The Flyers could be interested in a wide variety of players in the first round this year.
On Tuesday, Philadelphia Flyers GM Danny Briere took to the podium with assistant GM Brent Flahr for their annual pre-draft press conference, and although they didn’t reveal any names, you can get an idea of what they may look for just by reading between the lines.
Fans always talk about their team needing a specific position in the draft, and while that may be true, NHL front offices tend to just take the best player available.
"Especially in the first round, I think we try to be careful, try to go with the best player available," Briere said.
With that, the Flyers have taken a lot of centers over the last few years, with those players starting to approach making the NHL. Is there still a point in drafting them without landing the big fish?
Flahr insists the Flyers will "continue to target centermen."
Sounds pretty simple to me. You saw it this past season with Denver Barkey playing a lot of wing, even though he was drafted as a center.
The Flyers just shipped away the 5-foot-9 defenseman Emil Andrae, aligning with the team's recent philosophy, which is getting big, mobile blue-liners.
Neither Briere nor Flahr shut down the idea of drafting a smaller player on the back end, but "If you're drafting a smaller defenseman, they have to be dynamic," said Flahr.
Could this mean that if Xavier Villeneuve is there at 21, Briere and Co. won’t hesitate, or is that conversation happening as we speak?
For many NHL teams, they’re looking for a right-shot defenseman; that’s not the case for Philadelphia.
"Our left side, especially, is a little thin," Flahr mentioned when talking about the idea of trading back, which seems like it might be in play. "We've drafted a lot of players the last few years. . . maybe there is value to just trade back."
When you’re holding onto the 21st pick in most drafts, you have one or two guys you are really hoping to fall. For the Flyers this year, it seems as though a big left-shot defenseman would be that for them.
Malte Gustafsson is a potential top-10 pick, but if he slides a bit, the Flyers can burn up some assets to go up and get the 6-foot-4 Swede. Gustafsson fits the high hockey IQ they mentioned during the conference; he skates well and defends well in the neutral zone, which is an element many players need to play in head coach Rick Tocchet's system.
At this point, given the organization's needs, the Flyers can almost do no wrong going with a left-shot defender of some kind early in the 2026 NHL Draft.