The Flyers look poised to land a top-5 draft pick. Here are six center prospects they could target.

While spring is often associated with hope and optimism, saying March and April have been unkind to the Flyers the past few seasons would be a massive understatement.

A year after losing nine of their last 11 games to narrowly miss out on the playoffs, the Flyers have somehow raised the bar for late-season collapses in 2024-25. Entering Thursday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Orange and Black have lost six straight, 11 of 12 games overall, and haven’t won in regulation since Feb. 25. There won’t be any Game 82 playoff drama this year and frankly, that is best for the Flyers’ long-term future.

If the season ended Wednesday, the Flyers would hold the fourth-worst record by points percentage and would own the fourth-best odds at landing the No. 1 overall pick (9.5%) in June’s NHL draft (TSN reports the draft lottery will be held on May 5 or 6).

There’s a chance the Flyers, who have nine games remaining, could still move up one more spot, as third-worst Nashville (11.5% odds to pick No. 1) has three fewer points but two games in hand. If the Flyers finish with the third-worst record, the lowest they could pick is No. 5; sixth if they finish fourth-worst.

» READ MORE: Resetting the Flyers’ future: Which prospects beyond Jett Luchanko and draft picks do the Orange and Black have on the way?

The Flyers’ two biggest needs are clear as they try to take the next step in their rebuild. First, they must put a stop to its seemingly endless carousel in goal; and second, they need to add a bona fide No. 1 center or a player who could grow into that role in a couple of years. Holding a top-5 pick in the draft is a perfect opportunity to address the latter.

With the Flyers in desperate need of a blue-chip prospect down the middle to build around, here’s a look at six centers the Flyers could target with their top draft choice come June.

*Editor’s Note: Top draft prospects Matthew Schaefer (defenseman) and Porter Martone (right wing) were excluded from this specific exercise to focus entirely on the 2025 center class).

While many experts are down on the 2025 class as a whole, the good news for the Flyers is that the center position is the class’s biggest strength, particularly at the top end of the draft. While there is no Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, or even Connor Bedard at No. 1, Michael Misa and James Hagens profile as future No. 1 pivots who not only have offensive upside but play winning hockey.

Misa, who was granted exceptional status to the OHL as a 15-year-old in 2022, has truly lived up to that “exceptional” billing this season with 62 goals and 134 points in 65 games, the most points by an OHL player in his draft year since Patrick Kane in 2006-07. The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder doesn’t have many weaknesses.

His move back to center this season allowed him to fully showcase his offensive IQ and skating ability, namely his tremendous edge work. Equally adept at scoring and playmaking, Misa has looked for his own offense more this season — up from 29 goals last year to 62 this season. He’s also competitive and reliable away from the puck. The only catch for the Flyers with Misa is that they’ll probably need some lottery luck to move up to No. 1 or No. 2 to get him.

Once viewed as the clear No. 1 pick in this draft thanks to his exploits at the U.S. National Team Development Program and his record-breaking performance at the Under-18 Worlds (nine goals and 22 points in seven games), Hagens’ stock seems to have cooled with many draft analysts during his first year at Boston College.

I’m not one of them, as I still count the 5-11, 178-pound Hagens alongside Misa as the cream of the crop in this center class. Playing big minutes as a freshman in one of the deepest and physically demanding conferences ever in this year’s Hockey East, Hagens was a point-per-game player for the top-ranked Eagles (35 points in 35 games) and I’d expect that experience will set him up to produce even more in future settings.

His dynamic skating and playmaking are his two calling cards. He has drawn comparisons to Jack Hughes when it comes to his play in transition, while he always seems to have his head up looking to make a play like Jake Eichel. His ability to play with the puck on his stick at full speed with his head up is something to behold in-person.

The perceived slide for Hagens could be a godsend for the Flyers, who would welcome a player with these tools and potential as a centerman for Matvei Michkov.

Misa and Hagens seem the surest bets as top-line centers but they are not the only ones who have 1C potential. Caleb Desnoyers has some positive momentum and his two-way game will likely see him land somewhere in the top 10, while Anton Frondell, despite some injury concerns, is still in the top-5 conversation. Both players have a chance to hit their 1C ceilings if all goes right.

» READ MORE: The Flyers have lost 11 of 12 games, but struggling now is likely the best thing for the team’s future

After an injury-riddled 2023-24 season, Frondell is making a late charge to be a top-3 pick with a strong season — 11 goals, 25 points in 29 games — playing against men in Sweden’s second-tier pro league.

The best pure shooter in the class, Frondell projects as a goal scorer but also possesses playmaking ability, good strength, and a well-rounded game at 6-0, 198 pounds. While Frondell has mostly played wing with Djurgårdens’ senior team, he’s dominated at his age groups when playing down the middle.

Frondell isn’t the skater that Misa or Hagens is, but his puck skills are high end and his shot should play at the next level.

If the name sounds familiar it should, as Caleb Desnoyers’ older brother Elliot is a Flyers prospect and currently playing with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The younger Desnoyers plays a detailed 200-foot game like his brother and combines it with much better skating and playmaking skills in a bigger frame (6-2, 172 pounds).

While Desnoyers has taken a big step forward offensively this season for Moncton with 35 goals and 84 points and thinks the game at a high level, his skating, puck skills, and offensive ceiling all fall below those of Misa, Hagens, and Frondell.

Desnoyers seems to have a high floor, I just don’t see that same “it” factor of some of the other centers at the top end of this draft.

Back in the day, NHL teams prioritized size and skill down the middle, and while that line of thinking has quelled some, there are still teams and executives who are drawn to 6-5 centers who play hard and score goals. The Flyers have been one of those organizations over the years, and that brings us to Roger McQueen.

McQueen is the biggest wild card at the top of this draft given his measurables and injury history. At 6-5, 193 pounds, McQueen has a rare combination of size, skill, and hockey IQ, not to mention that his body is still filling out. But after 20 goals and 51 points in 53 games last season as a 17-year-old, a nagging back injury limited McQueen to just 17 regular-season games in his draft year.

When he’s in the Brandon lineup, McQueen is an improved skater with a hard and accurate shot who can make some plays in and around the net thanks to his reach that most can’t. McQueen’s a bit of a project given his skating and the developmental time he’s missed, but his frame and abilities with the puck could make him a worthy gamble for someone willing to invest the time and patience with his development.

Scouts will be paying close attention to Brandon in the WHL playoffs as they look to put together a larger sample size to evaluate McQueen on.

With five centers likely locked into the top-10 picks, Jake O’Brien represents the outsider with the potential to make it six.

Relax Flyers fans, it’s not Groundhog Day. This is Jake O’Brien, not 2018 first-rounder Jay O’Brien. Oh, and they aren’t related either.

If the Flyers land pick No. 4, 5, or 6 and are looking to go a bit off the board like they did last year with Jett Luchanko at No. 13, O’Brien could be the target. One of the top playmakers in this year’s draft, the Brantford man finished seventh in the OHL with 66 assists — second behind Misa among draft-eligible players — and came two points shy of becoming only the second OHL draft-year player this season to reach 100 points.

At 6-2, 170 pounds, O’Brien needs to fill out his frame, but his craftiness, vision, hands, and skating speed are a lot to work with, especially considering O’Brien doesn’t turn 18 until June.