ATLANTIC CITY — After making a “big” splash on Day 1 by selecting 6-foot-7 London Knights defenseman Maksim Sokolovski with the 27th pick, the Flyers were back at it early Saturday with five scheduled picks.
The Flyers picked twice in the second round at picks No. 53 and 62, at 120 in the fourth, and 136 in the fifth. They have a seventh-rounder at 213 remaining.
Here’s a running list of the Flyers’ Day 2 selections:
Second round
No. 53: Brek Liske, D, Everett (Western Hockey League)
A teammate of Luke Vlooswyk for the Silvertips, the defenseman was paired in the playoffs with projected 2027 No. 1 pick Landon DuPont for the Memorial Cup finalists. Before Tarin Smith got hurt, Liske was paired with Vlooswyk, the Flyers’ fifth-rounder last June.
A 6-2, 190-pound right-shot defenseman from Manitoba who can play the left side, he had 24 points (seven goals, 17 points) in 52 games but broke out in the playoffs with four goals and 17 points in 18 games as Everett won the WHL.
According to Elite Prospects, he does have to — wait for it — work on his skating. But he is a versatile, well-rounded blueliner who projects to be a third-pair guy down the road.
But this pick is not just about adding a good defensive prospect. Liske grew up a Flyers fan because his dad, Lonnie, is a fanatic Flyers fan.
“I’ve never heard him yell so loud. There was a big cheer, but I could distinctly hear my dad’s voice,” Liske said via Zoom from his draft party while wearing a Flyers jersey. “He’s wearing his Flyers jersey, very proud right now. I think he’s a little bit more in awe than I am right now.”
No. 62: Martin Psohlavec, G, Karlovy Vary (Czechia junior league)
Stop if you’ve heard this before: A 6-5 goalie from Czechia donning orange and black. No, this isn’t Dan Vladař; meet Martin Psohlavec.
The size and athleticism are surely what enticed the Flyers to make the pick, along with his performance at the U18s. Philly has a long-standing trend of taking players who have excelled at the spring tournament, and Psohlavec is no different, posting a 3-1-0 record with a 1.68 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.
That came after he went 31-11-0 with a 1.92 GAA and .928 save percentage at the Czech junior level in the regular season and won five of eight games in the playoffs with a 1.78 GAA and .925 save percentage. But this is a U20 team, and the expectation is he will be a bit of a project — yes, he needs to work on his skating and is a little raw, according to Elite Prospects — and that makes sense for the Flyers with Aleksei Kolosov, Carson Bjarnason, and Egor Zavragin rising in the pipeline.
Fourth round
No. 120: Marek Sklenička, G, Seattle (WHL)
Assistant general manager Brent Flahr said the Flyers would, more than likely, take a goalie as it had been a few drafts since they took Bjarnason and Zavragin in 2023. He should have added an “s” to the end because in the fourth round, they took another netminder — and another from Czechia, although he’s “only” 6-4.
A teammate of Flyers’ 2025 second-rounder Matthew Gard, Sklenička went 20-12-6 with a 3.21 GAA and .902 save percentage for Seattle. His save percentage rose in the playoffs to .913, but it was at U18s, in tandem with Psohlavec for Czechia, that he shone the brightest. He had a 1.91 GAA and a .921 save percentage in three games. In the bronze-medal game, he made 21 saves in a 4-1 win against Latvia.
According to Elite Prospects, he also needs work and is a project, noting that, “[He] is a very solid junior goaltender with some NHL tools, but his game is riddled with junior goalie habits. It will take significant reworking of his game to develop him into a legitimate NHL prospect, including improvements in his tracking, play reading, composure, various technical aspects, and limb control.”
Fifth round
No. 136: KJ Sauer, C, Andover (Minnesota HS)
The Flyers definitely have a type. Sauer is a 6-3, 203-pound center drafted out of Minnesota high school hockey in the fifth round. Alex Bump was also a fifth-rounder drafted out of the State of Hockey’s high school system. Noah Cates was also plucked from Minnesota high school hockey in 2017 in the same round, although that came under the previous regime.
Sauer had 25 points in 15 games with Andover, helping lead them to the state tournament. He finished an injury-plagued season playing for Lincoln of the United States Hockey League.
He will be playing for Edmonton of the WHL this season, and it is worth mentioning that Sauer has pedigree with his uncles Kurt and Michael having played in the NHL, and his dad Kent Sr. playing in the minors.
ATLANTIC CITY — Noel Cronon and Sarah Colon, both native Philadelphians and devoted Flyers fans, had never met in person before the Flyers’ draft party in Atlantic City on Friday night.
The two first connected through Flyers Nation, a Facebook group with more than 67,000 members where fans discuss the team and post updates. Cronon saw Colon in the group and reached out, and asking if she wanted to go to the draft party together.
“There aren’t a lot of female Flyers fans, so it’s nice that we found each other,” Cronon said. “There are a lot of women here tonight, though, which is good to see.”
Several hundred Flyers fans came together as a fan base at the Sound Waves Theatre at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City to watch the 2026 NHL draft. Orange balloons, streamers, and Flyers memorabilia decorated the venue while fans came decked out in their best Flyers merchandise.
Flyers fans watch the 2026 NHL draft during a party at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City on Friday.
To kick off the night, past and present broadcasters Jim Jackson, Tim Saunders, and Steve Coates took the stage to share their thoughts on what general manager Danny Brière might do with the team’s first-round pick and energize the crowd.
“We are back,” Coates said when he addressed the crowd. “Remember, this is a team that is going places.”
The Austin City Nights band started the party, while the beginning of the draft played from monitors above the stage. Forward Porter Martone joined the band onstage and Gritty, the beloved Flyers mascot, posed for selfies and photos while Jackson went around the audience speaking with fans and taking photos.
Father and son Grant and Trent Kitchenman have been season ticket holders since 1992 and said that they never miss events like this.
“It’s really cool that they allow fans in on the draft night experience,” Grant said. “It makes it more personable and you get to see some of the players which is cool.”
Garett Babik couldn’t have imagined watching the draft anywhere else.
His dad took him to a playoff game against the Boston Bruins in 2010, and he’s been hooked ever since. During this year’s playoff run, Babik attended games dressed as Darth Vader to show his support for goalie Dan Vladař.
“I’ve been a fan my entire life,” Babik said. “This is my life. I love this team from the bottom of my heart, and I can’t express that enough.”
Fans (from left to right): Zack McErlain, Tug McErlain, Thomas McErlain and Stephen Dellaquilla react after the Flyers picked defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii with the 27th overall pick during the Flyers’ 2026 NHL draft party at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City on Friday.
When it came time for the Flyers to make their first-round selection, the band stopped playing, and the theatre became quiet. Fans turned their attention to the monitors and anxiously waited for the announcement.
When the trade alert came up on the screen and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the trade, the crowd booed.
Babik was not thrilled with the move either, he said.
“I’m going to be totally blunt. I didn’t like it,” he said. “[Dallas Stars winger] Jason Robertson has been on the market, and I was hoping they would’ve got him. Don’t get me wrong, I understand we only have four picks in this draft, and they wanted to get more.”
After they traded the 21st pick to the San Jose Sharks, moving down to No. 27, some fans immediately left, leaving the true diehards to wait until their pick.
Among them were Eddie Bertino and Scott Parker, childhood friends from South Jersey who grew up playing hockey together and played in under-30 and under-40 leagues.
Flyers Porter Martone signs his autograph for fans during the Flyers’ 2026 NHL draft party at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City on Friday.
Bertino started playing hockey when he was 5 years old, with Parker’s dad as his coach. Both became lifelong Flyers fans thanks to their fathers, who had season tickets and attended the Flyers’ Stanley Cup victory in 1975.
When Bertino secured the tickets for the draft party, he knew Parker was the right person to accompany him.
“He is one of my few diehard Flyers fan friends,” Bertino said. “ I didn’t want to be here with some poseur, I wanted to be here with another diehard.”
By 10:20 p.m., with the Flyers still waiting to pick and it being a Friday night in Atlantic City, Bertino was surprised so many fans decided to leave, but he wasn’t surprised by Brière’s trade.
“The past two years he’s made some sort of trade, it’s kind of his thing,” Bertino said.
However, a similar sentiment was shared with fans throughout the night — the future of Flyers hockey is bright, and they are proud to be a part of the fan base.
ATLANTIC CITY — Now that the first round is over, it’s time to turn the page to Rounds 2-7.
After selecting towering defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii in Round 1, the Flyers have picks Nos. 53 and 62 in the second round, 120 in the fourth, 136 in the fifth, and 213 in the seventh.
Here are 14 names to keep an eye on for Day 2 (which begins at 11 a.m. on NHL Network and ESPN+) in alphabetical order.
