Flyers' Ron Hextall: 'I jumped off my couch' with draft news

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall admitted he was in a state of euphoria Saturday night.

His team was one of the winners in the NHL draft lottery and moved from No. 13 to No. 2 in the opening round.

The Flyers had a little over a two percent chance of advancing to No. 2.

"I just got back from Europe. I sat down on my couch and watched it, and when I saw that No. 13 card turn around with Winnipeg on it, I jumped off my couch _ almost like we won a big game," Hextall said on Sirius radio's NHL show on Wednesday. "It's huge for our organization. I think everybody knows, obviously, that the top end of the draft is good. We felt actually pretty good about 13. We've done a lot of homework about that and felt pretty good about that, but we feel a lot better at 2."

Hextall is expected to select either Nolan Patrick or Nico Hischier, whichever center the New Jersey Devils bypass with the No. 1 overall pick.

"It's going to be huge to draft a top player that high," Hextall said. "We just barely missed the playoffs and you get down to 2 somehow, so it was great for our organization. I know our people are excited about it."

Hextall said the overall draft board is "probably average," but that it is stronger that a lot of people are saying.

Some of the first-round picks are "not as clear cut maybe as it's been in past years, but our scouting staff feels it's a pretty good draft," he said.

The draft will be held June 23-24 in Chicago. The Flyers have 11 selections in the seven rounds, including two picks in the third round and three in the fourth round.

Flyers in tourney. The IIHF World Championships start Friday in France and Germany, and the Flyers have 11 players in the tournament, including five on Team Canada: Wayne Simmonds, Claude Giroux, Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier, and Travis Konecny.

The 16-team tourney ends May 21.

Hextall, who is Team Canada's general manager, said he hopes to add a defenseman to his squad as teams are eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

On Friday, Team Canada will face the Czech Republic, whose team includes the Flyers' Jake Voracek and Radko Gudas.

The other four Flyers in the tournament: Russia's Ivan Provorov and Roman Lyubimov; Finland's Valtteri Filppula, and France's Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.