BUFFALO — In the second installment of our interview with Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr, we delve into the draft.
When the NHL draft commences on June 28 at Sphere in Las Vegas, the Flyers will have two picks in the first round, including No. 12. The following day, the club will have a busy agenda. The Flyers have six picks, with the possibility of a seventh if the Columbus Blue Jackets opt after the first round to send their second-rounder over to complete the Ivan Provorov deal.
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It will be a big 48 hours for Flahr, who is running the show for the Flyers at the draft table.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: The last time we spoke, at the end of March, you said this draft maybe wasn’t the deepest. Do you still feel that way?
A: There’s some depth but, you know, compared to certain years — where we’re picking, in the top 12, we’re going to get there — there is a level drop; it’s probably in the teens. But, no, there are still some quality players, just maybe not at the level in some other years. But we still have to identify players we really like at different levels of the draft and we’re confident we’ll get some of them. So, it’s still a pretty good draft, for sure. But it’s going to be interesting because it’s going to be a little all over the map after a certain point in the draft. There will be a lot of unpredictability as far as what media vs. teams have.
Q: I haven’t seen the same player mentioned twice in mock drafts. So, with No. 12, what are you hoping to get? What do you think you’ll get? Take us into the future a little bit.
A: Obviously, we have ideas. We don’t get too concerned about position. We’ll go best player available, but we have an idea. I think there are probably five or six players we think we have a chance to get. It just depends on what teams in front of us do. But, we’ve talked to teams about moving up, maybe trading back, depending on the situation and who falls to us. So, yeah, it could be some interesting scenarios, but this draft especially, I think you’ll see a lot of movement.
Q: How do you determine when to move up or back?
A: We talked to teams already about, for example, listen we’re sitting at 12 and your team is at nine, would you ever consider moving back? Or teams behind us, would you ever consider moving up? And just put the feelers out there. We’re not doing anything right now. We’ll see how the draft falls and then teams that are really anxious about moving up, we’ll talk again. We’ll maybe say, listen if certain players are there, if we’re comfortable — like we have four players on the list that we’re really excited about — we can move back two spots and get a second-round pick or whatever the scenario is, we’ll consider that. But, yeah, not very often you’re going make trades moving up or back right now unless you’re going to probably overpay.
Q: On draft day, how does that work considering you only have a short window to make that phone call and get everything figured out?
A: You talk to them beforehand, even the day before or right before the draft. That’s the value of having a live draft with everybody on the floor, you walk over there and say, “Listen, depending on how this falls, would you consider moving back?” And we set a price and they’ll agree on it or they’ll call you and say, no, we’re good, we’re going to take the guy, or vice versa. Yeah, that’s typically how it goes.
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Q: But you don’t give them the name of the player you’re looking to get.
A: No. But sometimes we’ve had teams that do that. You can trade up but you can’t take this guy or this guy. And I’m like, well, that’s not the point.
Q: What is your hope for the draft, since it’s not the deepest? Do you look at it more for building the farm system as a whole and maybe selecting players for the AHL?
A: No. Hopefully, we’re not drafting guys for that. Any of the guys we draft, we want assets or something that may give them a chance to play in the NHL. So, believe me, as you get later in the draft, sometimes whether it’s size, whether it’s skating ability, they’re going to have to overcome some issues to get there. But we want guys, especially later in the draft — and we do our list, but after a certain point on your list are a lot of guys who are in the same range — so we want guys our scouts feel really strongly about. They have certain traits that may give them a chance to play down the road and that gut feeling is usually more important sometimes than when you have the list and put all these names together.
So we have a really firm list to a certain point and after that, especially late, I’ll go to our guys, and ask who do we want here? Believe me, we do all these situations well in advance and, ideally, who you will get in the sixth round or seventh round just so I’m aware. But sometimes guys will always want to fight for their own guys, too, and that’s my job to manage that a little bit but we have lots of scenarios. That’s kind of the fun part, is spending a lot of time doing scenarios for the next month.
Q: Has what happened with Cutter Gauthier factored into any of your conversations with players to ensure that if they are drafted by the Flyers, they will be a Flyer?
A: That was kind of a really unique situation, I’ve never really encountered that. Most of the kids, I would say, are really excited about wherever they’re going to be drafted. We’re a pretty good franchise, we’re first-class. I really haven’t had that issue come up. Cutter was a unique situation, but we really haven’t had that issue and we’re confident that it won’t be an issue with the players wanting to play in Philadelphia, that’s for sure.
