Who Have the Flyers Drafted With the 31st or 32nd pick?

At this point, every Flyers fan knows that the team is drafting 12th overall in the upcoming NHL draft. Several players are being "predicted" to be on general manager Daniel Briere's radar. Some believe he could be looking at a power center while others suggest a speedy winger. There could be an outside chance that a big hulking defender could be taken if it's too good to pass up. After all, you can never have too many good blue-liners in your organization.

People forget that the Flyers also have a pick at the end of the first round. Depending on whether or not the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup, Philly will draft again with the 31st or 32nd overall pick. Again, this is going to be historic ground for the Flyers.

First, the Flyers will draft two players in the first round for the second straight year. Last year, the team selected Matvei Michkov and Oliver Bonk. Both seem as if they will help out the team fairly soon. This is the first time that the team has had multiple first-round picks since 2017 and 2018. Those selections were Joel Farabee and Jay O'Brien in 2018 and Nolan Patrick and Morgan Frost in 2017. While Farabee seems to be panning out, the others have been mixed. O'Brien was released in 2023, Patrick couldn't stay healthy, and Frost just isn't clicking. Overall, the Flyers have had eight drafts with two picks in the first round and one year (1978) where they had three.

The Flyers have rarely drafted at the bottom of the first round

In another fun bit of Flyers trivia, the team has drafted in the 31st and 32nd spot just once each. The one time they selected 31st was in 1992 with Denis Metlyuk. In the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a rush to get Russian players. After all, the Red Wings were starting to do well with them. Maybe he could be the next Sergei Fedorov or Pavel Bure. Nope, this second-rounder played 80 games for the Hershey Bears before the Flyers said "nyet!" He went back to Russia and played in the KHL for 15 years as an average sort of player.

That 32nd lone selection was Broad Street Bully, and fan favorite, Bob "Machine Gun" Kelly. He got his nickname for how quickly his fists could pummel an opposing player. He would spend 10 of his 12 years in the NHL in Philadelphia. However, he wasn't a first-round pick. Because there were only 12 teams, he was a third-round pick.

The latest the Flyers ever picked in the first round was 29th in 2005. The selection that year: Steve Downie. He played nine years and made his best contribution to the team when he was traded for blueliner Matt Carle.

Maybe the Flyers will make history with this pick. Perhaps they'll select someone who can be a fixture on this team for years to come.