In his annual rankings, Corey Pronman has the Philadelphia Flyers with the tenth best prospect pool in the league.
The prospect rankings are a bit different this year as we are still a few weeks away from the draft. In Pronman’s current rankings, the Flyers stand at No. 10. With a second ranking after the draft, they could move up or down based on how well they do.
But for now, they sit on the edge of the top ten in the league. This is a year after they had been ranked as high as seventh. Some of the factors include what players have graduated to the NHL level. And that has been quite a few players on the Flyers.
Mentioned as graduates are Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny. Both have been in the NHL for a few years now so having them on this list as key graduates is interesting since they didn’t just start playing in the NHL. They both debuted during the 2016-17 season.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Philippe Myers additions on said part of the list makes more sense. They made their official jumps to the NHL this season. Aube-Kubel appeared in 36 regular season games and 13 playoff games. Myers played in 50 regular season games, appearing in all 16 playoff games.
So they truly made the jump to the NHL this season. It’s not those players that necessarily have the Flyers ranked where they are. It is the other players in the organization that give them the ranking.
There are two names out of the 12 listed that can also be considered as graduates to the NHL. That would be Carter Hart and Joel Farabee. But as Pronman mentions, this list includes players that are 22-years-old or younger as of September 15th, 2020. And that is regardless of have many games they’ve played.
Nolan Patrick could be considered on this list as he would’ve had a role on this team if not for his migraine disorder. But going back to Hart, it is clear that he is in the NHL for good. The 2019-20 season was his second year, though it was his first full season in the league.
Going by last year’s definition, Hart and Farabee would’ve likely fallen under the key graduates list. In fact, Hart was mentioned as a graduate last year. So the slight change in this year’s rankings are the reason we see players like him still on the list.
Looking past those we mentioned above, we see Morgan Frost as the next player on the list. He could be looked at as the number one prospect during a normal year. While he made his NHL debut and scored his first goal, he wasn’t able to hold down a spot past that. He showed some confidence in the NHL, but his size still holds some concern.
He certainly has the skill to make a difference at the NHL level. However, he isn’t able to skate around players and get up the middle of the ice like he was able to do in juniors. It’ll take him a bit more time to bulk up just a bit more. But we should be seeing Frost sooner rather than later. He was a positive note on an otherwise lackluster Phantoms team.
Egor Zamula is another big name on the list. He will be making his professional debut next season. A back injury forced him out of the lineup in January. After having surgery, he spent his time rehabbing in the Philadelphia area. He even had a chance to come to Toronto as a part of the Flyers playoff roster.
While he wouldn’t surprise by playing in a game, that was a huge vote of confidence for Zamula. The Flyers clearly expect big things out of the young defensemen. They could have another diamond in the rough free agent signing, ala Myers.
There could be some concern about back surgery at such a young age. But his ability to bounce back and impress in camp bodes well for his chances. With a potentially crowded blue line in front of him, he will likely spend some significant time in Lehigh Valley. There’s no doubt he’s likely on top of the call up list, especially if he impresses in the AHL.
The list features other unsurprising names line Cam York, Bobby Brink, and Wade Allison. If we go a little further down the list, the name Issac Ratcliffe sticks out. Once looked at as potentially a top prospect for the team, he has fallen off a bit. There were some struggles in his game this season.
It was his rookie season with the Phantoms, but 15 points doesn’t inspire many positive thoughts. He did look better and earn more confidence from the coaching staff as the season went on. His long reach should allow him to open up the ice and make plays happen.
But he will need a bit more time to prove it. There is no rush as there aren’t too many open spots among the Flyers forward group. And he certainly has a list of players ahead of him on the depth chart. But another season like the previous and there could be some cause for concern.
The change in the rankings give the Flyers a slightly different look on this list. Without the addition of players like Hart and Farabee, it’s possible they would end up coming lower on this list. So that change actually ended up helping Philadelphia the end.
There is a lot to like in what the Flyers have coming up, especially on the defensive end.