Q: Flyers general manager Danny Brière said this is your show. It has to be a lot of pressure because it can be such a crapshoot whether you’ll get a guy who will play in the NHL.
A: Our guys here, they work all year for this. They travel a crazy amount of days and crazy situations that we travel in. So, yeah, this is kind of the culmination of everything. But yeah, it’s an exciting time. We feel we’ve got a really good group and I think we’re comfortable with the way we work and how we get to certain names. There’s a process that we have and we’re confident; our guys have been around each other long enough that we usually get there. There will be lots of arguments next week [at our meetings] and people will get their feelings hurt and things like that, but we usually get there and get the players. And not only good players but players that are going to fit in within the culture of the Flyers and be good teammates and be a part of, hopefully, the league. But whether they just become American Leaguers, at the end of the day they are guys that are really going to help everybody else around them.
Q: The Flyers have holes in the system — at center, a right-shot defenseman, big bodies. You’ve mentioned taking the best player available, but do those holes also factor in?
A: Yep, for sure. We always say we want the biggest, most skilled, fastest guy but there are certain layers. We do layers of players. We have guys that we are excited about at 12. Sometimes position works out, sometimes it doesn’t. All being equal, you can go for position but you can’t overstep a higher-tiered player just because of position all the time. So, especially early in the draft, it’s just a dangerous process. Sometimes being safe early on the draft isn’t always the best.
Q: There’s been a lot of talk about 12 but you also have 31 or 32, depending on whether the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup. Does your focus shift at that spot?
A: No, I think that’s still the same situation. I guess, if you’ve drafted a small winger, scoring winger [at 12], there’s other stuff [you need]. But even then I think you’ve got to be careful not just drafting the best player. I think as the draft goes on, if you’ve done certain things and you’ve got guys that are in the same layer, and can sway off a little bit. But we’re careful not to stray from not getting the best players sometimes. Like these guys, you have got to remember our needs now can be different than the needs four years from now when these guys actually play, so we’re going to be realistic with that. Now, that being said, if you don’t draft defensem*n or centermen, they’re hard to get in free agency too, so we are cognizant of that.
Q: There’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of Matvei Michkov coming next season — and no one knows, as of now, if it will happen — but does the prospect of having a top winger change how you look at the draft?
A: Not really. We’re still working on the assumption that he’s going to fulfill his contract over there. That being said, obviously that hole, when he does come, is going to be filled and it’s going to take him some time as well. So if by far the best player available is a winger, a scoring winger, we’ll still go in that direction. But we’re well aware of what we have in-house already and we’re cognizant of how we want to build the team going forward. But at the same time, you’ve just got to make sure you’re not passing up on a higher-end talent for players that maybe fit a role potentially down the road. So, yeah, we have to be careful with that.
Q: Has John Tortorella given you any direction on what he’s looking for?
A: Torts is very adamant that he wants to stay out of the draft. He has no interest in that. He wants good players. The only thing he requests is players that compete. His only request for me is, “Brent, it’s hard to coach compete.” He wants competitive players. He knows we’re trying to get us the most skilled players and players that play hard and playoff type of players, and that’s the only request he’s ever made.
Q: You’re in charge of the draft and after drafting Oliver Bonk and, despite what happened, Cutter Gauthier, and Matvei Michkov, do you feel any pressure heading into this draft?
A: There’s always pressure on us to draft well and add players. I’ve been at this for a long time. It’s no different than in Minnesota [with the Wild]. There will be people in the media and on Twitter who, it will be second-guessed with whatever pick we make, so we’re fine with that. But we know at the same time that these players we’re drafting now are going to be different down the road. Some players are going to take a little bit longer to get there. We’re not drafting any players at 12 that are going to step into the NHL next year. You can get surprised, that’d be great, but I’d be shocked — and even then I don’t think that’s doing it the right way. We know these guys have a long way to go. But, we have some players on our list that maybe aren’t rated as highly by the media or maybe other teams and everybody has a lot higher.
So there are some of those things. But, again, we have our own system with the way we do it and we’re comfortable with that. Danny got to spend time with us before he was general manager and doing the amateur circuit, so he likes the process, he enjoys it, and enjoys being around our guys, so it’s a lot of fun for him, too.
