Quoting: Roperttos
They have a good amount of young players but they still lack the high end potential which is the issue. They probably aren't making the playoffs in this conference next year, so it's better to just try to get a high pick to get those high potential players, since Michkov probably won't be here for 2 years.
Very true, but its not a foregone conclusion that NJD/PIT/WAS/DET/OTT/etc... sort it out and surpass them next yr. They lack high end talent, but foertser, brink, frost, cates, farabee, york, drysdale, errsson, etc, didnt have HUGE years.... could get better. And andrae, tuomaala, barkey, etc... could contribute.
Ultimately the Flyers were 3rd in Metro all yr long even with Hart/Gautheir dramas and injuries, so its a leap to think that those other teams develop/cure their ills and PHI doesn;t.
Besides signing a Stephenson/Dumba at 29 yrs old for less than 5mil and still have 5-8mil in cap space and alot of extra high picks in the next few drafts (as well as expiring cap cows in Petersen/Atkinson) allows some creativity. Maybe PHI doesn;t address 1C this yr, but waits out for Draisatl or another big option.