Niklas Aaram-Olsen’s teammate with Örebro HK U20, Alexander Command, said he is “hard-working” and “enjoyed playing with him, [a] talented guy.”
Niklas Aaram-Olsen, LW, Örebro (Sweden)
A power forward, the Norwegian just put up 20 goals and 40 points in 29 regular-season games in Sweden’s junior league before adding another eight points in 13 playoff games. He spent some time in the SHL, Sweden’s top men’s league, this season, and put up points on the international stage. He’s not a playmaker, but according to Karl Kling, his coach with the junior team, he’s explosive and has a great shot; however, he has to play more to his strengths, work on driving to the net, and be more direct in his game. He is a boom-or-bust kind of player.
Ryder Cali, C, North Bay (Ontario Hockey League)
Off to Providence College in the fall, his coach, Nate Leaman, told The Inquirer he is “quick out of the gate, good hockey IQ, really competitive, good shot. He does a lot of things well.” Cali is a 200-foot center — says “it’s fun” to take care of his own end — has a great motor, says it’s satisfying to steal pucks, and won’t be 18 until early September.
Named the tournament’s best defender at the U18s this spring, Slovakia’s captain recently turned 18. He’s a bit of a project, but has already proven he can be a workhorse by averaging more than 20 minutes for Slovakia on the top pair, including ice time on the power play and penalty kill.
Ben Macbeath, LHD, Calgary (Western Hockey League)
This past season, Macbeath notched 51 points (seven goals, 44 assists) in 67 regular-season games and added another two assists in seven playoff games. He killed penalties, got power-play time, and described himself as “a two-way defenseman. I think I got good feet, which allow me to impact both sides of the game.” According to Elite Prospects, he needs to work on his reads and killing plays quicker. He can work on building his aggressiveness and urgency at the University of Denver in the fall.
Pierce Mbuyi, LW, Owen Sound (OHL)
The Penn State 2027 commit is a skilled winger who notched 75 points in 68 games this past season as an OHL rookie. The son of a mom from Prince Edward Island and a dad from Russia, he found his love of the game from his brother. “I think something I pride myself on is how I see the ice, my vision,” he told The Inquirer. “I think I make my teammates around me better. Another thing I pride myself on is my compete, my work ethic.”
Charlie Morrison (27) lays a booming hit during a game against the Charlottetown Islanders.
Charlie Morrison, LHD, Québec (Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League)
Morrison was our second-round pick for the Flyers in Friday’s final mock draft. His GM, Simon Gagné, has the scouting report: “A big, strong defenseman. Likes to hit. Likes to [catch] guys [with their] head down, middle of the ice type of defenseman that you don’t see too often in the league anymore. They’re seeing, sure, that Charlie needs to improve — he’s only played two years in our league — but he’s getting better and stronger, and that’s definitely a guy that could be a good pick for the Flyers.”
Although he initially was a baseball player — his father, Casey, was drafted by the Chicago White Sox and reached triple A, and the Los Angeles Dodgers selected his uncle Ryan — Rogowski is a 6-7, 236-pound center who is committed to Michigan State. Nick Fohr, who coached him at the U.S. National Team Development Program, describes him as a big, dependable centerman with a strong work ethic who has a big personality and was a vocal leader on the bench.
Filip Růžička, G, Brandon (WHL)
A 6-8 behemoth in net who spent this season playing for the same team the Flyers snagged Carson Bjarnason from in 2023, the Czechia native tied for the seventh-best save percentage (.906) in the WHL in the regular season. In the playoffs, he started all four games, upping his save percentage to .936 while dropping his GAA to 2.47. Wheat Kings coach and former Flyer Marty Murray said in a text with The Inquirer, “He made tremendous strides throughout the season. I think he was really raw when he arrived, and worked hard on his game with our goalie coach, Tyler Plante. I think there is still room to grow, but I believe his ceiling is very high.”
A Penn State commit, the Russian spent the past year playing in the QMJHL for Victoriaville, where he centered the top line. He won 54.8% of his faceoffs and put up 82 points (31 on the power play) in 63 games on the way to being named the league’s offensive rookie of the year despite not turning 18 until the end of April.
Alexandre Taillefer had 17 points in a 28-game injury-shortened season.
Alexandre Taillefer, LHD, Québec (QMJHL)
Another guy that Gagné is pushing for the Flyers, here’s a scouting report from Flyers prospect and teammate Nathan Quinn on the UMass 2027 commit: “I think he’s a really, really good offensive defenseman. He has a lot of skills with the puck. Obviously, it was a hard season for him — he had a bad injury — [and] he’s a really good kid too, but his strength is with the puck. He’s a really good guy on the power play. His skill set is pretty impressive.”
Tobias Trejbal, G, Youngstown (USHL)
“If we’re in a position to draft a top-end goalie, we’ll look at that,” Danny Brière said Friday. Many expect the Czechia native, who is off to UMass in September, to be the first goalie off the board. A right catch goalie, he went 30-9-3 with a .916 save percentage for the Phantoms (apropos, no?). “Nothing that rattles him, very athletic, tracks pucks really well. His hands are really good, he’s never out of a save, he’s got like the next puck mentality, like if he gets scored on, he’s stopping the next puck,” Youngstown coach Ryan Ward said.
Size is probably what cost Villeneuve a first-round slot; that and the 5-10¾, 164-pound blueliner needs to work on his defense and gain strength to accommodate his small stature. He’s dynamic — and that’s the word assistant GM Brent Flahr said a small guy would need to be. “Offensively, he’s seeing things, and he’s able to create things that not too many players are able to do,” his coach with the Armada, Alexandre Jacques, told The Inquirer. “At the offensive blue line, he is really, really, really deceptive, so he’s able to create something out of nothing with his edge [work]. Skating sideways is probably one of his greatest attributes, and he’s good at using [his edge work] to create shooting lanes or to create offensive situations.” Villeneuve is following in the footsteps of his comparable, Lane Hutson, and will play for Boston University this season.
Blake Zielinski holds his NHL draft day jacket at his family home on Monday, June 22, 2026, in Berlin. Zielinski’s jacket features different moments throughout his hockey career.
Blake Zielinski, F, Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)
There is mutual interest here, but it all depends on whether he is there. Zielinski grew up in Berlin, Camden County, and played for Flyers Elite before heading to North Jersey to suit up for the Avalanche. As he said, he knows what it takes to be a Flyer, and at the combine, Brière asked him if it felt like home. His name started rising after his play at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and the kid who loves to score will head to Providence in the fall, with Leaman calling him “really crafty around the net.”
Cole Zurawski, RW, Owen Sound (OHL)
A later-round option, there are two reasons he is on this list. One is that he is off to Notre Dame, where highly regarded Flyers prospect Cole Knuble just turned pro from. And two, he finished in the top 25 of 13 fitness tests at the scouting combine. There are only 15 tests. It was noted during his draft year how well Jett Luchanko did in the testing, and he only finished in the top 25 in seven tests.
ATLANTIC CITY — The Flyers traded down from No. 21 to No. 27 with the hope that the guy they wanted would still be on the board. They sweated a little, but in the end, they got their guy and two extra picks to boot.
With the 27th pick in the first round of the 2026 NHL draft, the Flyers selected Maksim Sokolovskii, left-shot giant from London of the Ontario Hockey League, to bolster the blue line.
Although he is not expected to play in the NHL any time soon — he will head back to the Knights in September and is committed to the University of Maine for the following season — it’s never too early to hand out a grade to Flyers general manager Danny Brière and his staff.
Grade: B
It was no secret that the Flyers were long interested in Sokolovskii. Since the NHL scouting combine in early June, the word on the street was that the Flyers were higher than the consensus on the 6-foot-7¼, 240-pound, mean, physical defenseman who skates well for his size.
Did they pass on flashier guys like two-way center Jack Hextall, dynamic defensemen Ryan Lin, whom San Jose took at 21, Tommy Bleyl, and Xavier Villeneuve? Yes, and that could come back to haunt them like drafting Jett Luchanko over Zeev Buium and Konsta Helenius two years ago.
But Sokolovskii was always their guy, especially once Ilia Morozov was taken at No. 20, which is why they moved back. And even before that, several media outlets had the Flyers taking the defenseman at No. 21, including The Inquirer in our final mock draft.
There is a lot to like about Sokolowskii. According to Mike Taylor, his former coach at the Atlantic Hockey Academy, “he skates like he’s 5-foot-8.″ Taylor also mentioned how a college hockey skating coach they brought in could not believe how good Sokolowskii’s edgework was for his size.
As The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler told The Inquirer, “When you’re huge, and you can skate, that’s often all that you need for NHL scouts to sort of perk up and start to pay attention.”
And the Flyers paid attention — a lot of that is because he was in London, which Brière called after drafting Sokolovskii: “One of the better organizations in the CHL. They seem to be able to build winners.”
