Philadelphia Flyers Five Round 2019 NHL Mock Draft

The Philadelphia Flyers are set to have five selections in the first five rounds of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

The month of May is finally upon us. The weather outside is getting warmer, the sun is shining, and we’re another step closer to the 2019 NHL Draft getting underway. I did a Philadelphia Flyers only three round mock in the middle of April and will now extend it two more rounds this time around, mainly because the Flyers don’t possess a fourth-round pick this year.

This particular draft has been described as deep by many people in the hockey community, giving General Manager Chuck Fletcher and the Philadelphia scouting department plenty of work leading up to June. The Flyers farm system is stocked with talent thanks to former GM Ron Hextall, and it will now be Fletcher’s turn to further deepen the pipeline his predecessor created. While they won’t end up with the cream of the crop like Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko because the draft lottery didn’t go their way, the Flyers will still end up with a superbly talented player at 11th overall and beyond.

Since I’ve already done one mock already, I’m going to pick different players than I previously did before. That isn’t to say I don’t like the prospects I’m about to name or the others in the first mock, but more to give a good idea of all of the talent coming out of this draft. This will go on for mocks on the site in the future up until the final one on June 21st, which will drop hours before the first round begins. I’ll still select players I’ve done spotlights on, though, so don’t be surprised to see a Matthew Boldy or Peyton Krebs on a list in the future.

With all of this being said, let’s get to some potential Flyers picks, shall we? Here is a Philadelphia only five round NHL mock draft.

Round One, Pick Eleven: C Trevor Zegras

Kicking off this mock with another player from the United States Developmental Program (USDP), Trevor Zegras is a six-foot forward who hails from Bedford, New York. His primary position is at the center but can play either wing spot, too.

While he doesn’t have the sniping talent that fellow teammate Cole Caufield does, Zegras possesses a sneaky hard shot in his own right. He uses it to deceive opposing goaltenders, as shown on this goal, and can fire it off quick enough to prevent defensemen from blocking it.

Zegras’ best trait, though, is his passing expertise. The 18-year-old has some of the best vision this draft has to offer and puts it to great use. He consistently creates dangerous chances with his playmaking talent and is always buzzing around the crease. Whether it’s setting up a teammate behind the net or springing another for a breakaway, there is no pass Zegras can’t make on the ice.

He also plays a more massive game than you’d expect from somebody with his smaller size. Zegras weighs 168 pounds soaking wet but throws his body around like somebody with a bigger body. Opposing teams get easily angered when he’s skating around, provoking them to take penalties and let their emotions get the best of them. Think of a slightly taller Travis Konecny mixed with Nick Cousins in terms of his pesty demeanor.

Zegras is definitely more of a playmaker, which might scare some Flyers fans away given the many pass-first forwards currently on the Philadelphia roster, but that mixed with his other skills should make him too good to pass up for Fletcher if he’s there at 11.

Round Two, Pick Forty-One: D Kaedan Korczak

A teammate of Lassi Thomson, who was the admittingly low third-round selection in my three round mock, Kaedan Korczak doesn’t possess the skating ability that Thomson does, but is very talented in his own right.

Korczak is a 6’2, 192-pound blue-liner who has substantial two-way upside to his game. He has the puck skills and skating to go coast-to-coast, as you can see on this goal here, but does need more offensive development to fulfill that two-way potential.  Even if he’s not able to consistently contribute offensively in the NHL, he can still be an excellent defensive, puck-moving d-man.

He shuts down opposing offensive chances with positioning and does what most current Flyer defensemen don’t: move bodies away from the net. Korczak uses his impeccable strength to do so, hardly letting any other player get the best of him. He has great positioning, as well, and usually makes the right play on either end of the ice.

I wanted to see a better display on offense from him in the Under-18 World Championships, though. He had the tied lowest point total on Team Canada with just one in seven games, and I expected him to show that side of his game a little more on a big stage. Still, the talents are all there, giving Fletcher plenty of good reasons to select Korczak in the second round.

Round Three, Pick Seventy-Two: RW Josh Williams

With Isaac Ratcliffe likely heading to the AHL once his junior league season concludes and 2016 Second Round selection Wade Allison’s future with the Flyers up in the air at the time this was written, Philadelphia needs to add a power forward that can score goals. That’s where right wing prospect Josh Williams come in.

Williams owns a great wrist shot, which is the best asset to his game. It’s heavy, accurate, and helps him finish off nearly every play by putting the puck in the back of the net. His 14 goal campaign with the Medicine Hat Tigers and Edmonton Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League doesn’t tell the full story on how gifted he really is. Williams dealt with being misused during his time with the Tigers and just couldn’t get his confidence on track in Edmonton, either.

He has high I.Q. on offense that always puts him in the correct position for a scoring chance and his work on defense is underrated in my opinion, too. I don’t see him as being much of a play-driver once he hits the NHL, though, but he should be able to overcome that with his capability to be in the right place at the right time on every shift.

NHL GMs love their hockey sense and mixing that with Williams strength and skill should make him a no-brainer pick for Fletcher if he’s available in the middle of the third.

Round Five, Pick One-Hundred Thirty-Four: G Samuel Hlavaj

Since the Flyers don’t own a fourth-round pick because of the Petr Mrazek trade back in February of 2018, I’m skipping right to the fifth and final round of this mock. As I mentioned in my last mock draft, Philadelphia is running dry on goaltending talent in their system with Felix Sandstrom and now Kirill Ustemenko heading over to North America. Fletcher will need to add at least one during this years’ draft, and Samuel Hlavaj could be a late round gem.

Hlavaj has substantial size with a 6’4, 194-pound frame and uses that mixed with great athletism and excellent glove positioning to make impressive saves. His stats weren’t overly impressive, posting a 4.58 Goals Against Average with a .862 save percentage in 22 games with the Lincoln Stars in the United States Hockey League. It’s worth noting that Stars ranked dead last in the USHL standings with a mere 12 wins in 62 games and that Hlavaj actually kept Lincoln alive in most of the contests he played in. For that reason, their poor overall season shouldn’t reflect on his own skill set.

He does need to improve on working through screens, as a decent amount of goals he gave up were either on screened shots or deflections. A guy with his size and athleticism shouldn’t struggle with working through bodies and will need to fix that to reach his potential as a goalie. I think he’ll be able to work through those issues with the right amount of coaching, though.

Whomever he ends up choosing, Fletcher will have plenty of options to pick from when the 2019 NHL Entry Draft starts on June 21st.