The Flyers’ 2025 NHL Draft had an overarching purpose
Hours ago, the 2025 NHL Entry Draft concluded. From a matter of entertainment and spectacle, I found Day 2 mercifully easier to follow and more enjoyable to watch than Day 1.
Day 1 was a drag. Four and a half hours to make 32 picks is beyond insane. You want to give these kids their moments, for sure. They earned it by being first round selections. Play up the spectacle, but don’t play up the spectacle so much that it becomes dragged out and equivalent to pulling teeth.
Still, nobody came here to read my opinions on the way the draft unfolded as an entertainment product.
The people want to know how the Flyers did from rounds 1-7.
Flyers Round 1, Pick 6 – Porter Martone.
The main-event. The best player available, as far as I see it. Porter Martone is on the fast track to superstardom because of an unbelievable combination of puck skills, hockey sense, reach, and strength.
There was some knit-picking of his game throughout the year revolving around his pace of play, and the extent to which he was a physical player. Both of these things seem more like stylistic preferences than actual flaws of the player, especially the latter criticism.
Porter is an exceptionally fluid mover. As he’d say himself, he could stand to get a step quicker and for his acceleration to happen a bit more easily. That extra burst will take him far. But between his natural fluidity and his acceptable speed, he’s already a good skater.
His pace does seem low at times, especially when he’s playing in the CHL, but I think Brent Flahr himself explained it as well as I ever could.
As for his physicality? I really don’t care how physical he is when I’m employing one of the smartest and most skilled players I’ve ever seen. Still, I think he’s decently physical already and will be more physical as he matures and learns better ways to engage while being a step quicker to pucks.
He’ll be a physical force in his prime. He already loves getting in fights. He’s one of the most active fighters in the CHL, and he’s a good bet to be involved in every scrum while being an adamant shit-talker.
As Porter himself sees it, extra physicality beyond that is something of a “time and place” conversation. He sees himself as too valuable offensively to his team to be spending long periods of time in the box and missing several shifts where his team is killing penalties instead of generating scoring chances.
But sometimes, in the right time and place, he’s willing to ramp up the physicality.
I think this is a mature outlook that’ll serve him well in the playoffs.
Martone has been number three on my personal board for most of the year. He’s never dropped below 4, and he spent more time at either 1 or 2 than 4. He was the best player available.
And the duo of him and Matvei Michkov is a surplus of star power on the wings.
Flyers Pick 12 (traded for Picks 22 and 31): Jack Nesbitt.
Let me get it out of the way, I think trading up like this for Nesbitt was… ill-advised. I respect the aggression, though.
The Flyers are bullish on Nesbitt, and they aren’t alone. Corey Pronman is a massive fan of the player, and this was the range he had him ranked to go in.
There’s a path for Nesbitt to be a top-6 center. He’s a massive, competitive kid with very intriguing puck skills. His skating is an almost crippling problem, though. His production is also something that suggests “low percentage bet.”
There’s a lot of risk in this profile if you’re looking for more than an unremarkable bottom-6 center.
But there’s a legitimate reason to believe that Nesbitt is one of those massive kids who’s operating essentially a year behind his peers as he learns to control his body.
If his D-1 was his D-2 and his D-2 was his D-1, he’d get talked about as a potential top 10 pick in the upcoming draft depending on how his draft year shook out.
People said that about Jett Luchanko based upon his age. Nesbitt is much older than Luchanko, relative to their draft years.
But I feel like that bet is actually more prudent to make with Nesbitt. Luchanko is a remarkably developed prospect physically, and Nesbitt is the very opposite.
If Nesbitt was the headliner, I’d be furious with this pick.
But he’s not. He’s a center they believe in after they just drafted a winger I believe has superstar potential.
So, I’ll let them indulge in a passion project. If it doesn’t work out, chances are nobody will care because this draft will have netted them a superstar winger next to their other superstar winger.
Carter Amico, Jack Murtagh, Shane Vanshagi. Picks 38, 40, and 48.
This run of selections both doubled down on the theme of the draft and redeemed the Nesbitt selection in terms of value.
Amico is a massive defenseman with legitimate play-killing potential, a solid first pass, and plus skating ability (especially for his size.)
He was almost surely going to be a first rounder if not for an injury that kept him out nearly all season. He’s going to be a formidable shutdown presence in the NHL if he stays healthy and develops well. One that teams covet far more than the 34th pick in a draft.
Murtagh is a winger with explosive skating ability, plus size (though small relative to the towers they drafted otherwise!), and a motor that never runs out. He has intriguing puck skills, too. His hockey sense and playmaking vision are both works in progress, but the progress through the year was very real.