Sokolovskii, who was born in Kazakhstan and grew up in Russia, brings meanness and physicality, and considers himself a shut-down defenseman who likes to hit. Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek called him the hardest hitter in the draft class. Some have even compared his physicality and nastiness to that of fellow 6-7 blueliner Nikita Zadorov of the Boston Bruins.
Boston Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov is a common comp for Flyers draft pick Maksim Sokolovskii.
“The compete level is something that, in a lot of cases, you have, or you don’t,” Brière said. “It’s really tough to bring that out of someone who doesn’t have it. You watch him, it’s a natural thing. He loves to go after a guy. He likes to disturb, and on top of his size, it makes for a very impressive player on the ice. Someone that you don’t like facing or playing against.”
And part of that competitiveness is just his desire to get better. There is a lot of upside to Sokolovskii, and many have noted how much his game improved as the season went on in London. His switch to the OHL was not an easy one — he was even a healthy scratch at times — but by the end of the season, he was on the third pair and even played second-pair minutes at times. And while he wants to work more on his footwork, next season, Sokolovskii told The Inquirer at the combine that he wants to be more of a leader, too.
“The one thing that really stood out was the progression that he showed throughout the season,” Brière said. “When we saw him early in the season, we thought this could be a late pick for us, and then it seemed every month he just kept getting better and better, and figuring out the game more and more.”
Organizationally, the pick helped fill some depth on the left side, so add a check mark for that. Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Nick Seeler, and the newly acquired Simon Benoît, who can play on the right side too, are at the NHL level. Ty Murchison, 23, Jackson Edward, 22, and Hunter McDonald, 24, are in the system on the left side. But that’s it. Oliver Bonk, another London guy, Spencer Gill, Carter Amico, and Luke Vlooswyk are all righties.
Now, there are, of course, some question marks.
“I think that would be Sam Morin part two,” FloHockey draft and prospect analyst Chris Peters said on Flyers Gameday Central about taking him at No. 21. They didn’t do that, but then he said this.
Maksim Sokolovskii, right, stands with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, after being drafted by the Flyers with the 27th pick in the draft.
“I watched him in the playoffs a lot, and that’s where I think a lot of this late buzz is coming from, is that he was a really good shutdown guy for London in the postseason. And he was playing a physical, mean brand of hockey, the kind of hockey that helps you win in the playoffs. … [But] he’s too one-dimensional defensively. The skating, it isn’t good enough for me to say, like it’s good for his size, but like it’s not good enough, I don’t think.
“He has boom-bust potential, too, because he’s got this massive frame. He has incredible reach. I think he thinks the game decently well, I think he thinks the game defensively pretty solidly. I think he’s got good enough mobility defensively. And so I think he’s going to play [in the NHL]. The question is, where does he go?”
So, does he need to refine his defensive game more? Absolutely. Does he need to develop his offensive game? Of course — he had only eight points in 44 games for the Knights. But one intriguing factor is that he scored 34 goals and 84 points in 65 games for Atlantic Coast two years ago, albeit against lesser competition.
And Taylor brought up something interesting.
“He always was trying to be offensive with us. His deficiencies with us were the defensive side of the puck, where it was his strength in London,” he recalled.
“I knew he could play that way. I knew he would adjust, because I knew how good he was of a player. I just knew that he was taking chances and doing things with us that he wouldn’t do at the next level, because the hockey allowed it, [that] level of play.”
With Taylor, he went out for shootouts and even got time on the power play, notably at the net-front — imagine a 6-7 player screening the goalie? So maybe Sokolovskii was just focusing on the defensive end as an OHL rookie, and the offense has room to reawaken a bit?
After all, when you ask him who his comparables are, he’ll tell you Zadorov, Logan Stanley of the Buffalo Sabres, and Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman, who boasts a Norris Trophy and 811 points in 1,164 career NHL games.
There’s definitely some boom-or-bust volatility with Sokolovskii, but the Flyers hope they have added a massive defenseman who plays playoff-style hockey, can kill plays defensively, and strike fear into opponents with his physicality.
The Flyers traded down in the first round of the 2026 NHL draft to select Maksim Sokolovskii, a massive left-handed defenseman from the London Knights, at No. 27 overall.
Here are five things to know about the newest Flyers prospect:
1. Tallest prospect in the NHL draft
At 6-foot-7, Sokolovskii was the second-tallest player in the Ontario Hockey League last season, and tied for the tallest prospect in the 2026 draft class. He’s even taller than the Sixers’ 2026 first-round pick, Labaron Philon Jr., who is 6-foot-3.
2. He is Kazakh-born
Sokolovskii was born in Petropavl, Kazakhstan. He is just the third player born in Kazakhstan to be drafted in the last 20 years, and if he makes his NHL debut, would be just the 14th Kazakh-born player to play in the league. However, Sokolovskii was raised in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
3. He’s committed to the University of Maine
But you won’t see Sokolovskii suit up for the Black Bears next year. The defenseman spent last season as a rookie in the OHL with the London Knights, who also developed Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk. He’s committed to start playing college hockey in 2027-28, and will return to London for another season in the OHL.
4. He’s played in Philly before
Development camp won’t be Sokolovskii’s first time playing at a Philly-area rink. In May 2024, he played in the World Selects Invitational, an annual tournament hosted in the area for top youth teams from around the world. At the tournament, he was teammates with fellow 2026 draft prospect Egor Shilov, who could go in the second round.
5. He started playing hockey at age 6
Sokolovskii told The Inquirer that he first got on skates at age 6, after his mom saw an advertisement encouraging parents to sign their kids up for a learn-to-play program. She dropped him off at the rink, and his hockey career took off from there.
ATLANTIC CITY — The Flyers were on the clock at 21, and then they weren’t, because they were confident they knew they could get their guy at 27.
Did they sweat a little bit when a trade was announced, and the Montreal Canadiens, who were at No. 28, moved up to No. 26? Yes. But they breathed a sigh of relief when Montreal took Russian winger Gleb Pugachyov, and they were able to get their in 6-foot-7¼ left-shot defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii.
“It’s my dream. It’s the dream [of] every hockey player,” Sokolovskii told The Inquirer at the scouting combine about being drafted. He added he would be happy if it happened in the first round, but he knew it was only the first step. “Just keep working, help my team.”
The Flyers moved down to 27 by trading the 21st pick to the San Jose Sharks. They also got the 62nd (second round) and 120th (fourth round) selections in the swap. For Day 2, they now have two picks in the second round, including No. 53, one in the fourth, fifth (136), and seventh (213).
As detailed in our final mock draft, Sokolovskii fits the archetype of player the Flyers like to select in the draft. He is well over 6-foot, tough, and competitive, and he plays for London of the Ontario Hockey League. Forward Denver Barkey and defenseman Oliver Bonk were also drafted out of the program run by the Hunters, Mark and Dale, who president Keith Jones knows very well.
But here’s one difference: He’s not someone who needs to work on his skating too much.
“When you’re huge, and you can skate, that’s often all that you need for NHL scouts to sort of perk up and start to pay attention,” The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler told The Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine.
“He was much better in the second half; you could see him figuring it out. … You want that [big] guy to be mean and punishing, and he’s got a little bit of that.
“But it’s the skating. If he couldn’t skate, it would be a major red flag at that size, but because he can skate, teams get excited about that.”
He worked on his skating with Alex Antropov, who was also his coach for D13, a team from Russia that played in the World Selects Invitational in Voorhees in May 2024. He brought that strong base with him when he was 16 years old and moved to Massachusetts to play for Atlantic Coast Academy.
“He’s 6-foot-8, and he skates like he’s 5-foot-8,” Mike Taylor, the program’s owner and one of Sokolovskii’s coaches, told The Inquirer recently. “… He came here, and I had a skating coach once a month come up and do power skating with our guys, and he does it like with UMass Amherst, and all these other schools.
“And he saw him skate, and he’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ He couldn’t believe how good his edge work was, and stuff, for being the size that he is.”
Sokolovskii has some bite on the ice, likes to be physical, throw the body around, and plays tough. He is considered a shutdown defender right now, as evidenced by his only eight points (two goals, six assists) in 44 regular-season games with London. But Taylor says there is an untapped offensive dimension to his game — as seen from his numbers at Atlantic Coast (84 points in 65 games) — and he even used him at the net-front on the power play.
The consensus is that his game improved as he got more comfortable in the OHL. By the end, he was on the second pair and played big minutes in the playoffs, notably shutting down 2025 fifth overall pick Brady Martin.
“The one thing that really stood out, I think, was the progression that he showed throughout the season,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said. “When we saw him early in the season, we thought this could be a late pick for us, and then it seemed every month he just kept getting better and better, and figuring out the game more and more. So that was interesting to the point where he’s going to be a first-rounder, and to be able to move back, get some draft capital, and still get him, it feels like it was the right thing to do.”
