We’ve made it, folks! We’ve finally arrived at the 12th spot on the draft board, reaching what would be the Flyers’ pick if this was a proper mock draft. And with that pick they’d be selecting one Cole Eiserman — dynamic goal scorer extraordinaire.
Pre-Draft Rankings
No. 13 by Corey Pronman (The Athletic)
No. 5 by Scott Wheeler (The Athletic)
No. 13 by Sportsnet
No. 4 by Bob McKenzie (TSN)
Statistics
What’s there to like?
We’re not going to play it coy here, it’s the scoring that is the high point of Eiserman’s game. He showed some real pop in his first season with the NTDP, leading them in scoring and managing to do so as one of the younger players in that class (with his late-August birthday). And he managed to follow that up this season by leading his class in scoring again, averaging over a goal per game and breaking the NTDP’s single seasons coring record set by Cole Caufield (remember how excited we all were about that guy?).
Eiserman is the true poster child for the dynamic goal scorer. Indeed, he’s the purest goal scorer in this draft class. And not only is he a great scorer at the Junior level, but he’s also a very projectable scorer. Let’s get into it.
Part of what’s so dangerous about him is the pure efficiency of his shot, which is off his stick and able to beat defenders and goaltenders so quickly and with what looks like such ease. But what’s also dangerous about him is the variety of ways that he can score — he can beat goalies from pretty much any distance (long range to right in tight in the blue paint), on the rush, on a fairly standard, clean one-timer from distance, and particularly on a catch and release type of play. And that shot off the pass is really his bread and butter, is so lethal, and also what’s really projectable. He has a real knack for finding the soft areas of the ice, evading coverage, and the puck is off his stick so quickly that even the quicker defenders that he’ll meet in the next levels will have trouble defending him.
In addition to all that, he’s efficient in scoring but that doesn’t mean he’s stingy in terms of generating chances — he’s comfortable being something of a volume shooter, which is an encouraging mindset to see, to say the least. And while his scoring is what pops the most, his offensive game is, on the whole, pretty well rounded. His passing ability is a bit underrated, and he shows both some good creativity in this area, as well as sharpness in execution.
Pundits seem a bit torn on his skating, but for our (sentient blog) money, we don’t see any huge issues. His mechanics are solid enough, and he has a good enough separation gear to shake off defenders in close quarters, and that’s something that feels the most important to his game. He’s not a burner, but he doesn’t need to be. He’s not a player who feasts on playing at a breakneck pace and generating rush chances therein, but rather with slowing the game down to his preferred pace for his machinations. He’s not a slow player, though, and we don’t see this being a major hindrance to him at the NHL level, because he does still have some pace and tenacity in the back pocket — and as such, we could see more being coached out of him in the right circumstances — it’s just not the real crux of his game.
We’ll also note, before we move on, that he can play quite a solid physical game if that’s something that we’re really looking for (in fact sometimes too solid, as he goes chasing that when it’s not exactly advisable, but that’s outside the scope of this section of positives).
What’s not to like?
The problem, then, — if we can even call it that — with a player with a specialized skill set like Eiserman is that this does leave a good bit to nitpick about the other areas of his game.
For one, he’s not great on defense — in the defensive zone his reads can be questionable and he can be a bit unfocused in his assignments, and he hasn’t shown himself to be the strongest at helping to break up chances on the rush — and the issue can be further exacerbated when he cheats on defense to get more offense. And this is, of course, frustrating. As a regular viewer it can be frustrating to watch, but particularly it will frustrate a coach, even more particularly, one so defense focused as John Tortorella.
He can also be a bit puck-focused — that is, a bit disengaged from play when he doesn’t have the puck, floating around waiting for either the puck to come to him in the offensive zone, or waiting for a breakout to happen if in the defensive zone. And while we wouldn’t say he’s an outright passenger on his lines, he just doesn’t have the detailsy approach to playing that will allow him to be the one to drive a line, particularly at the NHL level.
There isn’t much to nitpick on the offensive side of his game, but we will note that at times, his shot selection can be a bit troubling (sometimes you’d like to see him hold on to the puck a bit longer and wait for a better chance to open up). But we’ll acknowledge, too, that this feels like a bit of an insane thing to point out, considering what he was able to do as far as his scoring went this season, so we can flip it around to the positive side as well — that is, look at what he was able to do this season even with that imperfect shot selection.
