Philadelphia Flyers Surprise at Draft
By Marc Naples
The Philadelphia Flyers defied expectations at the NHL draft last night, trading down and taking Russian center German Rubtsov
Predicting what a team will do in any draft is usually pretty hopeless, becoming more and more true as the draft continues. Never was that more evident than last night, when the Philadelphia Flyers suddenly traded down 4 picks, and took a Russian center few were talking about.
Before the draft, there was some talk of the Flyers trying to trade up. It never rose to the status of “likely”, but GM Ron Hextall kept it on the table. Hextall also talked repeatedly of drafting the best player available, but everyone was convinced that he would take a forward. The Flyers are well-stocked on defense after using several past picks on defensemen, and this was a forward-tilted draft.
Earlier this week, we looked at what appeared to be a shortlist of Flyers draft targets. Running on the common assumption that the Flyers most desired a big, scoring winner, 4 names seemed to be most likely: Kieffer Bellows, Max Jones, Julien Gauthier, and Luke Kunin. It would depend on who the Flyers liked, and who was still available at 18 for whom would end up in Philadelphia.
It was actually very engaging watching the draft play out last night under this assumption. Outside of the highly predictable first 2 picks, there was the usual surprise picks and players rising and falling. More specifically, as the draft inched along (and it did inch along with several teams completely ignoring their time limit to pick with no penalty), things looked very good for the Flyers.
As the Philadelphia Flyers 18th pick came up, Bellows, Jones and Gauthier all remained available. The Flyers would seemingly have their pick of several good goal scorers. Instead, the Flyers draft table went into a frenzy of activity.
That activity usually means trade, and this time it was the Flyers trading down. The Flyers connected with the Winnipeg Jets, sending 2 picks each way. The Flyers moved down 4 picks from 18 to 22, but also turned a late 3rd round pick into a high 2nd round pick (79th to 36th). Clearly, the Flyers didn’t love any of Bellows, Jones or Gauthier all that much.
If the plan was to move down and still get Bellows or Gauthier, that did not work. Both of those players were taken in the ensuing 4 picks, although Jones was still available. When the Flyers finally did pick, they still didn’t take a goal scoring winger. Instead, they went with Russian playmaking center German Rubtsov.
Rubstov is a very interesting player. Some reports say he has top-10 level talent in this draft, but he has the stigma attached of being on the Russian U-18 team that was banned from the championships because of performance enhancing drugs. That episode limited Rubtsov’s exposure to NHL scouts, and stained the player individually.
The Flyers were not deterred. Hextall says he did a ton of research on the player and his personality, and feels quite confident this is a team-oriented player. He also said Rubtsov was the target all along. Skill-wise, the Flyers took a slick play-making center, who can be compared to Pavel Datsyuk. That sounds great, but it’s certainly not the big, scoring winger everyone expected.
It goes to show you the value of predicting drafts. Read plenty more about Rubtsov in our continuing Flyers draft coverage, particularly their 3 second round picks that will be used Saturday.