Day 4 - Sunday Special: Analysis of the 2000 Flyers Draft

Flyers' 1st Pick (28th Overall) - Justin Williams

Williams had 4 decent years in Philly, playing 226 games and scoring 115 points - almost exactly a 1/2 point per game. The past two seasons in Carolina he's had very good years, putting up 76 and 67 points. He was instrumental in the 'Canes 2006 run to the cup, with 18 points in the playoffs. How did the Flyers fair from the pick though? Well he was a great pick for the spot - He only trails Dany Heatly and Marion Gaborik in points among the entire draft class of 2000 (Scott Hartnell is currently 5th).

In January of 2004 we traded him for Dany Markov, who had a whopping 5 points in 34 games in a Flyers uniform. He was probably THE key to the Flyers run to the Eastern Conference Finals that spring, with the 3 points he contributed in 18 games. Not exactly Williams type numbers. Regardless of upcoming contractual issues if we needed defense maybe we should've considered moving Williams back to the blue line, or goalie even - or at least getting a better player for one of our premier players.

Flyers' 2nd Pick (94th Overall) - Alexander Drozdetsky

It's always hard to know how these things are going to work out with those sneaky Russians - whether or not they'll be able to pull a "Malkin" and sneak past Castro's Communist regime in a humidor of Vodka, or just pass up the fame and fortune of the NHL for the outdoor leagues of Siberia. But as you may have guessed, Alexander has not yet made it to North America. The 6'2" winger has been putting up some good numbers in St. Petersburg lately, but it may be too late. Once compared to Igor Larionov by the Flyers European Scouting department, it seems he may have been more hype than hooking penalties...in the NHL (it's called alliteration).

This was a late third round pick, and there were some notable picks after Drozdetsky, including Harvard grad Dominic Moore immediately after him and Lubimor Visnovsky -(defenseman with 238 points in 416 games), but the pickings appear to have been pretty slim.

Flyers' 3rd Pick (171th Overall) - Roman Cechmanek

Despite being 29 when he was drafted, Cechmanek was a steal in the 6th round. He had 1 assist and 22 PIMs in 3 seasons with the Flyers. Ah yes, there it is - he also won 92 games with a 1.93 GAA and .92 Save % over those same three seasons. He did occasionally give up a bad goal, but for a 6th round pick he was a strong choice. Kudos Bobby. We got a second round pick when we traded him as well, which we eventually packaged with Jim Vandeermer and Colin Fraser (whoever that is) for Alexi Zhamnov and a 4th Round Pick. Zhamnov was key in the playoff run in 2004, with 14 points.

Flyers' 4th and 5th Picks (195th and 210th Overall) never really broke the ranks - Colin Shields and John Eichelberger.

Flyers' 6th Pick (227 Overall) - Guillame Lefebrve

This winger from Quebec has played 38 games in the NHL with 2 goals and 4 assists. He is really only important in the Flyers' history as the dude that was traded to Phoenix with two 3rd round picks for Tony Amonte, who scored a decent 68 points in 93 games with the Flyers.
I think the Flyers left the draft at this point and were assigned their last two picks by default. One of them is currently in Italy and the other never left the Czech Republic....maybe he was never notified?

Overall Grade: Retainer Case.

Listened to: Naveed - Our Lady Peace