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NHL playoff outcomes will affect Flyers' draft picks

Without being a participant, the Flyers are making progress in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That's because Chicago and surprising Detroit are leading their respective series. If both teams advance, it could help the Flyers get better picks in the next two drafts.

Without being a participant, the Flyers are making progress in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

That's because Chicago and surprising Detroit are leading their respective series. If both teams advance, it could help the Flyers get better picks in the next two drafts.

The Flyers own Tampa Bay's first pick in the draft on June 26, a selection they acquired in the Braydon Coburn deal. Tampa Bay trails Detroit, two games to one, in their best-of-seven series.

If the Lightning lose, they could fall as low as No. 22, and the Flyers would get that pick in the first round in addition to their own No. 7 selection.

More than likely, depending on which other teams get knocked out in the first two rounds, Tampa Bay (assuming it gets eliminated) would pick in the 22-to-24 range.

The only drawback to the Lightning's losing: It may jack up the price for Detroit coach Mike Babcock, who is high on the Flyers' priority list to fill their coaching vacancy. Babcock, whose contract expires June 30, probably will get a long-term deal that will pay him at least $4 million per season, making him the NHL's highest-paid coach.

Thanks to a draining 3-2 triple-overtime win over Nashville in a game that ended Wednesday morning, Chicago has 3-1 lead in the series and can advance to the second round with a victory Thursday.

On Feb. 27, the Flyers traded veteran defenseman Kimmo Timonen to the Blackhawks for a second-round pick this June, along with a conditional fourth-round selection next year.

The conditional pick becomes a third-rounder if the Blackhawks win two playoff rounds and Timonen plays half of the games, or a second-rounder if Chicago wins three rounds and he plays half the games.

Timonen, 40, sidelined most of the season because of blood clots, has played in all four of the Blackhawks' playoff games and is plus-2. He was on the ice for a team-low 12 minutes, 18 seconds in the triple-overtime victory, a game in which Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith played a staggering 46:19.

In the regular season, Timonen played in 16 games for Chicago and had no points and was minus-3.