Philadelphia Flyers Draft Zayde Wisdom With 94th Pick

The Flyers clearly saw something they liked as they jumped up to draft right-winger Zayde Wisdom.

After their second-round selection of Emil Andrea with the 54th pick, the Flyers were not expected to make another selection until the 116th pick. Well, they saw someone on the board that they liked as they made a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Acquiring the 94th pick, they traded away the 116th and 147th picks.

With the newly acquired selection, the Flyers drafted right-winger Zayde Wisdom. Before getting into his hockey story, Wisdom has had quite the journey to where he is now. He has gone through challenges that make you want to root for him. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic did a fantastic profile on everything that he has gone through.

Just a few tidbits from the article include how he was raised by his mother and grandmother after the departure of his father. He was forced to try and fit in when he wasn’t able to afford the type of equipment his teammates had. Food was even hard to come by.

But Wisdom has preserved through it all and recently took home the 2020 E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence. The award is presented to the player who “best exemplifies commitment to excellence through strength of character, competitiveness, and athleticism”. That could not describe Wisdom any better.

The second-year forward for the Kingston Frontenacs posted 29 goals and 59 points in what was a massive leap from the season prior. Both of those ranked second on the team along with his 30 assists. What makes that even better is that Wisdom was only 17-years-old at the time. The winger just turned 18-years-old this past July.

He has a strong shot while also being able to set up his teammates for opportunities as well. He uses his size to gain positioning in front of the net as Wisdom is a hard player to knock off the puck.

Wisdom is a high-character player with a work ethic that should fit in perfectly as he works to make his way to the Flyers.