The West Powelton Steppers and Drum Squad, in celebration of their 35th anniversary, endured the weather and took to the streets, drowning out the sound of rain with the beating of drums on Saturday.
Kicking off at 41st and Filbert and circling back around to 40th and Powelton, the Steppers — known by many in the region for their work as the Sixers Stixers — led a parade to start the day, followed by a ceremony renaming the 4100 block of Powelton, which will now be known as West Powelton Steppers Way.
“The West Powelton Steppers and Drum Squad’s drum beat is Philly’s heartbeat,” Jamie Gauthier, City Councilmember of Philadelphia’s 3rd district, said.
The West Powelton Steppers and Drumline march down the street on Saturday.
Other drumlines and squads, as well as family and friends, joined in the celebration while vendors lined the street in recognition of the group Elsie Wise founded in 1991. Her grandson, Antoine Mapp, is now the director of the West Powelton Steppers.
When Mapp’s grandmother founded the drumline, the hope was to give young people in the community a safe place to go, while instilling core values of discipline and hard work, a legacy Mapp now continues through his work.
Gauthier helped unveil the street renaming and presented Mapp and the steppers with a key to the city. Mapp was also honored with an honorary badge from the sheriff’s office.
“I know that your grandmother is looking down on you right now and is so unbelievably proud,” Gauthier said while addressing Mapp. “You have taken this squad to heights no one could have imagined 35 years ago.”
The West Powelton Steppers march in an event honoring their 35 years entertaining the community.
In their 35 years, the Steppers have become the city’s official steppers, as well as the official steppers for the sheriff’s department and the Philadelphia International Airport. As the Sixers Stixers, they became the official steppers for the 76ers in 2013.
Gauthier commended the Steppers for their ability to “electrify” the crowd anywhere they went, from Sixers games to community rallies. Along with their affiliation with the Sixers, the drum squad also performed in the Eagles Super Bowl parade, the Phillies World Series parade and at some Phillies games where they’re billed as the Bass Line. They’ve performed at Philadelphia Union and Philadelphia Soul games, during halftime for Penn basketball and football, and New Jersey Devils games as well.
Outside of the realm of sports, they’ve performed at amateur night at the Apollo, on America’s Got Talent, and opened for Boyz II Men and *NSYNC, along with countless community events, even winning two regional Emmys in the Mid-Atlantic division.
“People used to call James Brown the hardest working man in show business,” Gauthier said “But I think Antoine Mapp is the hardest working man in Philadelphia.”
Antoine Mapp, the director of the West Powelton Steppers and Drumline, cheers during the street renaming ceremony.
The drumline itself has often been called “the hardest working drumline,” practicing 12 hours and performing at multiple events per week.
Guathier said the multiple ways Philly honored the West Powelton Steppers was the least the city could do to show its appreciation for what has become a staple in the community due to its commitment to “artistic excellence, mentorship, and service.”
“Here’s to an even more impactful next 35 years,” Gauthier said.
Meeting the media over Zoom for the first time after the Flyers called his name in the second round (No. 53), the defenseman was already decked out in a Flyers jersey, and so were at least six of his family members. He joked that the total number at his draft party might even be closer to 30.
Liske’s father is a die-hard Flyers fan and raised his son the same way, so they already had a stack of jerseys at home to celebrate.
“I’ve never heard him yell so loud,” Liske said. “He’s wearing his Flyers jersey, he’s very proud right now. I think he’s a little bit more in awe than I am right now.”
Liske is from Winnipeg, and so is his dad, but he became a Flyers fan in the 1980s watching the Broad Street Bullies, and passed that love on to his kids, even after the Jets returned to Winnipeg in 2011.
“I’ve asked him multiple times, he doesn’t know,” Liske joked when asked how his dad became a fan. “Just when he was younger, I think with the team in the ’80s, the Bullies, he just liked how they played, so no specific reason.”
Liske’s dad even drove an orange Flyers-themed Jeep with a Philly license plate and a Flyers logo tire cover.
Liske’s father may have fallen in love with the Broad Street Bullies, but Liske said his childhood favorite player was Claude Giroux, whose name was on the back of many of the jerseys at Liske’s cabin.
“I was a big Giroux fan, my number was 82, which I flipped around from 28,” Liske said.
His dad was such a huge fan of the Flyers that he made multiple unsuccessful attempts to name Liske after his favorite players.
“If he was a girl, his name would have been Brin or Brindy after Rod Brind’Amour…” said Liske’s father, Lonnie, per the Everett Silvertips. “[Mom] would not agree to the likes of [Rick] Tocchet, [Chris] Pronger, [Bobby] Clarke, or [Peter] Zezel as a middle name. I fought for Brek Tocchet Liske.”
