Following Trade, Flyers’ Draft Weekend Could Be Light

Just minutes before Philadelphia Flyers’ GM Danny Briere and assistant GM Brent Flahr met with the media for their annual pre-draft availability, one of their draft picks was on the move. A trade with Toronto sending goaltender Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit to Philadelphia for Samuel Ersson, Emil Andrae, and a 2026 third-round pick was the first official move of the offseason for the Orange and Black.

“We thought it was a chance to improve the team, help them take another step,” Briere said. “Sam has been a fantastic teammate, really loved in the room – both him and Emil. We just felt, in Sam's case, it's one of those where it might be time for a change of scenery for him. Hopefully, it gives him that chance to take another step. He did well in the second half last year down the stretch. He's a gamer. But I think it was time for him to get the chance elsewhere, and we felt that Woll is a step forward for us and will be able to help [Dan Vladar] in a tandem role.”

The main focus of the NHL Draft, set to take place in nine days, is with the 21st overall pick, far from the lottery picks the Flyers have had in recent years. After that, the Flyers have just three picks on Day 2, one in the second round, one in the sixth round, and one in the seventh round.

“It's not ideal. We'd love to have 15 picks in every draft, but it's not realistic,” Briere said. “The fact is we've drafted a lot of players the last few years; we've had some extra picks. This year, we still have the first and the second right now, which are the key ones, I would think. All those draft picks that we've had in the past, we have to make room for them eventually. They have to play. So there's a balance too. Having only four picks this year, I'm okay with because we've drafted so much the last few years.”

It makes the next week and a half very interesting. The move for Woll and Benoit can be the first of several as the majority of offseason work is completed, or it could be the headlining move of the offseason. The Flyers do still have the 21st pick to work with, whether they look to add to their prospect pool or recoup future assets or improve the team in the present. The Flyers also have their own first-round pick in 2027, plus a conditional first-round pick from Toronto that will likely be .

“We're getting closer to that. I don't know that we're quite there yet, but we're certainly willing to listen on different ideas,” Briere said. “I'm not too keen on trading future first-round picks because you never know where it can go. We're not a Colorado or Carolina at this point where you know you're going to be finishing and picking late in the first round. I don't think we're quite there yet.”

Should the Flyers keep the 21st pick, it’s more likely they get a player who could fill a role down the line than a superstar. There are exceptions, and the Flyers feel like they have one player already in their lineup that is an example.

In the 2020 NHL Draft, the Flyers selected forward Tyson Foerster with the 23rd overall pick. Foerster has 61 goals and 100 points in 195 NHL games.

“I think we have the same process now as we did then,” Flahr said. “Anytime you're drafting in the 20s, you're not getting the perfect player that's completely polished and finished. Tyson obviously had the size, he was a very smart player, had the big shot. We knew his skating had to come, but with the background we did with his body type and where he was at, and where our strength coaches thought he could get to, we thought it was a good try there. It turned out well, and a lot of the credit goes to him for putting in the work and getting there.

“But that's the philosophy. Obviously, there's certain traits that we're going to be looking for in a player in the 20s, and some of them take a little bit longer than others. There's a number of different players, and obviously at 21, we've got to wait to see what the teams in front of us do. We have it set up through layers, which we always do. Maybe we can trade up. Or maybe there's an option if there's a big layer behind us that we're happy with; maybe there's a chance to move back and add another pick as well. So we'll sort those things out as we get closer.”

There is also the possibility that the Flyers use the 21st pick to move back and get more picks for Day 2 in the process. The Flyers moved their 2026 third-round pick on Tuesday. They moved an additional sixth-round pick in the deal to acquire Carl Grundstrom and Artem Guryev from San Jose in October. They moved a fourth-round pick last summer to Anaheim for Trevor Zegras. They moved a fifth-round pick to Colorado in the deal involving Sean Walker at the trade deadline in 2024.

And it doesn’t mean the Flyers will stop. The team now down to just four picks in the draft continues to look for ways to improve, even if that means moving limited draft capital.

“Everything's on the table. It has to make sense – that's kind of the thing we want to make sure of, that it helps us for the future, not just for one season or a few months,” Briere said. “I don't feel we're quite there yet. Like the trade today, we feel those two guys hopefully will be able to help us for many years to come, and it was worth trading a third-round pick for that.”

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.