And, to pull back into the big picture, on the one hand, these largely feel like issues that shouldn’t be hugely difficult to address. With some added maturity and the right focused work with an NHL staff (both coaching and development), it certainly feels within the realm of possibility that Eiserman could polish out some of the defensive issues and improve his focus on the finer, necessary points of his game. But on the other hand, while everyone loves a well rounded player with no holes in their game, with a player who can score like Eiserman, you don’t really need to bend over backwards to get him to be that guy. If he’s surrounded by players to pick up some of the slack on defense, you can just get him the puck and let him work, and you’ll be just fine.
How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?
It’s true, that if there’s one position that the Flyers don’t really need to be targeting in this draft, it’s wingers. From a purely positional level, if they drafted him, Eiserman would be landing in a bit of a logjam, and it would leave things a bit complicated. But that said, who knows how much movement of players is coming in the next couple of seasons, before we’d realistically even see Eiserman ready to debut into the NHL. The logjam might well have resolved itself by then.
But even if it hasn’t, or hasn’t completely, Eiserman is still a player that you’d have to seriously consider drafting because of what he offers. His game might not be a complete one, and it might be one that would frustrate a coach like Tortorella at times, but his skill level, his overall scoring ability, is exactly the kind of thing the Flyers need to add to their pipeline to pull the rebuild along. The Flyers have some shooters in the lineup already — Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster come to mind — but those players have shown they they can do enough of the important other things that they wouldn’t make an addition of a player like Eiserman redundant. Adding a player of his ilk would immediately raise the team’s floor, and the one-two punch that he and Matvei Michkov would provide… well we’ll leave you to dream about that.
Can the Flyers actually get him?
If you looked at the rankings for Eiserman that we provided at the top of this article and your response to them was something along the lines of “…what?” that would absolutely be appropriate. We’ve talked a bit about this range of the first round as being pretty wide open, and there not being much consensus about where many of these players should be taken, and this is especially true of Eiserman. He began the season largely towards the very top of these draft rankings based on the strength of his scoring game, but has fallen as some of the late-season galaxy braining has begun to run wild.
Which is all to say, will he be available to the Flyers when the 12th overall pick rolls around? We have no idea. In some ways, it feels likely that he’ll be taken well before 12, but we’ve seen drafts where more specialized players fall down the order in favor of less flashy but more well rounded players. Safer players. So while we wouldn’t feel comfortable saying he’s close to being a lock to be available to the Flyers, but precedent tells us there certainly will be a chance.
What scouts are saying
A dynamic goal scorer in the truest sense, Eiserman possesses an exhilarating ability to cleanly pick his spots in the net and also regularly beat defenders and goalies one-on-one when the shot isn’t there. He can score in every way: long-range, midrange, jam plays, rush plays, quick hands in tight, the one-timer, a lethal catch and release (there isn’t a pass he can’t take and get off).
Eiserman is a shot creator who, against his peers, usually takes whatever he wants and seems to score at will.
The puck pops off of his stick so effortlessly and he produces that “he’s about to score here” feeling every time the puck comes to him in a good spot. It’s cliché, but you can’t teach that. He looks to me, with a little coaching, like he’s on track to become a first-line winger and PP1 focal point.
Scott Wheeler, The Athletic
Continues to play to his identity as a goal scorer – but working to make more plays and check better defensively.
Capfriendly Scouting Reports
Has a long way to go with his detail off the puck / identifying who his check is and how to lock into a defensive mindset.
Playing with more and more quickness. Making plays from below the goal line to his line mates.
Elite element is his shot – and will always be his ability to score goals – especially off the weak side flank on the power-play.
Work in progress outside of his natural element.
Welcome to the poll…
We’re switching it up for today and adding another defender to the poll. Welcome, Adam Jiricek!
I may be one of a dwindling group, but I still believe, dangit. I think Jiricek is all potential, and I do admit his Czech pro league play indicated that he was physically outmatched, but his World Junior performance was strong, his 4-Way mobility is arguably the best in the draft, and every time I watch him, I can see something really impressive with Jiricek. There could be offensive potential to build on and years of calm, patient development overseas would do him very well in my view. He seemed uncomfortable with the pace and physicality of the top division in Czechia, but that isn’t an easy league to play in for a teenager. He’s a tough projection, but I’m faithful that he’ll work his way into the middle of an NHL lineup someday.
Will Scouch, Scouching
