After a long wait with the unprecedented stoppage because of the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 NHL draft has arrived.
The first round will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, while Rounds 2-7 follow on Wednesday starting at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The Flyers hold seven picks and their first-round selection comes at No. 23 overall.
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“I think it’s a decent draft — I don’t know if it’s top end," Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said April 25 in a phone interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia. "The top 10, 12 guys look like pretty high end. There’s a bit of a drop-off, but there’s some depth to the draft for a couple of rounds. ... We have some guys targeted we feel we would be very happy with in the top couple of rounds.
"Obviously you’d want the big, scoring, playmaking center, anybody does. We’re in a position where we’ll likely be taking the best player available.
"Realistically the players you draft now are two or three years down the road, best-case scenario. Some cases you get surprised. But by then, your team needs are different. We’ll do the best we can, we have an idea of where our holes are going forward and places where we certainly want to add depth to, whether it’s center or scoring winger or defense, we’ll see what happens. We’ll prepare, we weigh guys against each other, the pros and cons and we’ll do the best we can there.”
Let's take a look at a target for the Flyers with the 23rd selection:
NHL
Seth Jarvis
Position: Winger
Height: 5-foot-10
Weight: 175
Shoots: Right
Team: Portland Winterhawks
Scouting report
Jarvis delivered a dynamite draft year with a 59-point increase from his 2018-19 production. Through 58 games this season, Jarvis ranked second in the WHL with 98 points and a plus-53 rating, while finishing third with 42 goals.
The smaller, wiry winger is at his best in space and playing with pace. Jarvis is supremely skilled and sees the ice at an advanced level.
The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native is listed as a center by some draft services but projects more as a winger. EliteProspects.com has Jarvis rated as the 11th-best prospect in the 2020 draft class and NHL Central Scouting has him pegged as the 11th-best North American skater. He could be in the Flyers' range, though.
“We probably see him as a winger, we’ve mostly seen him as a winger," Flahr said. "He’s a talented kid, another player that is undersized maybe a little physically, but good speed, good quickness, very, very good hands and vision. He can score, he can make plays and he has put up big numbers, and a lot of the year he was playing with an underage centerman who is eligible for the draft next year.
"He’s an interesting kid. That team in Portland, year after year, seems to put up big numbers and score and that certainly benefits him. Real interesting kid and a real good kid, too.”
Fit with Flyers
The Flyers have some nice wingers in the system but they're not exceptionally deep at the position. Pure high-scoring wingers don't last particularly long in the draft.
If the Flyers get a chance at Jarvis with the 23rd overall pick, they'll certainly consider taking him as a best player available.
Jarvis doesn't turn 19 years old until next February and is a kid that will score 100 points (and maybe 50 goals) in the WHL next season.
Eventually playing against men and the physicality of the pro game will present a challenge for Jarvis but there's too much to like to nitpick his 18-year-old frame.