The Philadelphia Flyers have selected Ivan Provorov of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings with the seventh overall selection in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
The young Russian put up some gaudy offensive stats with 15 goals and 46 points for 61 points in his first season for the Wheat Kings. He’s not just a prototypical offensive defensman as he was solid with a +36 plus/minus rating. He also helped Russia land a silver medal at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Canada and Brandon to the WHL final, where they fell to the Kelowna Rockets.
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Provorov is a highly-skilled defense at the age of 18, but he’s got skills of a player of a more advanced age. He’s big at 6’0″, 201 pounds and is very creative in the offensive zone. He’s also effective on the penalty kill thanks to his big frame. He’s destined to become the future quarterback on the Flyers power-play unit.
Goals like this will have Flyers fans salivating as they try to retool their blueline with Dave Hakstol as the new coach. One of the glaring weaknesses in Philly way their defense, but it looks like something General Manager Ron Hextall is addressing early on.
He might need some work on knowing when to rush and adding a bit more muscle, but that will come with time. Flyers fans should be very happy with this selection.
The Flyers have one more selection in the first round at #30 (the pick comes from Tampa Bay as part of the Braydon Coburn trade. Philadelphia also picks in the 2nd round at 61st (part of the Kimmo Timonen deal), in the 3rd round at 70th and 90th (resulting from deals with Tampa Bay and San Jose), in the fourth at 98th and 99th (latter pick from Columbus), 128th in the fifth round. 158th in the sixth round and 188th in the seventh round.
For more on the 2015 NHL Draft, be sure to follow The Hockey Writers’ live draft tracker throughout the night.