Now, his son will have the opportunity to achieve his lifelong dream of playing in the NHL, and potentially do so while suiting up for their shared favorite team.
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.
When Ghana closes out its final group stage match of the World Cup in Philadelphia against Croatia on Saturday (5 p.m., FS1) it’ll mark the West African nation’s first return to the region since it became a piece of Philly soccer lore 14 years prior on a rainy night in Chester.
Fresh off a run to the semifinals in the African Cup of Nations in 2012, Ghana booked a trip to America to take on Chile in an exhibition match at Subaru Park, which at the time was known as PPL Park. The match, scheduled in February, already had a chill to it, but it was amplified by a driving rain that didn’t let up the entire game.
The first half saw Ghana head into the locker rooms at halftime up, 1-0, after a goal by young midfielder Richard Mpong gave the tiny but loud Ghanaian support plenty to cheer about.
Former Chile and European club star Alexis Sanchez collides with Ghana’s John Pantsil during a 2012 friendly at Subaru Park (then names PPL Park) in Chester.
Typically, a soccer halftime lasts 10-15 minutes. But this time during a pouring rain, fans were treated to a mini-concert by a Ghanaian hip-hop group and virtual games on the stadium’s video board.
But then 20 minutes passed, then 30. Fans were made to believe that it was due to the rain that the match was delayed. But what transpired in Ghana’s locker room had nothing to do with Mother Nature.
It had everything to do with the match promoter failing to make it rain an alleged $125,000 to Ghana’s team. A sum that doesn’t seem like much when you consider that if the amount went only to the 18 Ghanaian players who made the trip, it was less than $6,950 per player.
However, according to the official (and a few unsubstantiated reports), the team was adamant that if the game’s promoter didn’t pay the full amount of their appearance, the team had planned not to return to finish the match.
A high-ranking stadium official who chose to remain anonymous confirmed to the Inquirer that there was a definite “tense situation” going on in the locker rooms, and while they were in the arena that night it was unclear that the issue involved an unpaid Ghana team until much later.
Chile’s Matias Fernandez (center) and Ghana’s Richard Mpong, seen battling for the ball here, were the two goal scorers on the night for their respective clubs.
Coincidentally, according to a 2012 report from Modern Ghana, the match was moved to PPL Park because the promoter failed to secure a venue in New Jersey, due to the “high costs” of the venue.
“There was definitely some type of dispute, and it definitely was some type of issue with the promoter,” the official recalled. “The second half didn’t get underway for some time, and I don’t think fans knew what was going on, but it was heated in the locker room for sure.”
The official, who has firsthand insight into the proceedings of how these matches are typically set up, explained that there are promoters who arrange these international matches and will arrange a sort of half-now, half-later deal with smaller-level international clubs, using the proceeds from the match to close out the deal.
Plenty of pro-Ghana fans stayed through a driving rain that swept across a chilly February night in Chester in 2012 when Ghana played Chile in a friendly.
“Look, I don’t know the ins and outs of this particular night, and it was so long ago, but I do recall it being a very sketchy scenario,” he said. “A lot of times, they’ll look to use the arena, promote the two nations but then ask for like 1,000 consignment tickets, thinking that if they can hand out a handful of free tickets, they’ll recoup out of the arrangement what people might spend in the stadium.”
They added that there are a handful of promoters who handle friendlies today in the same manner. It doesn’t affect the venue, who offers a going rate to rent the facility and its amenities for the match, and once that’s paid, the rest falls on the promoter to turn a profit as they see fit.
“But yeah, there was some type of financial dispute where I think the Ghanaian Federation, the [team’s] manager or somebody felt like they weren’t compensated enough in advance of the game and to them, that was like the last straw,” he said. “It was like, ‘Okay, screw it. We’re not coming out.’”
Eventually, after a halftime delay that lasted over an hour, Ghana did emerge and play the second half. It would end up finishing the match with a 1-1 draw after a goal by Chilean Matias Fernandez would even the score off of a penalty kick in the 75th minute.
On Saturday, Ghana will return with a 26-man roster featuring none of the players or manager who were on that roster in 2012. The game is in a much bigger arena and the stakes are higher as a win will secure Ghana a chance to move to the knockout rounds out of Group L and depending on how scorelines from other games shake out, could even see the nation win the group.
Ghana has yet to lose a match in this World Cup, defeating Panama in its opener, 1-0, followed by a thrilling scoreless draw against group favorites, England on Tuesday.
Last summer, at a win-now moment in their competitive cycle, the Phillies addressed two holes in the roster with one-stop shopping at the trade deadline.
Sort of.
Priority No. 1 felt familiar. Despite trading for a reliever at other recent deadlines, the Phillies’ playoff runs in 2023 and ’24 were torpedoed by the bullpen. So, they went in search of a lockdown late-inning anchor.
