With their fifth-round pick in the 2022 NHL draft Friday at Montreal's Bell Centre, the Flyers went the Minnesota high school route by selecting Alex Bump.
The left winger was a prolific goal scorer at Prior Lake High School, putting up 48 markers and 83 points in 31 games during 2021-22. He finished as the Associated Press' Minnesota Player of the Year.
At the USHL level, the 6-foot, 195-pounder registered 11 goals and six assists in 27 games for the Omaha Lancers.
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The Flyers would love if Bump takes a Noah Cates-like path to the NHL. Their backgrounds are similar. Cates was a skinny 2017 fifth-round pick out of Stillwater Area High School in Minnesota and also saw time with the USHL's Lancers. He steadily developed in college at Minnesota Duluth and reached the Flyers last season. He looks like he has a chance to be a difference-maker, starting as early as this upcoming season.
Bump, who is headed to Vermont in 2023-24, was the 63rd-ranked North American skater by NHL Central Scouting, just two spots behind the Flyers' third-round pick Devin Kaplan.
The Flyers traded their fourth-round spot as part of the deal Friday to acquire Tony DeAngelo.
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