Maksim Sokolovskii (No. 17) tied forward Brooks Rogowski for the tallest players measured at this year’s combine.
But like most in the draft class, Sokolovskii has his warts, and there are question marks surrounding his game, specifically his decision-making and puck play. He told The Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine that he wants to keep working on his foot speed. He’ll need some time to grow into his game, and the Flyers have the time for that.
“We see him as a big physical force as a defenseman [who] is going to be tough to face,” Brière said. “There’s a lot that needs to come obviously. The way our development has worked the last few years, we feel confident that it’s going to come. We know there’s a lot of work to be done, but there’s things that you can’t teach, and there’s things that you can’t change; he’s still going to be 6-foot-7 in two years from now, and the internal physicalness that he has as well is something you can’t really teach.
“That comes naturally to him, so that’s a big plus, and the rest of his game has to round out, no doubt about it. But the progression that we saw this season leads us to believe that he’ll be able to make it to the NHL.
Sokolovskii will be returning to London in September and is committed to the University of Maine for 2027. Most compare the Kazakhstan-born and Russian-raised blueliner to fellow 6-7 defenders Nikita Zadorov of the Boston Bruins and Logan Stanley of the Buffalo Sabres. He’ll add Victor Hedman, who is also 6-7. “But I want to be better,” he told The Inquirer.
Sokolovskii’s name was mentioned to this reporter at the combine as someone the Flyers were interested in, and some pundits think this is their guy. Ultimately, where there was smoke, there was fire, as the Flyers selected him at the end of Round 1.
Who the Flyers will actually select in the first round is now just hours away from being revealed, with the 2026 NHL draft kicking off at 7 p.m.
Philly picks at No. 21, so there is a lot of intrigue to see who they can get that deep in the draft. And that’s the crux and the reasoning behind why, in the fourth and final mock draft for The Inquirer, we have the Flyers picking a fourth different player.
In the first mock draft, compiled before the NHL scouting combine, we had the Flyers taking small defenseman Tommy Bleyl. Although he could help on the power play, it doesn’t sound like the Flyers are 100% behind picking an under-6-foot-tall blueliner, and as general manager Danny Brière has noted a player picked today will not impact the team for a few seasons — and the power play needs help immediately.
After the scouting combine in Buffalo, our second mock draft had Alexander Command. The Swedish center expressed a connection with the organization and just oozed Flyer during his time in Western New York; however, the consensus is that he is rising and will now be long gone.
So with that, we went for another center in the third mock draft, taking Jack Hextall, a player many see as already having pro habits. And, no, he’s not closely related to Ron, the former goalie and GM; they are distant cousins, and according to Jack, have never met.
And now we come to our final mock draft, where none of these players are on the list in the first round.
Maksim Sokolovskii (No. 17) tied forward Brooks Rogowski for the tallest players measured at this year’s combine.
First round: Maksim Sokolovskii, LHD, London (OHL)
Meet Sokolovskii, who checks several boxes for the Flyers’ usual modus operandi at the draft and is the targeted pick for several outlets and insiders.
For background, since assistant general manager Brent Flahr took over, he has drafted 50 players, with general manager Danny Brière by his side for 26 of those.
The position Flahr has drafted the most across his tenure is defense, at 15, and he did mention during his sit-down in Buffalo that the Flyers need to add to their defensive depth. He added during his pre-draft presser last week that the Flyers could use some more depth down the left side in particular — he did add “not necessarily being the first round” — and Sokolovskii is a left-handed defenseman.
Unlike other teams lately, the Flyers are not afraid to draft Russian players, with three taken in the last three drafts. The difference here with Sokolovskii, compared to Matvei Michkov, Egor Zavragin, and Aleksei Kolosov, who is Belarusian and also played in the Kontinental Hockey League, is that while Sokolovskii was born in Kazakhstan and raised in Russia, he spent the past two years playing in North America. And the Flyers tend to stick with North American-based teams under the Flahr-Brière tandem (74%).
Now here’s where the eyebrows will get raised. After spending the 2024-25 season with the Atlantic Coast Academy, Sokolovskii played this past season for London of the Ontario Hockey League. Yes, that London, where Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk won a Memorial Cup one June ago. That London where team president Keith Jones has a connection with Mark and Dale Hunter. The Flyers like the system and how they prepare players. Could this be a match just for that reason?
And then there’s the height. And Sokolovskii is, to put it mildly, a big boy at6-foot-7¼, 240 pounds. The Flyers like tall dudes, drafting 6-5 Jack Nesbitt, Carter Amico, Luke Vlooswyk, and Matthew Gard all last year. Since Flahr took over, 31 of 50 players are over 6-feet, and 17 of those were taken with Brière as GM.
The biggest difference compared to several previous prospects is that Sokolovskii is a pretty good skater for a guy his size.
“He’s 6-foot-8, and he skates like he’s 5-foot-8,” Mike Taylor, the owner and one of Sokolovskii’s coaches at Atlantic Coast Academy, told The Inquirer recently. “… He came here, and I had a skating coach once a month come up and do power skating with our guys, and he does it like with UMass Amherst, and all these other schools. And he saw him skate, and he’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ He couldn’t believe how good his edge work was, and stuff, for being the size that he is.”
Maksim Sokolovskii first came to North America as a 16-year-old to play for Atlantic Coast Academy.
Considered a mean guy with some bite on the ice, Sokolovskii likes to be physical, throw the body around, and play tough. Although Taylor says there is an offensive dimension to his game — as seen from his numbers at Atlantic Coast — he is considered a shutdown defender.
He had eight points (two goals, six assists) in 44 regular-season games with London; however, everyone agrees there was a ton of improvement in his game as he got more comfortable in the OHL.
But like most in the draft class, Sokolovskii has his warts, and there are question marks surrounding his game in his decision-making and puck play. He told The Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine that he wants to keep working on his foot speed and make his feet quicker. He’ll need some time to grow into his game, and the Flyers have the time for that.
Sokolovskii’s name was mentioned to this reporter at the combine as someone the Flyers were interested in, and some pundits think this is their guy. But it does make one wonder that if the two are being connected … is it all smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand? Because outside of maybe Craig Button, no one had Jett Luchanko for the Flyers in 2024. And Jack Nesbitt wasn’t seen as on the radar either, although they did trade up for him.
So with that, let’s add in that Maddox Dagenais, Jack Hextall, and Ilia Morozov are three players we see the Flyers considering at 21, too.
Called a “mobile, punishing shutdown defender with NHL-calibre tools” by Elite Prospects, Charlie Morrison’s floor is a third-pair defenseman.
Second round: Charlie Morrison, LHD
The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler’s final mock draft has the Flyers taking Sokolovskii in the first round and right-handed Finnish defenseman Samu Alalauri in the second.
Wheeler’s colleague, senior NHL prospects writer Corey Pronman, has the Flyers taking 6-4 leftt-handed defenseman William Håkansson in the first and small but dynamic lefty defenseman Xavier Villeneuve — our pick in version 3.0 — in the second.
Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson has center Oliver Suvanto in the first and defenseman Måns Gudmundsson in the second. And Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis had the Flyers taking center Suvanto in the first and defenseman Timmy Runtso, an overager who is heading to the University of Miami (OH) this fall, in the second.
It feels like everyone is leaning toward defensemen in the second round, as everyone has the Flyers pegged for stocking the blue line cupboard.
A few names pop here for us, like Juho Piiparinen, who says he grew up a Flyers fan in Finland, Runtso, who brings some offensive punch and attention to detail the Flyers like, and Ben Macbeath, our pick in version 2.0. Macbeath plays for Calgary of the Western Hockey League, the same team Travis Sanheim was drafted from in 2017.
For our final draft, we’re going with a defenseman, too, but it’s Morrison, a 6-3½, 200-pound physical left-shot blueliner who plays for Québec of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Pronman has him going at 44 to the New Jersey Devils, Wheeler at 50 to the Ducks, and Ellis has him at 65 to the Flames.
And guess who the GM of that team is? Simon Gagné.
The Inquirer recently spoke with the Flyers legend, and he gave his scouting report on Morrison.
“A big, strong defenseman. Likes to hit. Likes to [catch] guys [with their] head down, middle of the ice type of defenseman that you don’t see too often in the league anymore. They’re seeing, sure, that Charlie needs to improve — he’s only played two years in our league — but he’s getting better and stronger, and that’s definitely a guy that could be a good pick for the Flyers.”
Charlie Morrison (27) lays a booming hit during a game against the Charlottetown Islanders.
The Flyers have done their homework on the Québec players, which also includes potential first-round pick Maddox Dagenais and late-round option and defenseman Alexandre Taillefer. This past season, Morrison had 13 points in 41 regular-season games before adding another four points in 10 playoff games.
