St. Louis' pick is Top 10 protected next year.
Hoping for the Flyers pick to be in the Lottery is the last thing we should be doing.
We finished 13th to last this season. Improving by just a few spots has us back in the Playoffs and should be our expectation after the roster changes (assuming the goalie situation is rectified).
I did not mean a top 3 pick, but a top 15 pick that gets to select a lottery ball.
The Flyers finished with 88 points, which was 14 points behind the 4 seed in the Metro (the Ranges). The Flyers also finished 7 points behind the last wildcard (Toronto).
Alot of teams think they are going to improve next year. Tampa has to think it will make the playoffs. Boston should be much improved with McAvoy. Ottawa is adding Chabot and White. Montreal added Drouin. Buffalo might add Shattenkirk and Eichel was injured for much of last season.
It is no slam dunk to make the playoffs. I want to make the playoffs but lets not pretend it will be easy.
Finally, I do not want an early pick. At this point, I would much rather we make the playoffs. But if we end up with 2 picks in the 11-15 range, it would added to what is already a ridiculous prospect pool.