With slim odds, the Flyers didn’t strike gold in the Connor Bedard sweepstakes.
But they will have a chance to bring in some needed high-end talent near the top of the 2023 NHL draft.
“We’re fortunate it’s a good year,” Flyers general manager Danny Briere said of the draft crop in April. “We have quite a few picks and we have a high one.
“You have to go through a lot of bad times to get there unfortunately, but it’s exciting when you’re at the draft table and you get to pick such a high pick. It’s going to be a critical pick for the organization moving forward, there’s no doubt about it.”
After selecting Cutter Gauthier fifth overall last summer, the Flyers are slotted at No. 7 for this year’s draft, which will be held June 28-29 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. With the Ivan Provorov trade, the Flyers acquired the 22nd overall pick, giving them two first-rounders and 10 total selections in the draft. The first round kicks off at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday, while Rounds 2-7 follow Thursday starting at 11 a.m. ET.
Leading up to the draft, we’re breaking down targets for the Flyers at No. 7.
Next up:
Dalibor Dvorsky
Position: Center
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 201
Shoots: Left
Team: AIK
Scouting report
Behind only Leo Carlsson, a potential top-three pick, Dvorsky is considered by many as the second-best European center in the draft.
The Slovakian possesses excellent size, skill and playmaking strengths. His shot is legit and there’s a swagger to his game.
He turned heads at the 2023 IIHF U-18 World Junior Championship in late April, putting up eight goals and 13 points over seven games for Slovakia.
“I’ve got to tell you, he’s the player that probably gained himself the most momentum from the U-18 world championships,” Dan Marr, the director of NHL Central Scouting, said June 1 in a phone interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia. “Where a lot of people there, if they didn’t have him as a surefire top-10 consideration, I think they changed their mind. I think he moved up the ladder on a lot of teams. He was able to compete with his skills and attributes. And you could see he made a difference.”
Dvorsky just turned 18 years old on Thursday. So as a 17-year-old this season, he played against men in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan, a pro league that is a tier below the SHL.
In 38 games for AIK, Dvorsky had 14 points (six goals, eight assists) and a minus-19 rating while playing 14:50 minutes per game.
He dominated at the junior level in Sweden with 10 goals and 21 points through 10 games.
“You can just see, he plays like he’s on a mission when he’s out there, he doesn’t want to be denied,” Marr said. “It’s those intangibles that he brings, along with his skills, that make him a very appealing prospect.”
Dvorsky is the third-ranked European skater by NHL Central Scouting. In its updated rankings, EliteProspects.com has him as the 11th-best player in the draft, while The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler has him at No. 8 and as the fifth-best center.
There are some questions about Dvorsky’s skating ability and his play on the defensive side of the puck. It’s possible he could translate more as a winger at the NHL level.
With the skepticism around his skating, he was able to change the narrative a bit at the U-18 World Junior Championship.
“You have to be able to skate to play in the National Hockey League,” Marr said. “The skating, you could factor in improvements with his age group, but it’s kind of shifted from size and skating now to everyone wants to focus on the hockey sense and the compete. The real prize is getting the player that competes with his size, competes with his smarts, competes with skills, competes with his speed. This is a player that can do that.”
Fit with Flyers
The Flyers have stressed their need for more top-end talent and how the entry draft is the most effective way at acquiring such talent. Dvorsky definitely fits the bill of high upside and enticing ingredients.
He has size, he has goal-scoring capability and he plays down the middle of the ice.
The concerns about Dvorsky’s skating and speed might be red flags for the Flyers, who will have options at No. 7. They could have a chance to take their top-ranked defenseman or another one of the highly-touted forwards.
But if the Flyers went with Dvorsky, they’ll have another potential top-six pivot in their system. Gauthier is a natural winger, but he’s playing center at Boston College and the Flyers hope he plays down the middle in the NHL. Dvorsky has similar size to Gauthier, who is 6-foot-2 and close to 200 pounds. Both are dangerous in the offensive zone. They could make for a nice one-two punch in the future.
The Flyers haven’t drafted a Slovakian player since 2015, when they took goalie Matej Tomek in the third round.
We’ll see if that changes later this month.
More targets
• Could high-scoring center with ‘no holes’ be there for Flyers at No. 7?
• Tage Thompson type of prospect? Big winger should intrigue Flyers at No. 7
• Reinbacher, with ‘all the skills and tools,’ may be draft’s top D-man for Flyers
• Moore would offer Flyers elite speed, skating down the middle