Morrison does have some pedigree, as Elite Prospects lists his great uncle as Dan Bouchard, a goalie who played 656 NHL games, and Morrison is heading to the University of Connecticut in 2027.
And one interesting note: last season, the four Flyers taken in the second were listed at 30 (Jack Murtagh), 33 (Vansaghi), 37 (Matthew Gard), and 41 (Carter Amico) in Central Scouting’s final rankings for North American skaters. Morrison is right there, too, at No. 39.
The Flyers entered the night with the No. 21 pick, but traded down with the San Jose Sharks. The deal also netted them two additional picks: No. 62 and No. 120.
“Meet Sokolovskii, who checks several boxes for the Flyers’ usual modus operandi at the draft and is the targeted pick for several outlets and insiders.
…
After spending the 2024-25 season with the Atlantic Coast Academy, Sokolovskii played this past season for London of the Ontario Hockey League. Yes, that London, where Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk won a Memorial Cup one June ago. That London where team president Keith Jones has a connection with Mark and Dale Hunter. The Flyers like the system and how they prepare players. Could this be a match just for that reason?
And then there’s the height. And Sokolovskii is, to put it mildly, a big boy at 6-foot-7¼, 240 pounds. The Flyers like tall dudes, drafting 6-5 Jack Nesbitt, Carter Amico, Luke Vlooswyk, and Matthew Gard all last year. Since Flahr took over, 31 of 50 players are over 6-feet, and 17 of those were taken with Brière as GM.
The biggest difference compared to several previous prospects is that Sokolovskii is a pretty good skater for a guy his size.
“He’s 6-foot-8, and he skates like he’s 5-foot-8,” Mike Taylor, the owner and one of Sokolovskii’s coaches at Atlantic Coast Academy, told The Inquirer recently. “… He came here, and I had a skating coach once a month come up and do power skating with our guys, and he does it like with UMass Amherst, and all these other schools. And he saw him skate, and he’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ He couldn’t believe how good his edge work was, and stuff, for being the size that he is.”
Considered a mean guy with some bite on the ice, Sokolovskii likes to be physical, throw the body around, and play tough. Although Taylor says there is an offensive dimension to his game — as seen from his numbers at Atlantic Coast — he is considered a shutdown defender.
Flyers take defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii with No. 27 pick
The Flyers selected Maksim Sokolovskii after trading back to the No. 27 overall pick in the first round of the NHL draft.
// Timestamp 06/26/26 9:56pm
Flyers should have some good options at No. 27
A couple of good options should be there at No. 27 when the Flyers now pick.
The list of prospects could include Maksim Sokolovskii, Brooks Rogowski, Jack Hextall, Ryder Cali, Tommy Bleyl, and maybe the first goalie off the board, Tobias Trejbal.
I wouldn’t sleep on Casey Mutryn or William Håkansson, either.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Maksim Sokolovskii go at 27 now. Not a fan personally but there's been a lot of smoke around him and the Flyers, and 27 feels like a slightly more defensible spot for him.
TRADE ALERT: We have acquired the 27th, 62nd and 120th overall picks in the 2026 #NHLDraft from San Jose in exchange for the 21st overall pick. pic.twitter.com/bW46IMZYPE
Flyers are up and all three of the undersized blueliners are still on the board in Ryan Lin, Tommy Bleyl, and Xavier Villeneuve. Let's see if the Flyers buck their norm and believe in one of these guys.
Ducks center Mason McTavish has been traded to the St. Louis Blues, using their No. 15 and No. 29 overall picks.
McTavish was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, and signed a 6-year extension worth $7 million annually ahead of the 2025-26 season, but he fell out of favor in Anaheim with the emergence of Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson.
McTavish had been linked with the Flyers over the past two summers given his pedigree, the team’s need at center, his north-south game, and the team’s well-documented trade history with the Anaheim Ducks.
Swedish center Alexander Command, who at one stage was probably someone the Flyers thought they had a shot at but had been rising, goes at No. 12.
With Tynan Lawrence and Command gone, Oliver Suvanto, Ilia Morozov, Jack Hextall, and Brooks Rogowski make up the next group of centers if the Flyers choose to go that route.
With Keaton Verhoeff off the board at No. 9 to San Jose, that closes the book on the top tier of defensive prospects in a draft class heralded for its blueliners.
Expect a run of forwards to come now with Malte Gustafsson and Ryan Lin highlighting the next tier of defensemen. As Jackie Spiegel noted earlier, Tommy Bleyl, MaksimSokolovskii, and Xavier Villeneuve are among the defensemen the Flyers could consider at No. 21.
The New York Rangers are making a big addition on the wing, reportedly acquiring Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas for the No. 26 pick, the No. 92 pick and a conditional 2028 first-round pick (condition on the pick is top-10 protected).
Dorofeyev is a restricted free agent who scored 37 goals this past season, and 35 the season prior, plus 12 goals in Vegas’ Stanley Cup Finals run. Dorofeyev is a restricted free agent, joining the Rangers after they finished last in the Metropolitan Division in 2025-26.
Vegas is reportedly one of the teams on Red Wings center Dylan Larkin’s no trade list. Could they be compiling assets to make a run at the Olympic gold medalist? Or even for Stars winger Jason Robertson? The Stars wouldn’t – would they?
Utah Mammoth right winger JJ Peterka is heading to Boston.
The Boston Bruins are acquiring forward JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth for two first-round picks, including the No. 23 pick in the 2026 draft.
Peterka, 24, managed 25 goals this past season for the Mammoth but his first season in Utah went anything but smoothly. The fit never quite worked out and now Boston will take a chance on the German who has a longstanding connection with Bruins coach Marco Sturm.
Peterka’s best season came in 2024-25 when he notched 27 goals and 68 points in 77 games for the Sabres. He is signed for four more seasons at a cap hit of $7.7 million.
Blue Jackets reportedly taking calls on Zach Werenski. Could the Flyers be interested?
Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski could be on the move.
The Flyers have said they want to become a destination for top players and believe that Rick Tocchet can help in that aim.
Well, another one seems destined to soon hit the market, as the Columbus Blue Jackets are fielding trade calls on Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski, according to Pierre LeBrun.
The report comes after recent rumblings suggested that Werenski, who turns 29 next month, was growing unhappy in Columbus and was not keen to extend with the Blue Jackets when his contract expires in two seasons.
The Flyers will assuredly check in on Werenski, as he is exactly the type of offensive difference-maker they’ve long lacked on the blue line. Werenski has averaged 23 goals, 82 points, and 23 power-play points over the past two seasons and is universally considered one of the best three defensemen in the NHL. Center and a bona fide No. 1 power-play QB are the Flyers’ two biggest needs, and Werenski would certainly check the second box and then some.
The two big questions are would Werenski be open to Philadelphia – he has a full no-move clause and would need to approve any potential destination – and do the Flyers have the pieces to acquire him? Only Werenski knows the answer to the first question, while the Quinn Hughes trade would be a comparable trade to get a sense of Werenski’s value. In that deal, Minnesota traded the equivalent of four first-round picks with Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick going to Vancouver for fellow Norris winner Hughes.
The Flyers to this point have said they are unwilling to move Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov, but this is the type of player that would likely require one to go the other way. Danny Brière’s plan all along was to go “big-game hunting” this offseason, let’s see if the Flyers’ GM gets aggresive here.
Could the Flyers actually target someone under six feet tall?
Tommy Bleyl (right) is coming off an impressive first season in the QMJHL where he was named the top defensive rookie.
The Flyers have prioritized size when drafting – and not drafting – defenseman the past few seasons, but with the 21st pick, and a couple of interesting undersized defensive prospects in that range, could they be more apt to consider someone under six foot this year?
While GM Danny Brière and assistant GM Brent Flahr tried to pour cold water on that idea at their recent pre-draft news conference, could the trade of Emil Andrae have changed things slightly. The Flyers don’t have a truly dynamic offensive defensemen in the system, and Ryan Lin, Tommy Bleyl, and Xavier Villeneuve, while all under six feet, would all fit the bill in some regard.
Jackie Spiegel took a deeper look at the three polarizing defenseman and whether the Flyers could break their mold and target a future potential QB for their power play on Friday night.
While fans have been rapidly refreshing X with the NHL hot stove on fire and the clock ticking closer to the NHL draft on Friday night, the Flyers might have teased something.
At around 2 p.m., the team posted a picture of the team’s draft headquarters in Atlantic City with the following caption:”Ready for action in AC.”
On the floor in the middle of the room was a black Liberty Bell outline in highlighter orange trim. Could this be a new alternate logo for the team’s City Connect jerseys? Hmm …
The Flyers are looking for a power-play quarterback, and with very few available as unrestricted free agents beyond 36-year-old John Carlson, they may need to get creative to find one.
