Philadelphia Flyers: Hextall may get his wish on draft day
Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall will have a chance to add some talented prospects to his already promising farm system at the draft this weekend.
It’s no secret that the 2018 offseason will be a big one for Philadephia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall.
The architect of the organization’s rebuild and return to perennial prominence will have yet another chance to add to his already impressive farm system, one that is chock full of NHL ready prospects and future hopefuls.
The NHL Draft is where Hextall has traditionally been the most active as Flyers boss. Last year, Hextall notably traded Brayden Schenn to St. Louis for a first round pick that will be used this year. The year prior to that, Hextall traded up to get Travis Konecny at the tail end of the first round.
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Hextall is not shy about making moves on draft day, but he has also made some very good selections with his picks. His picks of Travis Sanheim and Ivan Provorov stand out, as does the pick of Morgan Frost last year. Frost has the look of the next NHL ready forward for the Flyers.
This year, the Philadelphia Flyers possess the number 14 and 19 picks in the first round. There will no doubt be endless speculation about what Hextall may do with those picks. Teams looking to make moves involving players will surely be calling Hextall to try and pry one of those coveted picks away, while other teams may be willing to move back in order to accumulate an extra pick should Hextall decide that he wants to move up.
There are a number of things that Hextall can do this year, but he himself admitted that he is comfortable just keeping his picks and further stated that this is what he predicts the Flyers will do on night one. The following quotes from Hextall are via Charlie O’Connor of the Athletic:
“I anticipate making our picks,” the Flyers general manager said. “Certainly we would move up if the right deal were there, and we’d look at moving back if the right deal were there too.”
Now, it should be said that no general manager in history has ever won an award for honesty, and so these statements should be taken with a grain of salt. Having two picks in the first round is a luxury and of course Hextall should be planning to make both of those selections. The possibility of a trade always exists, and so that can’t be overlooked.
Should Hextall decide that the circumstances are not right for a trade scenario and that the best move is to utilize both of his first round picks, he will have plenty of options to choose from. At his most recent media gathering a two weeks ago, Hextall admitted that he will be looking at specific areas of organizational need, mainly a right-handed defenseman and a scoring winger.
That said, there were interesting tidbits. The acknowledgement that RHD is a stylistic need. The reiteration that they're looking more for shorter-term UFA options than players who will require lots of years. These are important things to hear and to remember.
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) June 14, 2018
Should Hextall choose to go this route and attack the areas of need in the organization first instead of addressing the needs of the current Flyers roster, there are some exciting prospects that could come the Flyers’ way. Let’s take a brief look at each of the areas Hextall may be targeting.