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Where Flyers Stand in Draft Lottery; Could Choose Center

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With five games remaining in what coach John Tortorella has called a “Godforsaken season,” the Philadelphia Flyers position in the NHL draft lottery is coming into focus.

The draft lottery will be held May 8 and will be televised on ESPN. The worse the team’s record, the better its chances in the lottery.

Then again, the Flyers had just a 2.4% chance to get the No. 2 pick in 2017. But they got lucky in the lottery, moving from No. 13 to No. 2. They selected center Nolan Patrick, who, unfortunately, has had an injury-plagued career.

At the moment, the Flyers have the NHL’s seventh-worst record. They have a 6.5% chance to get the No. 1 overall pick (hello, Connor Bedard), according to tankathon.

There is a slight chance the Philadelphia Flyers finish with the sixth- or eighth- worst record, based on the schedule and the tie-breaker (regulation wins). But the odds heavily favor the Flyers staying at No. 7.

They dropped four their fourth straight Tuesday, losing in St. Louis, 4-2.

Heading into Tuesday, Chicago, Anaheim, and Arizona were in full tank mode. Each had lost eight straight. Anaheim and Arizona were idle Tuesday, but the Blackhawks ended their skid with a surprising 4-3 win in Calgary.

The win could prove costly. Chicago dropped from the league’s worst record to the third-worst, based on the tiebreaker. The Hawks went from a 25.5% chance of getting the No. 1 pick (Bedard) to 11.5%.

Among the bottom seven, the Flyers are the hottest team. Despite their four-game losing streak, they are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. During that span, they went from the NHL’s fifth- to the seventh-worst team.

Here are the worst 10 teams and their odds to get the top pick:

1. Anaheim, 56 points, five games left, 25.5% chance. (The Ducks own the tie-breaker — regulation wins — with Columbus and Chicago.)

2. Columbus, 56 points, five games left, 13.5%.

3. Chicago, 56 points, five games left, 11.5%.

4. San Jose, 59 points, five games left, 9.5%.

5. Montreal, 66 points, four games left, 8.5%.

6. Arizona, 67 points, four games left, 7.5%.

7. Flyers: 71 points, five games left, 6.5%.

8. Vancouver, 75 points, five games left, 6.0%.

9. Washington, 77 points, five games left, 5.0%.

10. St. Louis, 79 points, four games left, 3.5%.

Epilogue

If the Flyers stay at No. 7 after the draft lottery, tankathon projects they will pick Dalibor Dvorsky, a 6-foot-1, 201-pound center. TSN’s Bob McKenzie ranks him at No. 9 overall, and McKeen’s Hockey has him at No. 10. The NHL’s Central Scouting rates him No. 4 among European skaters.

Playing in the second-tier Swedish pro league even though he is only 17, the speedy Dvorsky is regarded as an excellent two-way player who has lots of creativity and wicked shot.

Dvorsky, who turns 18 on June 15, gave a strong account of himself while playing for Slovakia in in the 2023 World Juniors.

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