Flyers’ picks, targets and more – NBC Sports Philadelphia

As a rebuilding team that has stomached quite a bit to accrue this kind of draft capital, the Flyers know how pivotal this weekend is for the franchise’s future.

And potentially for the present, too.

The 2025 NHL draft has arrived for the Flyers, who have 10 picks, including six in the opening two rounds. The first round will be held Friday (7 p.m. ET/ESPN), while Rounds 2-7 are Saturday (noon ET/NHL Network).

Danny Briere has been involved in the Flyers’ draft operation since 2020, but this marks his third as general manager. Brent Flahr, who oversees the club’s amateur scouting efforts, is running his seventh draft with the Flyers as assistant general manager.

“Our guys have done a lot of work, I rely on our guys that go out in the field and have done hundreds of reports and seen these guys 100 times live,” Briere said last Tuesday. “And no offense to all the experts out there that watch these players on tape once or twice and they make their own rankings, it’s great and it works for them, but I’m going to trust our guys that I’ve worked with for a lot of years. They’re experts at it and that’s what they do.”

Let’s look at what you need to know as the Flyers open a busy stretch of their offseason.

Will the Flyers wheel and deal?

At his end-of-the-season press conference in April, Briere noted how the Flyers would be shifting into a mindset of addition rather than subtraction for their roster. While they’ve piled assets for their rebuild, they hit “rock bottom” in 2024-25 and want to get better.

They showed that Monday by acquiring 24-year-old center Trevor Zegras in a deal with the Ducks. The Flyers won’t disregard their rebuild, but they’ll be open to making more moves. They have three first-round picks and three second-rounders, which could appeal to clubs.

“What I can tell you is that we’re always looking,” Briere said after the Zegras trade. “We finished fourth worst last year in the NHL, so we constantly need to keep improving. We’re still far away. This hopefully is just one piece of the puzzle. We’d like to keep getting better.

“If there’s a chance to keep improving while fitting it into the plan of growing with our young guys and giving them the chance to grow together, we’re going to seriously consider it. We’re never stopping there, if there’s a chance to improve the team.”

Goaltending is a clear-cut area the Flyers need to look for help. But overall, the club is not in contending mode and seems like it’ll be pretty particular on the trade market.

“We’re not going to be throwing away picks for rental, older players,” Flahr said last Tuesday. “You can go maybe sign them on July 1, but if there’s a younger player that fits in our age group, that helps us now, that’s worth a pick or certain picks, then, yeah, certainly.”

When do the Flyers pick?

Here’s a full breakdown of the Flyers’ 2025 selections:

• Round 1 — No. 6 overall

• Round 1 — No. 22 overall

• Round 1 — No. 31 overall

• Round 2 — No. 36 overall

• Round 2 — No. 40 overall

• Round 2 — No. 48 overall

• Round 3 — No. 68 overall

• Round 5 — No. 132 overall

• Round 5 — No. 157 overall

• Round 6 — No. 164 overall

What’s the Flyers’ philosophy?

The Flyers will draft with a best-player-available approach at No. 6. But notably, they have needed more talent down the middle and this draft just so happens to be top-heavy with centers, a premium position.

“It’s pretty well-talked about early in the draft, top 10, there’s a number of centermen, which isn’t always the case,” Flahr said. “There are a few defensemen, a couple of high-end wingers — different options there.

“We are well aware of our own needs. At the same time, there are some players, especially at No. 6, we’re going to go with the best player on our board.”

Who are the Flyers’ targets?

We profiled 18 prospects the Flyers could consider in the first round:

• Hagens is ‘Matt Duchene type of player’ who could be on Flyers’ radar at No. 6

• Flyers would probably love if Barkov-like prospect is available at No. 6

• ‘Fascinating,’ 6-foot-5 center has tons of intrigue for Flyers at No. 6

• Younger brother of Flyers prospect is ‘complete’ center and option at No. 6

• ‘David Krejci-like’ center with plenty of upside would give Flyers good decision

• Could a 6-foot-6, ‘just blossoming’ defenseman be a fit for Flyers at No. 6?

• Will Flyers grab prospect with ‘really, really unique’ combination at No. 6?

• Reschny’s performance vs. 2024 top prospect should have Flyers’ eye in first round

• Flyers could have three shots at ‘dynamic, explosive skater’ on the wing

• Finding another Foerster? Flyers may have one if they draft Bear in first round