Combine his skating and competitiveness with hard skill and a howitzer of a shot? He could be an impact NHLer and there were people who saw him as a first round pick that the Flyers drafted with the 40th selection.
Shane Vanshagi is an absolute beast of a power winger. Another one with especially poor skating. But his monstrous frame, understanding of leverage in battles, endless motor, and plus puck skills makes him someone I could see being an impactful NHL middle-6er. Someone who could run roughshod or a third line or be an important complimentary piece for a scoring line.
He’s going to be a menace of a power forward, and yet again, we’re talking about a player who several people… including myself and people I talk to a lot about prospects… had as a first round talent.
Whatever value they lost out on Nesbitt was compensated for with this run of selections.
Matthew Gard, pick 57.
Matthew Gard was definitely not the most productive player they could have selected with this pick, but they were determined to continue selecting massive players, and they did so here with aplomb.
Gard is a 6’5″ monster with legit skating and eerily advanced defensive details. He wins his battles, he sticks to his checks with a combination of reach and plus IQ, and he has the closing speed to shut down plays on the rare occasion he’s beat positionally.
His microstat profile at 5v5 speaks to his upside as a forechecker and in the defensive zone. He made it this far because… what he can do with the puck is an open question.
He flashed some ability as a playmaker, but it wasn’t consistent enough. How much of this was due to him being on an IMPRESSIVELY bad Red Deer team? That remains to be seen.
It wasn’t the value that the above 3 picks were, but I think the Flyers made out okay here with an interesting project.
Max Westergård, pick 132.
Max is a legit swing for upside who has a shot to be a top-6 forward if everything goes perfectly well, but more likely a middle-6 forward… which would be immense value in the 6th round.
He’s somewhat small… a rarity for the Flyers in this draft… but he had legit juniors production and a great playoff run in the SHL as a September birthday. The Flyers got a sleeper here.
His off-puck anticipation allows him to flow into scoring areas with ease and get a ton of opportunities for himself. He has a tremendous work rate, and the skill to go along with it.
Even more tantalizing? As a September birthday, he was 12 days from being eligible next year.
There’s some real potential here, and the value for a 6th rounder is tremendous.
Luke Vlooswyk at #157 and Nathan Quinn at #164 – 5’11 172lbs
Vlooswyk might be a physical third-pair defender but probably won’t even be that. It wasn’t an especially tantalizing pick, but we’re late enough in the draft where I don’t really care all that much.
Nathan Quinn is fairly interesting. He needs to get a lot stronger and his skating needs real work, but he has some legit skill and transition ability at lower levels despite his skating not being particularly high-end.
He could be someone to monitor if his skating progresses from average to a legitimate weapon as he puts on strength. He has NHL details and puck carrying ability.
Overall Thoughts?
The Flyers came in with a goal. I think it’s a little bit deeper than merely saying they wanted to get bigger. Getting bigger was a secondary consequence. Instead, I think the point is… they wanted to get better along the walls.
Sometimes, small players help you thrive along the boards. Brad Marchand is one of the greatest wall workers of all time.
But the size to shield the puck from defenders is a legitimate asset in these spaces, and top-speed is totally irrelevant.
80% of hockey happens with the puck within 3 feet of the boards. We know that based on work done by the Anaheim Ducks analytics department, which was substantiated again and again by people who went to check their work.
The consequence of that reality is: winning on the walls is winning in the game. If you control the boards, you control everything.
Winning the puck, maintaining possession, and filtering the puck to the middle of the ice at the right time is 80% of the battle in hockey.
The Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers have 2 things in common.
Closing.
And winning along the walls.
The Flyers seemed to take that lesson to heart, as they were willing to sacrifice skating in almost every instance as they looked to acquire players with size, skill, and a competitive streak.
Guys who could win on the walls. And control the most critical portion of the ice. It’s outer extremities.
You don’t need to be an exceptionally fast team. The Panthers aren’t. But you need to check smart, check hard, and have the skill to get to the areas that everyone wants to get to… the middle of the ice and the slot.
This is a draft class that checks those boxes.
Join The Chase
Read More
Flyers re-sign Jacob Gaucher to a one year deal
The Flyers agreed to terms Friday on a one-year, two-way…
“Like a Vengeance Tour”: Rick Tocchet on Matvei Michkov being back on the ice after getting swept by the Hurricanes
The Flyers’ season has been over for four days. Matvei…
Flyers swept out of the playoffs, lose 3-2 in overtime to the Hurricanes in Game 4
The Flyers lost 3-2 in overtime to the Hurricanes on…
Comments (0)