Name: What Went Down: A look back at the trade that shook the 2011 Draft
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What Went Down: A look back at the trade that shook the 2011 Draft

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News"The LA and Columbus deals were closed within minutes of each other," recalls Flyers President Paul Holmgren, who was the general manger behind both deals. "We closed out the Richards trade with the Kings and, before we could even register the paperwork on the deal with the League, Howson was ready to finalize a deal for Carter."&nbsp;The components of the LA and Columbus trades would shape the Flyers' roster for years to come. Less well-known, however, is the scouting back story of two deals. But let's start from the very beginning on how and why the deal was made...&nbsp;Regardless of how many picks a team has in the NHL Draft or where those picks are located within each round, an organization's scouts prepare the same way each season. The process takes nearly a calendar year - starting from summertime tournaments involving Draft-eligible players such as the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament through the postseason NHL Scouting Combine and final internal pre-Draft meeting to determine the organization's rankings of the Draft-eligible players and finally ending after the final pick is made on the second day of the Draft.&nbsp;Generally, by the time the final scouting meeting takes place, an organization has homed in on a few players it figures will eligible in the range of their first-round pick(s).&nbsp;&nbsp;However, just as within a hockey game itself, sometimes there are strategic changes on the fly in the final hours before Draft time or even on the Draft-floor itself. Often, the shifting of gears is precipitated by the organization making a trade that involves draft selections changing hands.&nbsp;"It's kind of funny. When you acquire picks, especially first-round picks that are pretty early in the Draft, the scouts get really jazzed up because then they can really do their thing," said Holmgren.Even if a team is unable to select a certain player in his Draft year, the staff's pre-Draft scouting work doesn't go four naught. The work the organization's amateur hockey scouts do before the Draft becomes the starting point for ongoing scouting of the player by the pro scouting staff. The same player could end up being acquired down the line via trade or free agency.&nbsp;&nbsp;The 2011 NHL Draft is a dramatic example of how rapidly things can change in an organization's Draft outlook, of how much background legwork preceded it, and how the amateur scouting and pro scouting puzzle pieces may later fit together in player acquisitions that have long-term impact. From a Flyers' standpoint, it was a landmark year from both an historical and current-day standpoint.&nbsp;As the 2010-11 "scouting season" approached, many scouts across the NHL considered Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) center to be the leading candidate for the first overall pick of the 2011 Draft. The tall (6-foot-3) but then-skinny teenager was coming off a season in which he led the Quebec League in scoring with 96 points in 68 games and also showed an unusually advanced two-way game that portended a bright future as a two-way center in the NHL.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, a bout with mononucleosis and a slow start to the 2010-11 season knocked Couturier off his preseason perch as the leaguewide consensus candidate for the top overall spot.&nbsp;"Coots was still part of a group clustered near the top end in whatever order but, as that season went along, pretty much everyone had Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as the guy who would be the top pick of the Draft. After that, it was pretty wide open for discussion," Holmgren recalls.&nbsp;"In the range where we eventually ended up picking in the first round (8th overall), our scouts were looking at a couple of big defensemen we really liked at the time. Jonas Brodin was a well-rounded prospect and Dougie Hamilton had a little more offensive skill."&nbsp;However, as the 2010-11 season took its course, the Flyers did not have either a first-round or second-round pick in the upcoming Draft. With the Flyers on their way to a 106-point season a year after coming within two wins of the Stanley Cup, the 2011 first-round pick along with a 2011 third-rounder were traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 14, 2011, in exchange for forward Kris Versteeg. The second-round pick had been traded to the Arizona (then Phoenix) Coyotes along with Scottie Upshall on March 4, 2009 in exchange for Dan Carcillo. The Flyers had picked a 2011 third-round pick from the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 25, 2010.&nbsp;The 2011 NHL Draft was held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 24-25, 2011. However, team staffs were already hunkered down in St. Paul in the days leading up to the Draft. The Flyers scouts staff had done its due diligence on scores of players projected as potential selections at various ranges of the Draft, whether the team had picks in that range or not.&nbsp;&nbsp;As the general manager, Holmgren presided over the final pre-Draft meetings along with Chris Pryor (then the organization's director of hockey operations and today the assistant general manager). However, in the weeks following the Flyers' second-round playoff loss in four games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, Holmgren's No. 1 focus was on making adjustments to the NHL-level roster.