Two days after Bowen Byram was traded from Buffalo to Chicago, another young defenseman came off the board with the Sabres acquiring Olen Zellweger, seemingly as Byram’s replacement, for a second-round pick and forward prospect Anton Wahlberg. The dynamic 22-year-old defenseman is a restricted free agent and will need a new contract from Buffalo.
Known for his effortless skating and silky puck skills, the 5-foot-10, 193-pound Zellweger had seven goals and 22 points last season and has PP1 upside. With Byram and Zellweger off the board, the Flyers will have to look elsewhere if they want to add to their blue line this summer.
We have acquired defenseman Olen Zellweger from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for forward Anton Wahlberg and the 45th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Likely No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna on what he learned at Penn State
// Timestamp 06/26/26 3:35pm
Watch our Gameday Central draft preview
// Timestamp 06/26/26 1:59pm
Maple Leafs deal Sam Ersson to Senators
Goaltender Samuel Ersson is with his third team in the last two weeks.
Sam Ersson is on the move again.
Ten days after being traded alongside defenseman Emil Andrae to the Toronto Maple Leafs for goaltender Joseph Woll and depth blueliner Simon Benoit, the former Flyers goaltender’s rights were traded across Ontario to Ottawa on Friday.
TRADE ALERT: The #Sens have acquired goaltender Samuel Ersson from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a 5th round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. pic.twitter.com/MkEuWY9XEt
The Leafs recouped a fifth-round pick for Ersson’s rights, while Ottawa will now likely qualify the restricted free agent goaltender. His minimum qualifying offer is $1.6 million.
Ersson, 26, amassed a 65-50-17 record and .884 save percentage in four up-and-down seasons in Philadelphia. Last year, he posted 14-11-5 record with a .870 SV%, but he was excellent after the Olympic break with a .912 save percentage in nine games. In Ottawa, he could form an all-Swedish tandem with Linus Ullmark.
Maksim Sokolovskii (center) tied forward Brooks Rogowski for the tallest players measured at this year’s combine.
Who the Flyers will actually select in the first round is now just hours away from being revealed.
Philly picks at No. 21, so there is a lot of intrigue to see who they can get that deep in the draft. And that’s the crux and the reasoning behind why, in the fourth and final draft for The Inquirer, we have the Flyers picking a fourth different player.
First round: Maksim Sokolovskii, LHD, London (OHL)
Meet Sokolovskii, who checks several boxes for the Flyers’ usual modus operandi at the draft and is the targeted pick for several outlets and insiders.
For background, since assistant general manager Brent Flahr took over, he has drafted 50 players, with general manager Danny Brière by his side for 26 of those.
The position Flahr has drafted the most across his tenure is defense, at 15, and he did mention during his sit-down in Buffalo that the Flyers need defensive depth. He added during his pre-draft presser last week that the Flyers could use some more depth down the left side in particular — he did add “not necessarily being the first round” — and Sokolovskii is a left-handed defenseman.
And then there’s the height. And Sokolovskii is, to put it mildly, a big boy at 6-foot-7¼, 240 pounds. The Flyers like tall dudes, drafting 6-5 Jack Nesbitt, Carter Amico, Luke Vlooswyk, and Matthew Gard all last year. Since Flahr took over, 31 of 50 players are over 6-feet, and 17 of those were taken with Brière as GM.
The biggest difference compared to several previous prospects is that Sokolovskii is a pretty good skater for a guy his size and isn’t the big project that other draft picks have been.
Click here for a more in-depth breakdown of Sokolovskii and a look ahead at who the Flyers might take on Day 2.
Will Flyers join Rangers and Blues in Mason McTavish sweepstakes?
Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish is reportedly available this summer.
It’s no secret that Danny Brière and the Flyers are poking around the trade market for a top-six center. One name that has come up quite a bit over the past two seasons is Anaheim’s Mason McTavish. The 23-year-old center, who was the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft, has fallen out of favor in Anaheim is reportedly available this summer.
The latest update from Pierre LeBrun is that Anaheim has offers on the table from the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues for the player but that there is still time for another team to get involved.
On Mason McTavish, Anaheim still talking to Rangers and Blues about their offers. NYR package includes roster player while St. Louis offer is picks. If the Ducks make the Blues trade, the idea would be to flip said pick(s) before tonight to go get roster player(s) in separate…
The appeal with McTavish is obvious: He’s a young player with draft pedigree who two seasons ago tallied 22 goals and 52 points on a bad Ducks team. He’s the exact type of reclamation project the Flyers have been attracted to in recent years — Jamie Drysdale, Trevor Zegras, David Jiříček. He’s also a rugged player who gets to the hard areas and can help a power play as a net-front presence and as a goal scorer. The Flyers and Ducks have also done two recent deals with one another which adds further smoke here.
The question is after slumping to 17 goals and 41 points and being a healthy scratch in the playoffs this season, is McTavish someone you want to commit to for the next five seasons at $7 million per? He’s also been a defensive liability as a pro and is not the most fleet of foot — two things that could sway the Flyers in a different direction.
We’ll keep an eye on this one but for now it looks like McTavish won’t be the answer for the Flyers down the middle.
Nine players the Flyers could target in the first round
Could the Flyers take Maddox Dagenais, a potent right winger, in the first-round?
The first round of the 2026 NHL draft is just hours away, and the Flyers are scheduled to pick at No. 21.
Who will be there, before general manager Danny Brière’s turn to face the camera and announce the pick, is anyone’s guess. With the expectation that prospects like Wyatt Cullen, Ryan Lin, and Alexander Command — who really does scream Flyer more than anyone on this list — will be long gone, here are nine players (in alphabetical order) the team could take in the first round.
Senators defenseman Jordan Spence (right) is reportedly returning to Ottawa on a four-year deal.
One of the top restricted free agent defenseman is off the board as Jordan Spence is closing in on a four-year, $20 million contract extension with the Ottawa Senators, according to multiple reports.
Spence, 25, had 31 points last season and had been mentioned in some recent trade chatter. The undersized blueliner’s extension likely doesn’t take Ottawa out of the Rasmus Ristolainen sweepstakes, as Spence is a very different defenseman to the Flyers’ bruiser.
Ottawa, who are lucky to get bigger on the blue line are one of the teams that have been linked to Ristolainen in recent weeks. Ristolainen, 31, is entering the final year of his current contract and is likely not part of the Flyers’ long-term future. With prices high, the Flyers could opt to cash in on the rugged defenseman now, especially given Ristolainen’s extensive injury history.
South Jersey native Tony DeAngelo re-signs with Isles
Former Flyers defenseman and Sewell native Tony DeAngelo is staying in the Metropolitan Division. Sportsnet reported Friday that DeAngelo will sign a two-year contract to remain a New York Islander.
The offensive defenseman, who played the 2022-23 season for his hometown Flyers, tallied five goals and 35 points in 76 games last season for the Islanders. DeAngelo, 30, had 11 goals, 42 points, and a minus-27 rating in his lone season in Philadelphia before being bought out a season before his contract expired following a clash with former coach John Tortorella.
Mock draft roundup: Lots of options for the Flyers
Ilia Morozov could be an option in the first round.
The Flyers have the 21st overall pick in the NHL draft — they also have three more picks on Day 2 — but there doesn’t seem to be any kind of consensus on who Danny Brière and Co. will select Friday night. Here’s a roundup of who some experts think the Flyers will take …
[Note: In Jackie’s final mock draft, which published after this post went live, she has the Flyers taking defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii]
The Athletic: Ilia Morozov, C, Miami (NCAA) — Philadelphia continues to build out its center depth with a potential middle-six pivot in Morozov. Lawrence and Hextall are also possibilities. — Corey Pronman
ESPN: Maksim Sokolovskii, D, London (OHL) — The Flyers have not been shy about drafting a certain type of player — especially given coach Rick Tocchet’s influence on the organization. [Porter] Martone, Jack Nesbitt, Jack Murtagh and Shane Vansaghi are massive players with a physical edge. … The 6-7 Sokolovskii seems like the prototypical Philadelphia Flyer. He’s enormous, skates well, has a mile-long mean streak and is widely considered the hardest hitter in the draft class. All of that screams Tocchet type. — Rachel Kryshak
NHL.com: Maksim Sokolovskii, D, London (OHL) — Sokolovskii checks a lot of boxes for the Flyers. At 6-7, 240, he was the biggest player measured at the NHL Scouting Combine, and he’s a left-handed shot, an area where Philadelphia is thin among its prospects. He also comes from a London program the Flyers have trusted for player development in the past, including defenseman Oliver Bonk and forward Denver Barkey. — Adam Kimelman
NHL.com: Thomas Bleyl, D, Moncton (QMJHL) — If Bleyl (5-11, 170) is here, it makes sense for the Flyers to grab him to replenish their defensemen prospect pool. The 18-year-old is a dynamic puck-moving defenseman who emerged as one of the draft’s pleasant surprises thanks to his offensive production and elite skating ability. A natural power-play quarterback, he makes plays consistently while still holding his own defensively. — Mike G. Morreale
Bleacher Report: Mathis Preston, RW, Vancouver Giants (WHL) — On our draft board, we have Mathis Preston ranked as a high second-rounder. But draft boards and mock drafts are not the same thing, and it’s believable that a team will choose to select him in the first round. Last go-round, we tried the Vancouver Canucks out as a fit; for this one, we thought the Philadelphia Flyers were an interesting landing spot. He brings incredible speed, he’s a later birthday, and his passing and handling are top-notch. — Hannah Stuart
Porter Martone (left) was one of two first-round picks for the Flyers in the 2025 draft. The team only has one this year.
