The Philadelphia Flyers recently coughed up a fifth-round draft selection for the rights to upcoming Unrestricted Free Agent Kevin Hayes and shouldn’t lose sleep over potentially giving the pick away for free given their history in the round.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, then you know that Philadelphia Flyers General Manager Chuck Fletcher made his first move of the offseason by obtaining the free agent rights to forward Kevin Hayes from the Winnipeg Jets for a fifth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. This move showed the aggressiveness Fletcher has stated he’ll show during the summer to help improve the roster and will now have until July 1st to get the 6’5 centerman signed to a contract before other teams are able to.
There’s been skepticism from some people in the Flyers fan base about possibly giving a draft pick away for nothing because there’s no guarantee that Hayes will sign, especially considering the latest rumor surrounding a deal, but I’m here to tell them that fifth-round picks aren’t all that valuable. Can you find diamonds in the rough like Jamie Benn and Jake Muzzin from time-to-time? Sure, but it doesn’t happen very often. This more than holds true with the Flyers given their draft history in the round which outside of one current player, hasn’t been impressive through the last decade.
I’m not going to put recent picks like Wyatte Wylie, Samuel Ersson (2018), Noah Cates (2017), Linus Hogberg (2016), and David Kase (2015) in the conversation because they have yet to see NHL action and are all still young enough to make it down the line. Putting those selections aside, Oskar Lindblom is the most notable of the bunch since 2009. Lindblom has netted 39 points in 104 career games in the NHL, with 33 of them coming during this past 2018-19 campaign. The Swedish forward obviously has a bright future in Philadelphia if he continues to develop, but even if he’s just a 30 point player, that’s still better than every fifth rounder the Flyers picked years after him.
Are we really going to lose our minds over not getting the next Terrance Amorosa (2013), Reece Willcox (2012), Michael Parks (2010), or Nic Riopel (2009)? Neither of these four players has seen a game in the NHL and, in Parks, Amorosa, and Riopel’s case, have barely spent time in the AHL, either. Willcox has proven to be a solid defenseman for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, scoring 45 points in 175 contests, but clearly isn’t an NHL caliber talent.
The only Flyers fifth-round selection that has made somewhat of an NHL impact in the last 20 years outside of Lindblom is Mario Kempe, who never even suited up in an Orange and Black uniform. Kempe’s posted a mere 13 points in 70 games with the Arizona Coyotes but, to his credit, has shown he can play well against AHL competition. That’s two players among 15 picks that have done the bare minimum at the NHL level, which isn’t a high success rate.
I’ll even eat crow on this one because I was a little concerned about possibly moving a draft selection for zero in return, and Hayes was my first choice to fill the second-line centerman role, but as you can see above, fifth rounders hardly ever turn out. So, don’t freak out if Hayes ends up signing elsewhere because this move by Fletcher was a correct, aggressive one to make, even if any of the recent picks turn into something.