The Flyers are less than one week from the 2026 National Hockey League Draft, and the biggest question around Draft Headquarters in Atlantic City is whether they stay at 21st overall or move the pick. General manager Daniel Briere and assistant general manager Brent Flahr have not closed the door on trading up or trading down, even as the first round is set for Friday night, June 26.
If the Flyers keep the selection, the search is centered on forwards. That is the point of the current discussion, and it is why the draft board matters now: the club is weighing who might still be there if it chooses to take the best player available rather than force a positional fit. The Flyers do not draft by positional need in the system until later picks, so the first round is about talent first and fit later.
Among the names being considered is Maddox Dagenais, a center and winger for the Quebec Remparts in the QMJHL. Dagenais, 18, is 6-foot-4 and 196 pounds, was a former first overall pick in the QMJHL Draft and turned 18 on March 27. He scored 30 goals and finished with 62 points in 62 games this season, then added 1 goal and 1 assist at the 2026 Under-18 World Championships. His father, Pierre, is a former NHL player.
That profile is one reason Dagenais keeps coming up in a first-round conversation built around upside. The Flyers have the 21st overall selection, which means they are shopping in the part of the round where size, production and age can push a player up or down a board depending on how a team values him. In practice, that is where consensus rankings can diverge from a club’s own list, and it is why a player who looks like a fit on paper may not be available when the Flyers are finally on the clock.
The catch is that Philadelphia is not locked into making that choice at all. Briere and Flahr have left themselves room to trade the pick, which means the 21st selection could become a different first-round slot before the night is over. That is the real hinge in the story: if the Flyers keep the pick, they are likely looking at a forward; if they move it, the board changes with them. Either way, the first answer will come when the first round opens at Draft Headquarters in Atlantic City on Friday night, June 26.
The rest of the draft can wait. The decision at 21 will tell the rest of the league whether the Flyers trust the board as it stands or think the better move is to reshape it.
