2023 NHL Draft: Philadelphia Flyers Draft Ryan MacPherson 172nd Overall

With their penultimate pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers took their second of two centers with Ryan MacPherson of the Penticton Vees.

Ryan MacPherson has technically been a Flyer before becoming a Flyer. MacPherson played the 2022-23 season with the Leamington Flyers before being selected by the Philadelphia Flyers 172nd overall in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL Draft. MacPherson will spend his 2023-24 season with the Penticton Vees before heading out to the University of New Hampshire in the 2024-25 season.

Ryan MacPherson leaves the Leamington Flyers with 39 goals and 113 points in 97 games, as well as 17 goals and 53 points in 40 playoff games. In addition, MacPherson is the only member of GOJHL Champion Leamington to have been drafted by an NHL team. After the draft, Philadelphia Flyers Director of Amateur Scouting Brent Flahr revealed that Ryan MacPherson’s twin brother Connor will be invited to the Flyers’ development camp.

In terms of his development, Ryan MacPherson is still relatively young and new to the scene. The Penticton Vees will be a step up from the Leamington Flyers, as will the University of New Hampshire be from Penticton. According to EliteProspects’ profile of MacPherson, it doesn’t seem MacPherson was ranked at all, aside from being ranked 211th by NHL Central Scouting. That ranking also only accounts for North American skaters – essentially, well behind where MacPherson was drafted.

Nothing about Ryan MacPherson sticks out, as is the standard for most NHL sixth-round picks. MacPherson has average size at 6’0″ and 180 pounds, and didn’t produce extraordinary numbers against rather weak competition in the GOJHL. MacPherson’s prospects of making the NHL might change when he gets acclimated with the Philadelphia Flyers organization, but on the surface it would seem that a lot of things will have to go right for him to get a real shot at the NHL level.