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Phantom affiliate player in 1st round

The Philadelphia Flyers reached down the draft board Friday night to select Youngstown Phantoms affiliate player Jay O’Brien with the 19th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

The 5-foot-11 center was selected 96th overall in the 2015 USHL Futures Draft by the Phantoms and played five total games in the purple, orange and black over the last two seasons, getting one assist.

O’Brien spent the majority of the past season with his high school Thayer Academy, scoring 80 points (43 goals, 37 assists) in 30 games. He was named the USA Today High School Player of the Year for his outstanding performance.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie had O’Brien as his 34th-ranked prospect, which could be attributed to spending his season in high school instead of in a junior league. High school numbers tend to be more difficult for scouts to accurately evaluate, which can lower their draft stock.

HockeyProspect.com was higher on O’Brien than some of the other scouting services, ranking him as the 24th best prospect in the draft.

The Flyers will get a much better look shortly, as O’Brien is committed to Providence College and will start next season. O’Brien is expected to spend two or three seasons there before moving on to the professional game.

Philadelphia is deep at center and is willing to allow O’Brien to develop in Providence to further develop his skill.

“It’s so special to be here,” O’Brien said. “To be here with my family, my agent, and my college coach, it’s so surreal right now. This is a great stepping stone and I’m going to make the most of it.”

Stylistically, O’Brien has been compared to Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin and San Jose Sharks forward Joe Pavelski. O’Brien has a ceiling of a second line center and projects to be a high volume shooter with a high hockey IQ.

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