&nbsp;Most of the newspaper headlines focused on the organization's quest for a proven veteran goaltender. That indeed was a key off-season mission. On June 7, 2011, the Flyers traded a conditional 2011 third-round pick, a 2012 third-round pick and minor league forward Matt Clackson to the Coyotes in exchange for former Vezina Trophy finalist (2009-10 season) Ilya Bryzgalov.&nbsp;&nbsp;Overlapping with the Bryzgalov acquisition from Phoenix and subsequent contract negotiation, Holmgren was also engaged for weeks in discussions of major trades with the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets. Los Angeles' then-general manager Dean Lombardi was keen on acquiring Flyers captain Mike Richards while Columbus' then-GM Scott Howson had interest in Richards and Jeff Carter.&nbsp;On June 23, several hours after the Bryzgalov deal was finalized, Holmgren closed deals with Kings and Blue Jackets.&nbsp;From the Kings, the Flyers received 22-year-old right winger , center prospect Brayden Schenn and a 2011 second-round pick in exchange for Richards and minor league forward Rob Bordson. At the last moment, the 2011 second-rounder was deferred to the 2012 Draft due to the Kings being unable to get a physical exam done on Richards. The LA pick was subsequently traded to the Dallas Stars the next season in a deal for NHL roster defenseman Nicklas Grossmann.&nbsp;&nbsp;Schenn, then 20 years old, was widely considered one of the NHL's top prospects. Selected with the fifth overall pick of the 2009 NHL Draft, he had two cups of coffee in the NHL following the Draft but primarily continued to make his mark at the junior hockey level as well as during a dominant performance for Team Canada at the 2010-11 World Junior Championships.&nbsp;&nbsp;Simmonds was a late bloomer as a prospect. He played Junior A (in other words, second-tier) hockey in 2005-06 with the Brockville Braves and went unselected by any team in the 2006 NHL Draft. After he moved up to the Ontario Hockey League in 2006-07, LA picked Simmonds in the second round (61st overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft. The selection, at the time, was considered an off-the-board pick. Most pundits and the majority of NHL organizations had pegged the 19-year-old as middle-round or even late-round candidate. The Kings scouts knew what they were doing, however.&nbsp;&nbsp;Simmonds cracked the NHL with LA at age 20 without needing AHL seasoning. He immediately established himself as a top-nine forward in the NHL, scoring double-digit goals, and 30-plus points in two of his first three seasons.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Flyers pro scouts liked what they saw in viewings of LA games. The Philly staff believed that he could eventually become a periodic 20-goal scorer on top of bringing a physical element, toughness, relentless forechecking and an excellent work ethic. No one even then quite foresaw the perennial high-20s to 32-goal score that Simmonds became immediately upon arrival in Philadelphia; the dramatic uptick in his NHL goal-scoring production was a pleasant surprise from a player whose OHL high had been 33 goals in 60 games during the 2007-08 season.&nbsp;From Columbus, in exchange for Carter, the Flyers received 21-year-old forward , the eighth overall pick of the 2011 Draft, and a 2011 third-round pick (68th overall).&nbsp;Flyers scouts - initially the assessments of the amateur scouts and later via the pro scouting staff - had been high on Voracek for several years because of his combination of size, speed and playmaking ability. As a matter of fact, Voracek had very much been on the Flyers' radar for the 2007 Draft.&nbsp;The Flyers held the second overall pick in the 2007 Draft. The Edmonton Oilers held three picks in the first round (6th, 15th and 21st), but hoped to move up. The Oilers offered the 6th and 21st picks to the Flyers in exchange for the second. Holmgren drove a hard bargain. He insisted that the Oilers include all three of their first rounders if they truly coveted the second overall pick. Ultimately, the two teams stood pat.&nbsp;Philadelphia selected James van Riemsdyk with the second overall pick. If the move-down deal with Edmonton had come to fruition, the Flyers would have taken Voracek with the sixth overall pick. A defenseman the Flyers' scouts liked, Ryan McDonagh, would have been the No. 1 target with their next pick. As the 2007 first round played out, Edmonton selected forward Sam Gagner (himself a future Flyer) with the sixth overall pick. Voracek went seventh overall to Columbus. McDonagh went 12th to the Montreal Canadiens.&nbsp;&nbsp;After he turned pro, Voracek had some early-career growing pains with the Blue Jackets. Nevertheless, his potential was obvious. Voracek posted 134 points over his first three NHL season. By comparison, Carter produced 132 points over his first three NHL campaigns with the Flyers after he was selected with the 11th overall pick of the landmark 2003 Draft. The Flyers pro scouts, along with Holmgren, believed that it was only a matter of time before Voracek's NHL offensive game took off in its own right. The jump off point proved to be in the second half of the 2011-12 season. Subsequently, Voracek became part of the team's offensive nucleus after moving up in the lineup.&nbsp;&nbsp;When the Flyers obtained the eighth overall pick of the 2011 Draft, the scouts were simultaneously excited and stressed. The components of the LA and Columbus trades - both the arriving players and the two key departing players - created a sea-change in the organization's forward depth chart.