PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Flyers have drafted center Scott Laughton with the 20th pick in the first round.
The Flyers took the 6-foot, 177-pound center from Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League on Friday night in Pittsburgh. Laughton ranked fifth on Oshawa with 53 points (21-32--53), and third on the team with 101 penalty minutes during the 2011-12 season.
The Flyers picked up two more picks in this year’s draft and a fourth-round selection next year when they traded goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to the Columbus Blue Jackets before the start of Friday’s draft.
Laughton represented Canada at the 2011 Under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and scored the game-winning goal in the gold-medal game. He also won gold with Team Ontario at the 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
The Flyers received second- and fourth-round picks in this weekend’s NHL draft as well as a fourth-round choice next year for B obrovsky.
The Blue Jackets get the promising Bobrovsky, who went 42-23-10 with a 2.73 goals-against average and .909 save percentage in two seasons with the Flyers. The 23-year-old Bobrovsky was a solid backup to veteran Ilya Bryzgalov and could contend for a starting spot for the Blue Jackets, who are coming off a miserable season in which they finished with the worst record in the NHL.
Columbus gave up 3.13 goals per game in 2011-12, 28th in the league as veterans Steve Mason and Curtis Sanford struggled behind a porous defense.
