More Interesting Stuff from Charlie: Further Draft hints/smokescreens

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1. Flahr was asked about the strength of the prospects from the WHL this year, and he agreed, naming centers Brendan Yager and Nate Danielson, defenseman Tanner Molendyk, winger Samuel Honzek and goalie Carson Bjarnason. One name that Flahr notably left out? Winger Zach Benson, who slotted in at No. 9 on McKenzie’s final list, and arguably the draft’s second-best WHL prospect after Bedard. Was it a simple memory lapse at the podium? A Freudian slip indicating that he’s not particularly high on Benson? Or an intentional attempt to hide just how much the Flyers like him? You decide.

 

2. Another intriguing aside from Flahr came when he was asked about the highly touted US National Team Development program top line of Will Smith, Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault — specifically, how the Flyers go about determining that one of the three isn’t a product of the others’ talent. Flahr immediately assumed that the question was about Leonard (as the person who asked the question, I can confirm it was not).

 

“Well, in some cases, I think you’re referring to Leonard probably, but you watch the games when he’s on a different line and see how well he drives the line,” Flahr said. “In other cases, you watch – we’ve seen these kids for not just this year. These kids have been high-profile players for a few years now, so they’ve been on the radar. But again, you see when Leonard was playing with (Oliver) Moore, or you see him when Perrault’s on a different line, we’ve seen these guys. We have guys almost at every game there.”

It sure sounded like Leonard has been a hotly debated player in Flyers circles recently, and one that he seemed eager to defend. Food for thought.

 

3. Briere made sure to continue to toe the company line on Kevin Hayes, who is very much available in trade talks at the moment, doing his best to retain as much leverage in those talks as possible. “Nothing has really changed on that. We still value Kevin, we still think he can help,” he contended. “It’s tough to tell at this point.”

 

4. Unlike St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong, who more or less told Jeremy Rutherford this week that he does not expect to trade up or down from his team’s spot at No. 10, Briere very much left the door open for trading up or down from No. 7, acknowledging that he has indeed had conversations about those scenarios in anticipation of the draft. “Honestly, everything’s on the table,” he said. “We’ve had discussions in both directions.”

 

5. While it doesn’t appear that another roster trade is imminent, Briere acknowledged that discussions with other GMs have picked up this week.

 

“I think it felt like the guys are getting down to business a little bit more. Getting inside the 10-day window to the draft. I’d have to say this week was probably a time where I started getting more return calls,” he said with a slight smirk.

 

Just trying to find stuff for everyone to comment on a week before the draft .....