Here's how the Flyers can get an even better draft pick thanks to the Maple Leafs

The NHL season is winding down, and the Philadelphia Flyers are clinging to incredibly slim hopes of a playoff berth. While there's around a 5 percent chance of sneaking into the final Wild Card spot, odds are much higher that the Flyers can pull off something else that will give fans a little excitement: a top draft pick.

Get ready for some scoreboard watching of a different color.

Enter the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the midst of a bad season, the reeling Leafs were dealt a devastating blow with the loss of their captain and one of the NHL's premier players in Auston Matthews. He was taken out by former Flyer and well-known errant freight train Radko Gudas. He's out for the year with an MCL. Even worse for the Leafs, they had already played their way into the bottom portion of the league.

This is very good for the Flyers. Basically, everyone needs to root for the Maple Leafs to continue free-falling because Toronto landing a Top 5 pick in this year's draft would give Philadelphia a potentially super valuable pick in next year's draft.

Flyers fans have extra motivation to root for the Maple Leafs to continue embarrassing themselves

If the Maple Leafs end up falling into the bottom five, they'd be all but assured of a Top 5 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. Given the general chaos and the total uncertainty of Matthew's future, conspiracy theorists would posit that this would be a perfect time for the Leafs to outright win the NHL Draft lottery and the No. 1 pick.

Frankly, this situation is the one that Flyers fans should be rooting for.

The Flyers were gifted the 2027 first-round pick as part of the compensation for the Scott Laughton trade, but right now, it's Top 5 protected. That means if the Leafs land a Top 5 pick, they get to keep it but the conditions transfer to next year which is where it gets both complicated but juicy for the Flyers.

Here's the official condition of the trade and pick, with the bolded part being what Flyers fans should be interested in:

"Top 5 protected, slides to 2027. The 2027 pick goes to Philadelphia (as part of Laughton trade) if it is outside the top 10, which converts this pick to Boston to a 2028 unprotected 1st Round Pick. If this pick slides to 2027 and is in the top 10, TOR can either transfer it to BOS to satisfy this trade and then give PHI the 2028 unprotected, or transfer it to PHI and give BOS the 2028 unprotected 1st Round Pick."

What does that all mean for that 2027 pick?

• If Toronto lands a Top 10 pick: It either goes to Boston and the Flyers get an unprotected 2028 first round pick OR it goes to the Flyers and the Bruins get that 2028 pick.
• If Toronto's pick lands outside of the Top 10: It automatically goes to the Flyers and the Bruins get a 2028 unprotected first round pick

Either way, the Flyers win, but this only triggers if the Maple Leafs get a Top 5 pick this year. That's why Flyers fans have a rooting interest in the Leafs continuing to fall further down the standings.

The 2027 draft is projected to be top-heavy, but having assets to either be picked high or to trade up could be crucial. Players like Landon DuPont, Petr Tomek, Jonah Neuenschwander, and Alexis Joseph could all be franchise-changing players.

Seriously, look at Joseph:

Now look at DuPont:

The Flyers won't have a shot at a top prospect next season without either tanking their own rebuild or if the Maple Leafs come undone. Owning that 2027 pick outright gives you two options.

The first is that either the Flyers or the Leafs end up towards the bottom of the league. Oddly enough, this scenario might end up favoring the Leafs, who have an aging and expensive defense, a few total albatross contracts on offense, and almost no real room to make significant moves or changes in the offseason without a jarring, market-defining trade. Running it back could mean running it into the ground for the Leafs.

Option two is that the team now owns a pair of first-round picks. Heck, maybe you get greedy and finally deal Rasmus Ristolainen for one, and you've got 3. If you want to go up and draft one of those future 1C or 1D or create a package that gets you that player from another team.

Scoreboard watch. Do Voodoo. Put the malocchio on the team. It is time to turn another team's misfortune into our gain for once.