Should the Flyers Take a Center or the Best Player Available at the 2025 NHL Draft? – The Hockey Writers –

At 18-20-5, nobody would blame the Philadelphia Flyers if they began shifting their focus to the 2025 NHL Draft. They have their own first- and second-round picks as well as two in each round that didn’t originally belong to them. This puts them at six picks in the first two rounds. With so much capital to use, what might their approach be? More importantly, who might they take with their top pick?

The Flyers have a glaring problem at the center position. That much is obvious. In their last draft class, they passed up on the star upside of defenseman Zeev Buium, who is having another incredible season in college, presumably to address that issue. But taking Jett Luchanko, a potential star in his own right, at 13^th overall is almost surely not where they’ll stop. Will the Flyers take who they perceive as the best center on the board with their first choice, or will they take the player with the most overall upside (assuming the answer isn’t the same person)?

Flyers Could Be Looking at a Bottom-10 Finish (But Not Bottom Five)

The Flyers find themselves with the seventh-worst record in the NHL by points percentage (.477), and they’ve been trending downward in the standings. This is despite a very good expected goal share since Dec. 1 (57.34% per Natural Stat Trick), highlighting their goaltending woes.

At the same time, we can expect the Flyers to improve down the stretch. Notable is their record against playoff teams versus non-playoff teams—the distinction is evident. When facing teams currently set to make the postseason, Philadelphia is 6-14-5. When facing clubs on the outside, though, they’re 12-6-0.

As you can tell, the Flyers have faced more of the former. With a “softer” schedule coming, they’re likely to get back in the win column more often than not when those matchups occur. They seem to be too good for the basement but not talented enough to truly make a push for the playoffs—a paradox that has cursed the franchise for over a decade at this point.

The 2025 NHL Draft is strong at the very top, with Porter Martone, James Hagens, Michael Misa, and Matthew Schaefer each having a case as the No. 1 choice in the class. While those four aren’t necessarily guaranteed to go off the board before anyone else, the talent pool seemingly drops off a tad after them. There are still some intriguing names, to be clear, but not quite…