by By Sam Carchidi; Inquirer Staff Writer , The Philadelphia Inquirer

In the last 10 drafts in which they have had a first-round pick, the Flyers have had numerous selections after No. 21 who have turned into quality players. That list includes Simon Gagne (No. 22 in 1998), Justin Williams (No. 28 in 2000), Mike Richards (No. 24 in 2003), and Claude Giroux (No. 22 in 2006).

General manager Paul Holmgren hopes a player with similar ability is lurking at No. 21 tonight.

"We think it's a good draft; there are guys we like there," he said. "I'm confident we'll get a good player at 21 if we exercise our pick there."

The Flyers are targeting two or three players. If none of them are around when the Flyers pick, there's a good chance Holmgren will trade down.

Defensemen Tim Erixon, Dylan Olsen, and Dmitry Kulikov, and center Peter Holland are among the players who could draw the Flyers' interest.

The actual 21st pick hasn't been a good number for the Flyers . Or around the NHL, for that matter.

In their history, which started in 1967, the Flyers have just two first-round picks who were chosen 21st - defenseman Mike Stothers in 1980 and center Glen Seabrooke in 1985. Stothers played in 30 NHL games in his career, while Seabrooke played in 19. They combined for one goal.

In the last three decades, most of the NHL draftees picked at No. 21 have had little impact.

Holmgren said the "odds of moving up" in the draft were "not very good. There's probably a better chance we'd move back, but I'm not saying it'll happen."

In the Jay Bouwmeester Sweepstakes, barring a last-minute development, the Flyers will not deal for the smooth-skating Florida defenseman's rights this weekend. They will wait to talk to him when (if?) he becomes a free agent on Wednesday.

In the past, the Flyers have traded for the rights of prospective free agents (see Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell) because they had been granted permission to talk to the players beforehand and knew they could be signed.

Bouwmeester hasn't given teams the right to talk with him, so making a trade for his rights would be risky because he could be difficult to sign.

Besides Bouwmeester, defensemen Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin and goalie Craig Anderson are potential free agents who interest the Flyers .

Lemelin canned. In a move that left him stunned, Reggie Lemelin was fired as the Flyers' goaltender coach.

The easy-going Lemelin, 54, was the Flyers' goalie coach for 14 seasons.

"He was a good soldier with whatever goalie we had. I just felt we needed a change," Holmgren said.

Flyers goalie Marty Biron was inconsistent during the last two regular seasons. The Flyers finished 16th in the NHL last season with a 2.83 goals-against average, just ahead of the Stanley Cup champion Penguins (2.84).

Lemelin, who won 236 games during a 15-year NHL career, was baffled by his dismissal. He said he "tried to dig a little deeper" into the reasons for the firing, "but never got any answer.

"[Holmgren] said, 'You've been here a long time,' and he needed to do something different, something new," Lemelin said.

Holmgren would not confirm it, but a club source said the Flyers were expected to name Tampa Bay goaltender coach Jeff Reese, 43, as Lemelin's successor.

Contact staff writer Sam Carchidi at 215-854-5181 or scarchidi@phillynews.com.

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