I think the idea of taking the best player always appeals most to me because you never know what happens and the most valuable player tends to work out one way or another.
But with the timeline of this defense group, taking a longer term pick might make more sense actually. Especially one who can play 3 years in college without burning ELC years. It's also why a foreign player makes sense. Our farm team is clogged enough as is too. Miller also wouldn't need as much PP time as some. Opportunity cost could be a very real thing in developing some of these draft eligibles into this team's future makeup. By all means, BPA, but it's another thing worth pondering when things are close or talking about trade-ups or trade-downs or position, etc. And the Flyers are less likely to add another young defenseman to the NHL roster in the next couple years given how young the current group already will be. So, they'll probably let the player marinate anyway, not that they wouldn't have in the first place. But there's more incentive.
I have Smith above Miller, but I'm not sure Smith is any closer to NHL ready. He's got a lot of physical work left to do. Miller's rawness is a little exaggerated too. He already looks better than some of the less raw types; it's more rawness in fine-tuning and testing upside. His floor isn't all that raw. And that type of player can still develop long-term on an NHL roster in lower minutes. I'm not sure Smith fits in as well. I'd take him over Miller at #19 because I believe in his offense and skill and smarts more, but I'd rather several forwards still. But at #19, Smith might not be there. Or maybe size does drop him....
