Philadelphia Flyers top 10 prospects for 2022-23 Sport-rated

The Flyers are struggling this year and will miss the playoffs, but they will also end up with very low odds in the draft lottery. The prospect pool is also average to weak overall, offering little hope of a quick turnaround.

The pressure to always be competitive is high in Philly, but the fan base may be ready to embrace a rebuilding era and rebuild the team during the draft.

The Flyers’ draft history is not a good one, the team has botched several first-round picks in recent history with picks from Jay O’Brien, patrick nolan, rubtsov germanand Samuel Morin they all fall under the bust category.

On the bright side, the Flyers have a good young core of players under 25 with carter hartCam York, travis konecny, Owen Tippet, Joel Farabeeand noah cates.

Philadelphia Flyers Top 10 Prospects

1. Gauthier Cutter, LW/C – Boston University (NCAA)

age: 19
Height/Weight: 6-2/194
Drafted: 2022 first round, fifth overall by Philadelphia Flyers.

Gauthier is having a tremendous freshman year with the Eagles and is scoring over a point per game. He too was a force for the USA in the WJC recording ten points in seven games.

He is a Flyers type of player as the big winger plays a violent game and can score goals. He has a killer shot and can score from distance or up close with spikes and rebounds. His size lends itself to his presence in the front of the net, making him a nightmare for defenders. He is also effective along the boards and can carry the puck across the ice like a freight train.

Look for Gauthier to sign his ELC after the Eagles season and play the rest of the Flyers NHL games. With James van Riemsdyk With an expiring contract in the top six, there might be a vacancy Gauthier could fill, but at 19 there should be no rush for him and the best thing for his long-term development might be a stint in the AHL.

2. bobby edgeOR – Ghosts of Lehigh Valley (AHL)

Age: 21
Height/Weight: 5-8/165
Drafted: 2019 second round, 34th overall by Philadelphia Flyers.

The 21-year-old is a highly decorated prospect. After a strong freshman season in his D+1 year, he dominated the NCAA, leading the league in points (57) and assists (43) and leading his team to an NCAA championship.

Now in his rookie year in the AHL, he is adjusting to the professional level and has been a consistent scorer. He is on pace for a 32-point-in-41-game season with a good five-game point streak in which he scored eight points. Brink is now 21 and should be ready to move up to the Flyers’ roster to help provide offensive support for the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

3. Tyson Foerster, RW – Lehigh Valley Ghosts (AHL)

Age: 21
Height/Weight: 6-2/194
Drafted: 2020 first round, 23rd overall by Philadelphia Flyers.

Foerster has taken a different development path than usual in the NHL. With no OHL to play in his D+1 year due to COVID, he played 24 AHL games by the time he was 18. His play there was impressive, he scored 17 points and started the following year in the AHL for nine games before being loaned out to Team Canada for the WJC, where he had six points to help win gold. He was then returned to the OHL to finish out the year and his junior career.

Now in his own first full season in the AHL, he continues to develop his overall game and continues to produce offensively. Shoulder injuries have also been a factor in his development, but he plays a solid all-round game, has size and is very smart. His skating is his weakest attribute, but not to the point where he should keep him out of the NHL.

4. samuel ersonG – Ghosts of Lehigh Valley (AHL)

Age: 23
Height/Weight: 6-2/176
Drafted: 2018 fifth round, 143 overall by Philadelphia Flyers.

The Flyers think they have a good fifth-round player in Ersson. Since his draft year, the 6-2 Swede spent two years developing in the SHL and made the leap to North America for the 2021-22 season, but injuries limited him to just five games and he struggled to an 0-3 record. -1. . Despite his setback, he has returned to good health and has been without energy in his first full season.

Currently, his AHL record is 16-11-1 and his excellent play has earned him several NHL retirements. He lost his first game 6-5 and then won five of the next six games before returning to the AHL. A second retirement from the NHL was less successful as he gave up 16 goals in three games.

Ersson has seen his value rise considerably since his fifth-round draft and has missed nearly an entire season of development. He is the Flyers’ top goaltender prospect and should compete for the backup role as a full-time NHL goaltender next year.

5. Emil Andrea, RHP – HV71 (SHL)

Age: 21
Height/Weight: 5-9/176
Drafted: 2020 second round, 54th overall by Philadelphia Flyers

Andrea struggled in her D+1 season to find ice time and production with HV71 in SHL. The team was relegated to a lower tier and there they bounced back against lesser opponents producing 33 points in 41 games and leading HV71 to the HockeyAllsvenskan Championship. He was also Captain of Sweden in the WJC where he excelled with eight points in seven games.

With his confidence restored, he is back in the SHL and on pace for a season of 27 points in 51 games. Little Andrea plays an aggressive and physical game. She’s a stubborn puck-hunter and has good mobility, but her NHL meal ticket will hinge on her ability to create NHL-level offense.