The 2026 NHL draft officially starts at 7 p.m., but the Flyers won’t be on the clock for a lottery pick.
The first round of the draft will air live on ESPN, hosted by John Buccigross alongside analyst Kevin Weekes, NHL insider Emily Kaplan, and Draft and hockey analytics expert Meghan Chayka. ESPN will also
The second round begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday on the NHL Network, and the draft will end with the seventh round that same evening.
When do the Flyers pick?
After winning a playoff series over Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2026 postseason, the team’s first since 2019-20, the Flyers will pick at No. 21 overall during Friday’s first round.
The Flyers will also have three picks on Saturday: in the second round (53rd overall), fifth round (136th overall) and seventh round (213th overall).
Alexander Command’s coach with Örebro HK U20 called him a game-breaker.
Flyers beat writer Jackie Spiegel’s No. 1 choice for the No. 21 pick tonight, if he’s available, is 18-year-old Alexander Command, a center for Örebro HK of the Swedish Hockey League.
Unfortunately, Spiegel expects Command to be “long gone” when the Flyers pick. In her most recent mock draft, published last week, Spiegel had the Flyers taking center Jack Hextall, a distant cousin of former Flyers goalie and general manager Ron Hextall.
“This Hextall is a 6-foot-½ inch, 195-pound right-shot centerman who is projected to play a middle-six role,” Spiegel wrote, adding the “Flyers love picking centers in the first round.”
FloHockey draft and prospect analyst Chris Peters is also high on Command, praising his “physicality” and his “doggedness in pursuit of the puck.”
“Just the absolute annoyingness of just getting under your skin, and I think that there’s a lot to like about that player,” Peters said of Command on Flyers Gameday Central. “The comp that I had for him was Brayden Schenn and I think he probably has a higher motor, even there. Brayden Schenn was physical and mean, and he could score, and that’s what I think Command can do, too.”
Flyers land more draft picks by trading veteran forward Garnet Hathaway
Garnet Hathaway was part of a formidable fourth line in the playoffs for the Flyers.
The Flyers are making a few changes on the fourth line.
The team announced Thursday that Garnet Hathaway has been traded to the Florida Panthers along with a 2026 sixth-round pick for a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft and a 2027 fourth-rounder. The Flyers now own four picks in this weekend’s NHL draft: 21, 53 (second round), 136 (fifth round), and 213 (seventh round).
Signed as a free agent in 2023, the 34-year-old winger played three seasons in Philadelphia and put up three points in 66 games last season, down from his 21 points in 2024-25 and 17 in 2023-24. Alongside Sean Couturier and Luke Glendening, he was part of a formidable fourth line in the playoffs, scoring one goal and recording one assist in eight games while asserting himself physically.
A Maine native who graduated from Brown, the undrafted Hathaway ranked fourth in hits in the NHL across his three seasons in Philly. The past two seasons, for every hit the Flyers recorded, Hathaway and his wife, Lindsay, pledged to donate to local first responders with a match from Flyers Charities through Hits for Hath’s Heroes. Following the 2024-25 season, the Hathaways donated $30,000 to the Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation, a Conshohocken-based nonprofit.
Hathaway has one year left on his two-year extension signed last July 1, which is worth $2.4 million annually. A team source has confirmed to The Inquirer that the Flyers will retain 50% of Hathaway’s salary, leaving a cap charge of $1.2 million on the books for 2026-27.
Could the Flyers trade away or acquire more picks?
Flyers general manager Danny Brière (right) and assistant general manager Brent Flahr speak to reporters ahead of the 2026 NHL draft.
Maybe?
In a news conference earlier this month, Flyers general manager Danny Brière did say he was OK with having only four picks now in the upcoming draft — one each in the first, second, sixth, and seventh rounds — and he did call the first- and second-round picks “the key.” But he also said everything is on the table.
“We’ve drafted so much the last few years [so] it might not be quite a bad thing to not have as many this year,” he said. “But, if I had the choice, yeah, I would rather have more picks.”
Fair, because who doesn’t want to keep stocking the cupboard? But what if it meant trading a first-rounder for a young player who could fit into the lineup today?
“Yeah, we’re getting closer to that. I don’t know that we’re quite there yet, but we’re certainly willing to listen on different ideas,” he said. “I’m not too keen on trading future first-round picks, because you never know where it can go, and we’re not at [where] Colorado or Carolina [are] at this point, where you know we’re going to be finishing [high] and picking late first [round]. I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”
The Flyers are nearly on the clock for the first round of the 2026 NHL draft.
The draft starts Friday night and the Flyers will have four picks — one each in the first, second, fifth, and seventh rounds. Here’s everything you need to know before the draft begins.
The 2026 NHL draft officially starts at 7 p.m., but the Flyers won’t be on the clock for a lottery pick. The first round of the draft will air live on ESPN. The second round begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday, and the draft will end with the seventh round that same evening.
When do the Flyers pick?
After winning a playoff series overthe Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2026 postseason, the team’s first since 2019-20, the Flyers will pick at No. 21 overall during Friday’s first round.
The Flyers will also have three picks on Saturday: in the second round (53rd overall), fifth round (136th overall), and seventh round (213th overall). The fifth-rounder was obtained as part of the package in Thursday’s Garnet Hathaway trade, essentially replacing a sixth-rounder that was sent to the Florida Panthers in the deal.
Who are the top players?
The projected top two picks are Penn State winger Gavin McKenna and Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the draft lottery and the San Jose Sharks have the second overall pick. Other expected top picks include defensemen Chase Reid and Keaton Verhoeff, and center Caleb Malhotra.
McKenna finished with 36 assists (second-most in college hockey) and 51 points (tied for fourth-most) in 35 games.
Penn State forward Gavin McKenna is a projected top pick in the 2026 NHL draft.
“It was a good season, I think,” McKenna said at the NHL scouting combine. “In college, the guys are bigger and stronger and faster and stuff, and the game in itself, I think, is just a little different than junior. It’s more straightforward hockey.
“So found out early on that things [weren’t] just going to happen easy, and I think once I got to World Juniors, I kind of got my confidence back and kind of figured out the game a little bit more, and started working harder off the ice and on the ice and getting in the dirty areas a little bit more, and I think that’s why I started producing more.”
Who will the Flyers pick at No. 21?
Now that the Flyers aren’t up near the top of the draft, there are a lot more variables impacting who they might select.
In Flyers beat writer Jackie Spiegel’s latest mock draft, she had the Flyers selecting center Jack Hextall, a distant relative of former Flyers goalie and GM Ron Hextall. The younger Hextall scored 20 goals and had 38 assists for the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League last season.
“His bread and butter is how well-rounded he is,” The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler told The Inquirer. “The details off the puck, up and under sticks, retrievals, board battles, he’s got pro habits.
“If you talk to the guys in Youngstown, the first thing they say about him is that he’s a pro; this isn’t a junior hockey player, like a lot of these kids are. [He] does everything the right way, no selfishness to his game, and he doesn’t cheat for offense.”
The first round of the 2026 NHL draft is just hours away, and the Flyers are scheduled to pick at No. 21.
Who will be there, before general manager Danny Brière’s turn to face the camera and announce the pick, is anyone’s guess. With the expectation that prospects like Wyatt Cullen, Ryan Lin, and Alexander Command — who really does scream Flyer more than anyone on this list — will be long gone, here are nine players (in alphabetical order) the team could take in the first round.
“He was a tremendous skater. He just loves playing hockey. He’s kind of a rink rat. I think it’s what he’s always wanted to do,” Tommy Bleyl’s coach at Mid Fairfield, Ryan Haggerty, told The Inquirer.
