, and it won't be even remotely surprising if the Flyers enter Wednesday night with one or two more selections. Briere wasn't joking around when he said the Flyers were rebuilding.