Andrea remains unsigned, but could write quickly when the current SHL season wraps up and makes the jump to North America. A few NHL games to end the year would serve him well before he spends the next campaign in the AHL.

6. Ronnie Attard, RD – Lehigh Valley Ghosts (AHL)

Age: 23
Height/Weight:6-3/207
Drafted: Third round of 2019, 72nd overall by Philadelphia Flyers.

Attard had gone through two NHL drafts before a strong showing in his junior year in the USHL, where he scored 30 goals and 64 points as Captain of the Tri-City Storm. Attard then played three NCAA seasons at Western Michigan University. After scoring 36 points in 39 games as a junior, he signed his ELC with the Flyers and played the last 15 games of the NHL regular season, scoring two goals and four points.

Attard is a big, mobile and physical defender, delivering 24 hits in his 15 NHL games. Attard has spent his entire first full season as a pro building in the AHL and is on pace for 11 goals and 32 points in 71 games with the Phantoms. He will be a prime candidate to make the jump to the NHL in the 2023-34 season.

7. Yegor ZamulaRP – Ghosts of Lehigh Valley (AHL)

Age: 22
Height/Weight: 6-3/176
Drafted: Signed as a free agent by Philadelphia in 2018

Zamula is a volatile stock to say the least. After going undrafted in two NHL drafts, Zamula came to North America as a CHL Import. His play didn’t earn him a draft pick, but after being invited to the Flyers’ rookie camp, he signed as a free agent.

The following year, with the Calgary Hitmen, he had an outstanding performance scoring 56 points in 61 games. He was a points-per-game player as a junior as a senior and was a force for Russia in the WJC with five points in seven Silver Medal-winning games.

The big, physical, mobile defender was a great prospect. Now, three years later and three seasons of professional development, he continues to find his game and adjust to the rhythm. His stock has started to decline and other prospects are beginning to outperform him on the depth chart. A back injury may be partly to blame, but his current development trend seems to be heading in the wrong direction.

8th Elliott DesnoyersLW—Ghosts of Lehigh Valley.

Age: 21
Height/Weight: 5-11/183
Drafted: Fifth round of 2020, 135 overall by Philadelphia Flyers.

Selected as a defensive prospect after posting 31 and 35 point seasons in the QMJHL, Desnoyers had an offensive breakout in his D+1 year scoring 49 points in just 37 games. He followed that up in his junior year as Captain of the Halifax Mooseheads scoring 88 points in 61 games and earning a spot on Team Canada for the WJC.

Desnoyers has carried that offensive production as a rookie in the AHL and is the Phantoms’ leading scorer with pace of 50 points in 68 games. It looks like the Flyers made a shrewd pick at 135th overall, it might not translate to an offensive force in the NHL, but he looks like a solid third-string defensive end with a nice offensive edge.

9. ole lycksellRW, Ghosts of Lehigh Valley

Age: 23
Height/Weight: 5-11/176
Drafted: 2017 sixth round, 168 overall by Philadelphia Flyers

Lycksell looks like a late classic. Since his draft, he has bounced around three different teams with consecutive 21-point seasons, before a 34-point break in 47 games with Vaxjo. It earned him a two-year contract with the Flyers and they brought him to North America.

As an AHL rookie, he has 34 points in his first 35 games, his point-per-game production has earned him a few NHL retirements, and in eight games he has one point. In a short time, Lycksell has gone from being an obscure prospect to a top ten Flyers prospect!

10. Jay O’Brien, C—Boston University (NCAA)

Age: 23
Height/Weight: 5-11/185
Drafted: 2018 first round, 19th overall by Philadelphia Flyers.

O’Brien had been labeled a bust after the Flyers selected him 19th overall out of high school. His D+1 year at Providence in the NCAA was a disaster, scoring five points in 25 games. Despite that, he was still named to Team USA for the WJC and was pointless there.

After that disappointing year, he moved down a notch to play in the BCHL and regained his confidence. He returned to the NCAA in the 2020-21 COVID-shortened year as a member of the Boston Terriers and was a points-per-game player with 16 points in as many games. Injuries in his junior year limited him to 24 games, but he still produced 22 points. O’Brien is now a senior at Boston University and has 29 points in 32 games.

If the Flyers don’t sign him, he could become a free agent or possibly play a fifth NCAA waiver season. While he may never live up to his 19th overall draft status, he is working his way up to look like an NHL player.

Honorable Mentions:

Devin Kaplan – RW: Another prospect at Boston U. Kaplan as a freshman has size and offensive potential. Skating is a concern.

Zayde Wisdom – RW: He was one of Lehigh’s best players during the pandemic year, a shoulder injury slowed him down and he hasn’t looked the same since.

Kieffer bellows – LW/C: The Islanders’ former first-round pick is now a comeback project.

Ethan Samson – D: The offensive defenseman has one point per game in the WHL with the Prince George Cougars.

Jon-Randall Avon – C: Signed free agent from the Peterborough Petes at OHL.