Tommy Bleyl, RHD, Moncton (QMJHL)
With Lin expected to be gone, Bleyl is the next man up among defensemen under 6-feet tall. He was labeled as the player not enough people are talking about by FloHockey’s NHL draft and prospects analyst Chris Peters on Flyers Gameday Central’s draft preview show. NHL.com’s Mike Morreale and USA Today have Bleyl as the pick at 21 for the Flyers.
Listed at 5-foot-11¼, 170 pounds, the 18-year-old just put up one of the best rookie seasons by a defenseman in Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League history with 81 points in 63 regular-season games — breaking a rookie scoring record for blueliners that stood for 48 years — led the “Q” in assists (68), was named the top defensive rookie, and finished third in playoff scoring (28 points).
A self-described two-way defenseman who has good feet, a pretty strong hockey IQ, and is feisty, the New York native came from the same Mid Fairfield program as Trevor Zegras and is headed to a Flyers favorite, Michigan State, in 2027 alongside 2025 draft pick Matthew Gard, who committed on Thursday.
Maddox Dagenais, RW, Québec (QMJHL)
Why is Dagenais potentially the guy?
The Flyers like Canadians, with 13 of Brière’s draft picks coming from Canada. He is over 6-feet — officially 6-3¾ and 198 pounds — and the Flyers have drafted 17 out of 26 players under the GM at that line of demarcation.
He has pedigree — his dad, Pierre, played in the NHL — and the Remparts forward can play center and wing, with versatility a trait Brière has stressed as important. Dagenais also skated alongside Flyers prospect Nathan Quinn. And his GM in Québec is none other than Simon Gagné, so you know the Flyers have checked in on him. Peters had Dagenais to the Flyers in his final mock draft on Friday.
Dagenais was No. 2 on the Remparts with 62 points (30 goals, 32 assists) in 62 regular-season games and tied for No. 1 in power-play points (25) with Quinn, the Flyers’ 2025 sixth-rounder. A lefty who played the right side, he’s a high-volume shot-taker, can win in the faceoff circle, and loves to throw reverse hits — Gagné said that area of Dagenais’ game reminds him of his ex-Flyers teammate, Peter Forsberg.
An Illinois native, Jack Hextall played for the same youth hockey program as Flyers assistant coach Todd Reirden.
Jack Hextall, C, Youngstown (USHL)
A distant cousin of former Flyers goalie and GM Ron Hextall, this Hextall is a 6-0½ inch, 195-pound right-shot centerman who netted 58 points in 59 games for the Youngstown Phantoms last season and is off to Michigan State to play with Flyers prospect Shane Vansaghi in the fall.
The 18-year-old from Illinois is known for his non-stop motor, high hockey IQ, attention to detail, being relentless, and his pro habits. Those are all attributes the Flyers typically value highly, and Philly has done its homework on Hextall, who was one of the best forwards for the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup-winning Americans with seven points, including three in the championship game.
“Jack has always cared about the whole ice in all three zones. He prides himself on being a trustworthy go-to guy for his coaches,” Youngstown coach Ryan Ward said. “He wants to thrive in all situations, whether that be a shutdown defensive situation or being on the ice when we need to score a goal. So he’s a very mature player for his age.”
JP Hurlbert, LW, Kamloops (WHL)
The 6-0, 190-pound left winger, who can play center, is coming off an impressive season where he won the Rookie of the Year award in the Western Hockey League after posting 97 points (42 goals, 55 assists) in 68 regular-season games. Hurlbert wore an “A” for the Blazers and said at the NHL scouting combine that he is an offensive-minded forward who can anticipate plays, has an accurate and deceptive shot, can freeze defenders, and is “dangerous” whether at five-on-five or on the power play.
“JP is a super offensive hockey player, and he’s really focused on scoring, and he’s good at it,” Nick Fohr, his coach at the U.S. National Team Development Program two seasons ago, told The Inquirer. “ … He’s a really good hockey player, and he’s driven to score. He loves to score, he loves to be around things offensively, and that’s really where he thrives, and where he’s at his best.”
A native of Texas, the 18-year-old thought he had a good meeting with the Flyers and is off to the University of Michigan with prospect Jack Nesbitt in the fall.
Nikita Klepov, RW, Saginaw (OHL)
Born in Florida and raised in Russia, Klepov posted 97 points in 67 games, with 38 points on the power play and three short-handed goals for Saginaw this past season. Bound for Michigan State in the fall, he was named the Ontario Hockey League’s Rookie of the Year and was the first newbie to lead the league in scoring since future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane.
“You don’t lead the OHL in scoring by accident,” The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler told The Inquirer of Klepov, who represents the U.S. internationally and will turn 18 on Saturday. “Extremely, extremely talented player with the puck. He’ll work, too; he’ll go and get it back. He’s average size, so average-size wingers can often linger.
“ … And if you’re looking for a top six guy in the second half of the first round, there’s not going to be a lot of guys who you can say his projection is as a top six guy. Nikita is one of those guys with his playmaking. ”
Miami (Ohio) center Ilia Morozov won’t turn 18 until August.
Ilia Morozov, C, Miami (OH) (NCAA)
TSN’s Craig Button, who has a pretty good knack for making picks, has the Flyers taking the 17-year-old Morozov in his latest mock draft.
Morozov, a two-way center at 6-2¾, 205 pounds who is smart, competitive, and physical, just wrapped up a freshman year at Miami (Ohio) in which he started as the youngest player in men’s college hockey. Morozov, who won’t turn 18 until August, started quickly but cooled off and finished with eight goals — three on the power play and one short-handed — and 20 points in 36 games, helping the school go from a three-win season to 18.
“Thought there was a maturity there, certainly the size and strength, but we still feel like he’s really scratching the surface, even strength-wise,” RedHawks coach Anthony Noreen told The Inquirer. “ … And I think, for me, that’s kind of what’s most exciting about him, this kid is just always taking a monumental leap every summer, and we really feel he’s going to continue to do that.”
Adam Novotný, LW, Peterborough (OHL)
Pro Hockey Group’s Jason Bukala has the Flyers picking Novotný at No. 21, citing his goal scoring abilities. At 6-1 and 200 pounds, the winger, who played the entire season in Peterborough, led his team in goals (34) and points (65) and finished second and tied for fourth in the OHL with 278 shots on goal and eight game-winners, respectively.
A standout at World Juniors, the power forward, who has speed and a strong work ethic, had three assists and a tournament-high 34 shots on goal in seven games for silver-medal-winning Czechia.
“Well-rounded. I think I am versatile, and I can play those different roles,” he said when asked to describe his game at the combine. “That’s maybe something that can help me in the future to make it to the NHL 100%. I think my speed is a weapon too. … And also one-on-one battles, I think I’m very strong in them.”
Maksim Sokolovskii first came to North America as a 16-year-old to play for Atlantic Coast Academy.
Maksim Sokolovskii, LHD, London (OHL)
ESPN, NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman, Wheeler, and Sportsnet’s draft guru Sam Cosentino all have Sokolovskii as the guy for the Flyers. In Western New York at the combine, the word going around was that the Flyers were very high on him but it does make one stop and pause slightly as the Flyers are known to make unexpected picks, like Nesbitt or Jett Luchanko.
But there are several reasons why this makes sense, starting with the fact that he plays for London, the same team from which the Flyers drafted Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk. There’s the sheer size — 6-7¼, 240 pounds — that the Flyers also go for, having drafted fellow giants like the 6-5 Gard, Nesbitt, Carter Amico, and Luke Vlooswyk last year. Sokolovskii, who has a late birthday, is turning 18 in July.
And he’s raw and a project — the Flyers staff loves projects — who needs to work on his puck play. But he does not need to work on his skating and that’s the key here. “When you’re huge, and you can skate, that’s often all that you need for NHL scouts to sort of perk up and start to pay attention,” Wheeler said in Buffalo.
Despite turning 17 last Sept. 3 — quick reminder, players like Luchanko and Spencer Gill were later birthdays — Suvanto spent the majority of the past season skating for Tappara in Liiga, the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. He was a kid among men, skating in the middle-six, and notched two goals and 11 points in 48 games.
A 6-3, 213-pound two-way center, who draws comparisons to the Florida Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov, the fellow Finn considers himself a “big guy who can battle, can win some battles, can protect the puck” and has “OK game-reading skills, [and] can predict plays before that happens.” Suvanto, who was Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson’s pick for the Flyers in his final mock draft, does want to work on his offensive game and be a bigger threat in the offensive zone.
Suvanto played with Flyers prospects Heikki Ruohonen and Max Westergård at World Juniors, where he played on a defensive-minded line. And the drum-playing, lefty-shooting center who hails from the same hometown as Rasmus Ristolainen, knows a thing or two about Philly: “Obviously, Rocky is from that city,” he said at the combine. “ … Big rivalry with the Penguins. … They got Trevor Zegras, good talented player, a lot of young great players so I think they’ve got a good future ahead of them.”