&nbsp;&nbsp;"We'd just traded two proven NHL centers who had brought a lot to our team. Jeff Carter, in particular, was a big, skilled guy. Those guys are hard to find. Our final meetings had zeroed in on defensemen in the spot we were picking. I remember saying to our guys, 'We'd better rethink this a little bit.' We didn't know if Couturier was going to get to us at eighth, but he was exactly the kind of big center with two-way ability we were looking for, plus he was close to being ready to play [in the NHL]. If it didn't work out that way, we'd probably have had a pretty good debate at our table over the D-men we liked as well as the forwards who were available. They were all good players, so we probably couldn't have gone too wrong," Holmgren said.&nbsp;As it turned out, the Winnipeg Jets selected center Mark Scheifele with the sixth overall pick. Selecting seventh, the Ottawa Senators opted for Swedish center Mika Zibanejad. That meant Couturier, whom the Flyers had not interviewed at the NHL Scouting Combine but had met with prior to the Draft, would be available to Philly.&nbsp;&nbsp;The choice, at this point, was a no-brainer for the Flyers. The Flyers selected Couturier, a future Selke Trophy finalist, with the Columbus pick. Hamilton went ninth to Boston and Brodin went 10th to Minnesota.&nbsp;&nbsp;The next day, after the LA second-round pick was deferred until 2012 and internal discussions about potentially finding another route to getting back into the second round did not pan out, the Flyers' next selection turn finally came up with the Columbus third-round pick (68th overall) from the Carter trade. Philadelphia selected center Nick Cousins, from the OHL's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.&nbsp;"Nick wasn't the biggest guy or the fastest skater but he had good offensive skills. I remember that Dennis Patterson (a veteran Flyers scout based in Ontario) said that he was one of those guys that the puck always seemed to follow around. What I remember the most from watching him with the Soo was that he really irritated the other team. It seemed like someone always wanted to get at him after every whistle. There were things he'd have to work on in his game to be a pro, but we really liked the pick at the time for where we could get him," Holmgren recalls.&nbsp;&nbsp;HOW IT ALL TURNED OUT…&nbsp;The Flyers moves that were made leading up and during the 2011 Draft would have a long-term impact that is still evident seven years later. Couturier, Voracek and Simmonds are still with the team as key players. Schenn spent six seasons with the Flyers before being traded during the 2017 Draft in exchange for 2017 (Morgan Frost) and 2018 first-round picks (14th overall) as well as veteran NHL role-playing forward . Cousins played 171 regular season playoff games and six playoff games for the Flyers before he traded to the Coyotes on June 16, 2017.&nbsp;With the Flyers' 2011 first-round pick (25th overall) obtained in the Versteeg deal near the 2010-11 trade deadline, Toronto selected defenseman Stuart Percy. After primarily playing in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies and appearing in 12 NHL games with the Maple Leafs, Percy moved on. Now 25, he spent the 2017-18 season in the AHL with Rochester Americans. The Flyers 2011 third-rounder (86th overall) that went to Toronto in the same deal was used by the Leafs on the selection of winger Josh Leivo. Leivo is still with the Maple Leafs as a depth NHL forward.&nbsp;The 2011 second-round pick that went to Phoenix in the salary-cap-driven exchange of Upshall and Carcillo proved to be the 56th overall selection. The Coyotes chose left winger Lucas Lessio, who primarily played in the AHL but appeared in a combined 41 NHL games for the Coyotes and Canadiens. He has spent the last two seasons in the KHL and Sweden.&nbsp;&nbsp;The conditional 2011 Pittsburgh third-round pick (84th overall) that went to Phoenix after the Flyers signed Bryzgalov was used by the Coyotes on the selection of defensive defenseman Harrison Ruopp. Now 25, Ruopp has shuttled between the ECHL and AHL levels during his pro career. Bryzgalov had two tumultuous seasons as a Flyer but continues to make his residence in the Delaware Valley. He last appeared as an active player in 2014-15 but remains a visible figure around the game as a television and social media personality.&nbsp;Carter is still an active NHL player at age 33 and remains a key contributor to the Los Angeles Kings, who obtained him from Columbus in exchange for defenseman Jack Johnson on Feb. 23, 2012. Richards, 33, has been out of hockey for two seasons but was a vital addition to a Stanley Cup-winning Kings team in 2011-12 and a role-playing center on its 2013-14 Cup winner.&nbsp;View Less

News"The LA and Columbus deals were closed within minutes of each other," recalls Flyers President Paul Holmgren, who was the general manger behind both deals. "We closed out the Richards trade with the Kings and, before we could even register the paperwork on the deal with the League, Howson was ready to finalize a deal for Carter."&nbsp;The components of the LA and Columbus trades would shape the Flyers' roster for years to come. Less well-known, however, is the scouting back story of two deals. But let's start from the very beginning on how and why the deal was made...&nbsp;Regardless of...

What Went Down: A look back at the trade that shook the 2011 Draft

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