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Flyers draft receives high praise from analysts around the league
Posted By: Ryan Gilbert on: June 27, 2017

The Philadelphia Flyers had one of the best draft classes of 2017. It was highlighted by both top talents, like Nolan Patrick and Morgan Frost,
andsecond daysleepers, like Isaac Ratcliffe and Matthew Strome.

Yesterday I broke down the Flyers strong draft class from Patrick all the way down, but dont just take my word for it; analysts around the
league have plenty of praise for Ron Hextalls draftees.

Corey Pronman, one of the better known prospect analysts around the league, gave the Flyers an A- for their draft class. The Flyers were one
of threeteams to receive a grade of A-, and only one team (the Vegas Golden Knights) received an A grade.

Heres what Pronman had to say about the Flyers draft.

Philadelphia Flyers: A-

Organizational assessment: As with the Devils, even though the Flyers picked Nolan Patrick at No. 2 overall, he did not
de ne their draft like most second overalls do, with the clubs Day 2 picks being very important to this grade. I didnt love
the Morgan Frost or Isaac Ratcliffe picks at those slots, though I did have both prospects ranked in my top 100. However, I
thought Philadelphia got great value in Matthew Strome, and I have time for both Maksim Sushko and Noah Cates. The
Flyers system added a ton of scoring punch to an org deep in young defensemen and goaltenders.

Pronman then went on to rave about Nolan Patrick while being cautiously optimistic about Morgan Frosts potential. He did, however, like the
Flyers second day picks, namely and Matthew Strome.

Ratcliffe has pretty decent offensive skills for a big man. He can make plenty of scoring chances happen with his puck-
protection skills and winning battles around the net, but he can make a creative play with the puck as well. He also has a
bullet of a wrist shot.
READ: Former Flyer Mark Recchi to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame

Ryan Lambert of Yahoo! Sports Puck Daddy also graded every teams draft. While the Flyers werent quite an A-, they did receive a solid B
from him.

Heres what Lambert had to say about the Flyers draft.

Philadelphia Flyers: Hard to screw up the No. 2 pick in this draft and they, of course, did not. Im not sure I understand the
Brayden Schenn trade at all, except to say that it got them Morgan Frost, which was a bit of a reach but not a terrible one. If
were going just by the picks theyre probably higher, but Im not sure Jori Lehtera, at the current price point, makes sense. B

The Schenn trade seems to be the polarizing topic of the weekend, but I am steadfast in believing that Hextall capitalized and got good value
for the inconsistent winger.

Lastly, we havethe Winners and Losers of the 2017 NHL Draftfrom Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News.

Kennedy listed three winners of the draft, and the Flyers were one of the three.

The Flyers traded up twice early on in the draft to get their guy. I like that; why risk missing on Morgan Frost or Isaac
Ratcliffe if you really like them? GM Ron Hextall has been a draft master during his tenure in Philly, stacking picks and
making nice selections. This year was no different with Noah Cates (a raw Joe Pavelski type), big goalie Kirill Ustimenko and
that kid who went second overall who might be pretty decent

All jokes aside, Hextall and his staff get lots of different skill sets and positional needs every draft, which puts them in a
great spot for the future.

Kennedys thoughts seem to echo the thoughts of many Flyers fans. Theysaw a few prospects they wanted and they went and got them.

READ: Blue Jackets buy out Scott Hartnell, of cially close the cof n on trade with Flyers

Draft weekend has been where Ron Hextall has exed his muscle over the past few years for the Flyers, and that didnt change this year.
Hextall not only made smart picks, but smart trades as well to help improve the Flyers already deep prospect pool.

The Flyers seem to have very few holes, if any, in their prospect pool after this weekends draft. They already hadone of the best group of
defensive prospects, as well as a few top goalies, and they bolstered up their forward prospects in this years draft. It can be argued that the
Flyers now have the best prospect pool in the league.

In Hexy we trust.

Sons of Penn Radio (June 23rd)


On this episode of SOP radio, we celebrate the Flyers drafting Nolan Patrick, give live reactions to the Brayden Schenn trade, and praise Ron
Hextalls brilliance.
You can subscribe to SOP Radio on iTunes or follow on SoundCloud!
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SOPRadioInstantanalysisontheFlyerstradingNickCousins

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READ: No, the Flyers are not trading Claude Giroux anytime soon

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