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Flyers to pick 18th in NHL draft

By virtue of its series-ending 5-0 loss to San Jose in the Western Conference semifinals Thursday, Nashville will select 17th overall in next month's NHL draft in Buffalo, and the Flyers will pick 18th.

If Nashville had beaten the Sharks in the Game 7 showdown, the Flyers would have selected 17th and the Predators 18th.

The Flyers and Preds both finished with 41-27-14 records, but Philadelphia had a 38-37 edge in regulation and overtime wins (ROW), and that enabled Nashville to win the tiebreaker and get the better draft pick.

You would think the fact that the Flyers were eliminated one playoff round earlier than Nashvillle would give them the better draft pick, but that's not the way it works in the NHL's goofy system.

That one draft slot could be critical if both teams are going after the same player.

In franchise history, the Flyers have had the 18th overall selection just once_ choosing Bill Clement in 1970. Clement had a solid 11-year career and was on the Flyers' Stanley Cup championship teams in 1974 and 1975.

The Flyers are expected to select a big forward _ 6-foot-4, 224-pound right winger Julien Gauthier would be ideal if he's still available _ with their first choice on June 24.

The Flyers have 10 picks in the seven rounds, including five in the first three rounds.

Crystal ball. In the Eastern Conference semifinals, Pittsburgh over Tampa Bay in six. The scary thing is that the Penguins ousted powerful Washington and Sidney Crosby had no goals and just two assists over six games. It's not likely he will be as quiet in the next series.

In the West, I give a reluctant nod to San Jose over St. Louis in seven games. Both teams are peaking at the right time, and this should be a terrific conference final. The difference might be that the Blues have gone through two grueling seven-games series to beat Chicago and Dallas and may run out of gas. The Sharks beat Los Angeles in five games before going seven games against Nashville.

Giroux surgery? For some reason, Flyers' general manager Ron Hextall has yet to give injury updates, even though his team's season ended on April 24. Center Claude Giroux, who had an assist and no goals in the six-game playoff loss to Washington,  is reportedly contemplating hip/hernia surgery, but the Flyers remain mum.