2023 Draft Profile: Dalibor Dvorsky Could Become First Slovak First-Rounder for Flyers

Since the Philadelphia Flyers have come into existence in the NHL, they have pretty much chosen Canadian or American born players with their first round picks. That was the Flyers way. In fact, it wasn’t until 1991 when the team selected Peter Forsberg from Sweden that Philly finally selected a European player with their first round pick.

Since Forsberg, the Flyers have selected, with their first rounder: Dainius Zubrus of Lithuania in 1996, Joni Pitkanen from Finland in 2002, Luca Sbisa from Italy in 2008, Ivan Provorov from Russia in 2014, and German Rubtsov from Russia in 2016. That’s it. Just six players in the first round not from North America.

However, an intriguing prospect from Slovakia could have the Flyers changing their mind. His name is Dalibor Dvorsky. He is a 6’1″, 205 lb forward who can play center or wing. He’s got the size that the Flyers typically look for, but what about his skill set?

The soon to be 18 year old has been playing in various international competitions since he was 10 years old. He is all over the place in pre-draft rankings, from as high as 8th place to 16th place. ESPN ranks him as the third best international skater behind Leo Carlsson and Matvei Michkov.

Dvorsky has played in two Swedish leagues this year. Starting off in the junior league, he played for AIK Jr. In 10 games, he scored 10 goals with 11 assists. In 2021-22, he scored 20 goals in the same league. He was then promoted to AIK of the Swedish-1 League this season after his 10 game stint in the junior league. In 38 games, he scored six goals with eight assists against older and more season competition.

About him, the Hockey Writers have said:

“Dvorsky is a creative offensive player with a wicked shot that projects to score quite a bit in the NHL when he hits his prime. Both his wrist shot and slap shot have a remarkable quickness and power to them, allowing him to catch defenders and goalies off guard. He is also quite good at making tough passes, threading the puck through tight spaces between skates and sticks to find an open teammate. Dvorsky has been excellent on the powerplay, controlling play from the right circle where he sets up shop as a distributor or a finisher with his heavy slapper, playing a similar role to Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks.”

I’d take a prospect that is compared to Pettersson any day. There are concerns about his speed and acceleration, but seasoning in the Swedish League and the AHL should take care of that.

To date, the Flyers have drafted only 10 Slovakian players in their history. Only three have ever hit the ice in the NHL. Only one made an impact in the NHL: Anton Stastny, who was drafted by the Flyers in 1978, it was ruled to be ineligible as he was too young at the time. He would be drafted the following year by the Quebec Nordiques and would play nine years scoring 252 goals. The last Slovak drafted by Philly was goaltender Matej Tomek who was selected in the third round in 2015.

Dvorsky has a lot of offensive skills the Flyers could really use. The fact that he can play both wing and center makes him a versatile forward that is valuable. He may be raw, but he has often played above his age against more experienced players and has played well. He has a high ceiling and he could be worth a gamble.

If anything, he might be able to convince the Flyers to start dabbling into the Eastern European market of players and start to pick up some of that talent. If he is there when the Flyers pick, Daniel Briere should take this one into consideration.