Philadelphia Flyers: 5 Worst Draft Picks of the Last Decade

The old Philadelphia Flyers seemed to have had a habit of hyperfixating on positions, and only drafting that position. Just a handful of picks after drafting center German Rubtsov, the Flyers drafted center Pascal Laberge. During his time in Philadelphia, Laberge achieved something truly impressive – he appeared in zero NHL games. Laberge scored 20 points in 55 games before having to ply his trade in the ECHL, North America’s third division of hockey. For the 2023-24 season, Laberge has a contract with Fehérvár AV19, a Hungarian outfit in the Champions Hockey League.

Pascal Laberge was drafted with the 36th pick in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft – one spot after speed demon Jordan Kyrou, and two spots before sniper Alex DeBrincat. Middle and later rounds of professional sports drafts generally tend to be a crapshoot, but most good teams find a way to draft useful players. The Flyers would end up missing out on Sam Girard, Ryan Lindgren, DeBrincat, Dillon Dube, and Filip Hronek, who are all very good players. At least Philadelphia ended up with Carter Hart and Wade Allison later in the round, although it remains to be seen whether or not Hart remains with the Flyers beyond this week.

Whatever the Flyers do on Wednesday, they cannot afford to draft another Ivan Provorov or another German Rubtsov. They currently do not have a second round pick, so the seventh and 22nd picks will be absolutely vital to the success of their rebuild, starting this season.