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Flyers trade down, then select Rubtsov

BUFFALO — The Flyers selected German Rubtsov on Friday in the opening round of the NHL draft, hoping the 6-foot-1, 185-pound center will someday help upgrade their attack.

Rubtsov, who will turn 18 on Monday, had 12 goals and 26 points in 28 games for Russia's under-18 team last season.

"He has a real high hockey IQ," said general manager Ron Hextall, who called Rubtsov a "full-sheet player. He's a playmaker, first and foremost. He's [defensively] responsible and he plays the game the right way."

Rubtsov was ranked fifth among European skaters by Central Scouting. TSN in Canada had him ranked as the 23rd-best prospect overall. After moving down four spots in a trade with Winnipeg, the Flyers got him with the 22nd overall pick.

If not for a performance-enhancing-drug scandal with Rubtsov's Russian team, the center probably would have been drafted higher, said Flyers scout Ken Hoodikoff, who watched the player several times in Russia and served as a translator Friday.

"We dug deeper than I've ever dug. ... This kid has great character," Hextall said about Rubtsov, whom he said the Flyers had targeted all along. "It's not an issue."

Hextall downplayed the players' role in the meldonium drug scandal, which caused the Russian team to miss the IIHF under-18 men's world championship in Grand Forks, N.D.

"A bunch of 17-year-old kids not knowing something, and we're going to hold that against them?" Hextall said. "That's not fair. This is a good kid. This is a team-oriented kid. This is a character kid and we have zero questions about this young man as a person. He comes from a good family; they have great core beliefs."

"None of us really knew" they were taking banned substances, Rubtsov said, through Hoodikoff, after the draft. "We had a little glass of juice and tablets and all the players were told to take this, it's good for your health. And later we found out this was not allowed."

Rubtsov said the coaching staff instructed the players to take the pills.

"I'm not worried I didn't go higher [in the draft]," Rubtsov said. "I was just hoping to get drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, so things turned out exactly like I was hoping. ... They're my favorite team."

Rubtsov said the Flyers "kept an eye on me and spent a lot of time talking to me. ... They put in a big effort to talk to me."

According to Hextall, Rubtsov has a two-year contract in the KHL and the GM expects him to play there.

Rubtsov said he played against Ivan Provorov - the Flyers' top pick last year - while growing up in Russia.

In a surprising move just before their selection, the Flyers traded their first pick (18th overall) and a third-rounder (No. 79) to Winnipeg for the Jets' first-round pick (22nd overall) and a second-round pick (36).

It was surprising because highly regarded left winger Kieffer Bellows was still on the board. The Islanders picked him at No. 19 overall, one selection after the Jets took defenseman Logan Stanley with the selection they received from the Flyers.

Right winger Julien Gauthier, who scored 41 goals this season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, was chosen by Carolina with the 21st pick _ one selection before the Flyers'.

"We need a few things," Hextall said when asked if it was difficult to bypass snipers such as Bellows and Gauthier with their original pick. "We can't just say we're going to fill all of our holes with our No. 1 pick. It doesn't work that way."

Hextall had tried to move up in the opening round but didn't have success. So he settled on moving down four spots in the first round and adding a second-rounder. That gives the Flyers three second-rounders Saturday.

"It kind of fell in our lap and we jumped at it," Hextall said of the trade.

Hextall said the team's top draft pick was in honor of the late Ed Snider, the Flyers owner.

It was the first time the Flyers used a first-round pick on a forward since they chose Scott Laughton with the 20th overall selection in 2012. They drafted defensemen Sam Morin (2013), Travis Sanheim (2014), and Provorov (2015) with first-rounders in the next three years.

The Flyers did select some promising forwards in the previous two drafts, including Nicolas Aube-Kubel (second round), Oskar Lindblom (fifth round), and Radel Fezleev (sixth round) in 2014, and Travis Konecny last year. Konecny was chosen with the Flyers' second first-round pick last June, at No. 24 overall.

The final day of the draft - Rounds 2-7 - will be held Saturday starting at 10 a.m.

Overall, the Flyers have 10 picks - and it could grow to 11 if Arizona decides to send them a conditional fourth-round selection from last year's Nick Grossmann trade.

Arizona will either give the Flyers that pick or a third-rounder in 2017. The Coyotes don't have to decide until the start of the fourth round Saturday.

Breakaways. Former Flyers Eric Lindros, Mark Recchi, and Jeremy Roenick are among the candidates who could be voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. ... Auston Matthews, chosen by Toronto, became the first American selected No. 1 overall since Patrick Kane in 2007. ... Before the draft, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was booed loudly for about a minute. "Thank you for that energetic welcome," he cracked. ... Only one Canadian player was taken in the draft's first nine picks. ... Ten of the first 12 picks were forwards.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

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