PHILADELPHIA, Pa – If Philadelphia Flyers fans want to know how the current state of the Flyers came to pass they can look no further than the NHL Entry Draft. Fans and media alike generally will focus on what the team has done in free agency or in trades and that’s all well and good but if you really want to know the root cause of any team’s success or failure it starts with the draft.
The Flyers issues are a long and storied one, but for the purpose of being somewhat 
fair we will go back to the 2000 NHL Entry Draft and work our way forward.
2000 – The Flyers select Justin Williams in the first round (28th overall). The last time we checked Williams played four seasons in Philly but only played in 41 games in 2002-03 and 47 in 2003-04. Williams in this case wasn’t the issue as much as it was former Flyers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock’s issues with him. In case you haven’t noticed Williams has eon 3 Stanley Cups while Hitchock from won once his Dallas Stars days.
From the 2000 class only Guilaume Lefebvre played for the Flyers in 17 games and Roman Cechmanek in 163.
2001- Jeff Woywitka was a first round draft pick (27th overall) but never played for the Flyers, but Patrick Sharp, a third round pick did but like Williams was also in Hitchock’s dog house. He only played in 66 games for the Flyers but was a mainstay for the Chicago Blackhawks winning the cup three times.
2002 – Only Joni Pitkanen, a first round draft pick (4th overall) played for the Flyers in 206 games.
2003 – The Flyers has two first round picks and did well on both in Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. Both we eventually traded to the Los Angeles Kings. Carter has two cups with the Kings while Richards won once. Carter is still in the league and is playing very well.
Third round pick Colin Fraser also won a cup with the Harks in 2010 and two cups with the Kings in 2012 and 2014.
2004 – David Laliberte (4th round) played in only 11 games for the Flyers.
2005 – Steve Downie had two stints with the Flyers but only played in 41 games.
2006 – Claude Giroux has been a Flyers mainstay and is one of the better players in the league since he started playing regularly in 2009. Andreas Nodl did play in 127 games for the Flyers in four seasons.
2007 – James Van Reimsdyk was thought to have been a Flyer for years to come as the second overall pick behind Patrick Kane. The Flyers had the league’s worst record but lost the first pick in the lottery.
Kane has since won three cups with the Hawks and Van Reimsdyk was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs and is once again on pace to hit the 30 goal mark in his career.
Second rounder Kevin Marshall played in only 10 games for the Flyers. Sixth rounder Patrick Maroon is currently playing with the Edmonton Oilers and has 18 goals in 46 games and is playing on the Oilers top line with Connor McDavid.
2008 – Defenseman Luca Sbisa was taken 19th overall but didn’t stay long as part of the Chris Pronger deal with the Anaheim Ducks but before he left played in 39 games for the orange and black. Marc-Andre Bourdon played one season in 41 games.
2009 and 2010 – Fourth round pick Tye McGinn (2010) played in 36 games in two seasons for the Flyers and Eric Wellwood played in 31 games in three seasons.
2011 – Sean Couturier has been a solid player for the Flyers since being taken 8th overall. He is in his six season with the team. Nick Cousins is currently up with the Flyers as well and has played in 84 games in three seasons.
2012 – Scott Laughton was taken 20th overall but has since fallen out of favor and is currently with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He has played in 104 games in three seasons but has only played for the Flyers twice this season.
Goaltender Anthony Stolarz looks like he will make the jump to the NHL next season barring a collapse in the second half of this season. Shayne Gostisbehere was a Calder candidate last season but has struggle to find the same success this season. Taylor Leier has so far played in 16 games for the Flyers but could see a fourth or third liners role next season.
2013 to present – The Flyers have yet to see the fruits of their labor with the exception of 2015 first round draft picks Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny who are both currently on the Flyers parent squad. Don’t look for either to be out of the lineup anytime soon.
The future might not seem nearly as bad as the previous draft picks have shown above. In fact, they just might have too much of a good thing in the coming years. That might not bode well for the current club but look for the Flyers to inject a lot of youth into the lineup as early as next season. Nine prospect played in the most recent World Junior Championships, more than any NHL franchise.
The bottom line is, the Flyers cannot repeat the sins of the past and misfire on their draft picks. A look at the rosters of the Stanley Cup champs since 2000 will show one very simple truth: That teams that win the cup usually have at least half of the team’s roster made up of that teams own draft picks.
The Flyers need to learn this hard lesson very fast, otherwise the team in its 50-year anniversary will have to wait another 50 years for another Stanley Cup.
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