Over the weeks leading up to the 2018 NHL draft, we're providing prospect profiles and how they would fit with the Flyers, who have two first-round picks - Nos. 14 and 19.
The NHL draft takes place June 22-23 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Flyers have nine picks with two in the first, fifth and seventh rounds and one in the second, fourth and sixth. They do not own a third-rounder as it went to the Detroit Red Wings for Petr Mrazek. The 14th pick conveyed from the Brayden Schenn trade. The final details were Schenn to the St. Louis Blues for Jori Lehtera, a 2017 first-round pick (Morgan Frost) and the 14th pick.
Our prospect profiles will touch mostly on prospects projected to go in the 10-20 range but some may require the Flyers having to trade up to select. We'll identify those prospects.
Jack McBain
Position: Center
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 195
Shoots: Left
Team: Toronto Jr. Canadiens
Scouting report
If you watch tape of McBain, you immediately have to keep in mind that he's played his teenage hockey in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, where he was physically an overpowering player against lesser competition.
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McBain was drafted by the Barrie Colts of the OHL, but elected to keep his amateur status intact, which will allow him to attend Boston College next fall. That's when we should receive a real gauge of where his skills stack up playing in the NCAA Hockey East Conference.
A big-bodied center, McBain isn't the most elusive skater, nor is he the most creative playmaker. He plays more of a north-south game but doesn't back down from the high-traffic areas. He prefers to use his big frame to overpower opponents and works well down in the trenches.
Surprisingly, he's a solid puck handler, but again, a lot of those plays looked easy for him against smaller, inferior competition.
He plays with a long stick, which enables him to be disruptive while getting that stick into a lot of passing lanes and using his reach effectively on the backcheck.
As the best player on the ice, he probably tries to do too much, but he doesn't back down and he's very assertive. There doesn't appear to be much hesitation in his game. It's obvious McBain has the frame and the tools to be a future NHL player.
Fit with Flyers
Interestingly, McBain knows what it's like to play with the Flyers crest on his sweater. Before joining the Toronto Junior Canadiens, McBain was a member of the Don Mills Flyers minor-midget AAA team in Canada.
McBain is a player the Flyers can snag with their second-round selection (50th overall). I just don't project him going higher considering he has never played major junior hockey.
If you look within the farm system, the Flyers don't have very many big-bodied centers within the organization and McBain could certainly help fill that void. However, he's also the type of big-bodied player that could effectively transition to left wing if he can't handle the responsibilities of playing down the middle.
If McBain can successfully make the jump to college hockey, the Flyers could have a second-round pick with first-round talent.