But they had another obvious shortcoming: a righty-hitting outfielder to platoon in left field or, better yet, stop the revolving door in center.
For weeks, Dave Dombrowski and his front office made calls and put out feelers. But gridlock in the wild-card standings — think of the Schuylkill Expressway at rush hour — led to market fluidity until a few days before the July 31 deadline.
After fence-sitting amid ownership uncertainty, the Twins finally decided to break up their roster. On the eve of the deadline, the Phillies landed Jhoan Duran for two top-100 prospects (pitcher Mick Abel and teenage catcher Eduardo Tait), a steep price for a closer, albeit a star who came with two full seasons of club control.
Harrison Bader’s name came up in the Duran talks, a source with knowledge of the conversations said, but the Twins kept the center fielder out of the deal as they orchestrated an everything-must-go bonanza in which they wound up unloading 11 major league players. The next day, Bader went to the Phillies for two minor leaguers.
Two trades. One-stop shopping.
Jhoan Duran has locked down the ninth inning for the Phillies since he was acquired at the trade deadline last year.
Eleven months later — still in win-now mode, and back on a 90-win pace at the mathematical midpoint of the season after a 9-19 start that cost manager Rob Thomson his job — the Phillies again have multiple needs. The top priority is up for debate, even among some in the organization, but in some order:
Right-handed hitter
Back-end starting pitcher
Late-inning bridge to Duran
And with the trade deadline a little more than five weeks away — jot it down: Aug. 3, 6 p.m. — it’s worth wondering if they can one-stop shop once again.
Before we explore a few potential trade partners, a few caveats:
1. Across the sport, right-handed hitters had a .703 OPS through Thursday, which would be the third-lowest mark since 1991. Righty-hitting outfielders had a .709 OPS, tied for the second-lowest in the last 70 years. And two of the best, Mike Trout and Byron Buxton, have no-trade clauses and no interest in waiving them.
2. That said, the easiest place for the Phillies to add a right-handed bat is in the outfield … unless they move Bryce Harper back to right field and open first base (or third, if they shift Alec Bohm to first). Harper recently reiterated that he’d be open to it “for the right player.”
Dombrowski, on the other hand …
“We haven’t talked to him about it, and I really don’t contemplate it because I really like the way he goes about his business at first base,” he said recently. “I look at him as being our first baseman.”
The Phillies plan to keep Bryce Harper at first base, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski reiterated recently.
3. Over the last few years, the Phillies traded Abel, Tait, and fellow prospects Hendry Mendez, Starlyn Caba, William Bergolla Jr., George Klassen, Sam Aldegheri, Hao-Yu Lee, Mickey Moniak, Ben Brown, Logan O’Hoppe, and TJ Rumfield, among others. The teams hasn’t been burned, but it has drained the farm system.
Andrew Painter (starting Sunday in triple A), Justin Crawford (graduated to the majors), and Aidan Miller (injured) were largely untouchable in previous talks. If that’s still the case, the best chips in a top-heavy system are right-hander Gage Wood, infielder Aroon Escobar, outfielder Dante Nori, and 17-year-old outfielder Francisco Renteria, off to a flying start in the Dominican Summer League.
It begs the question of whether the Phillies have the prospect capital to fill each of their needs.
“We feel good where our system’s at,” general manager Preston Mattingly said recently on Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast. “We’re not concerned about a lack of assets in the minor leagues. A lot of times you see that top-100 [prospects] list. That’s not necessarily what teams internally talk about, and those are not the players they ask about.”
4. Remember that Schuylkill-style traffic jam in the standings last July? Well, entering the weekend, 24 teams were in a playoff spot or no more than five games out. Only four American League teams — four! — were even above .500.
Given the dearth of obvious sellers, one league source predicted that contenders may have to trade with each other. Think of the 2024 deadline, when the Phillies got outfielder Austin Hays in a buyer-to-buyer swap with the Orioles.
5. Oh, and did we mention there’s a work stoppage looming in December? The owners and players are at odds over, well, everything. And regardless of whether the owners get their salary cap, the sport’s economic system will change in ways that front offices can’t possibly anticipate as they maneuver at the deadline.
Got all that? Amid that backdrop, here’s a look at three teams that might match up with the Phillies on one or more of their needs.
Despite not hitting for as much power as usual, Orioles outfielder Taylor Ward is reaching base at a .389 clip entering the weekend.
Baltimore Orioles
Here’s all you need to know about the state of play in the AL: The Orioles haven’t been over .500 since April 14, but were only 1½ games out of a wild-card spot entering the weekend.
No wonder a white flag isn’t flying over Camden Yards.
The next two weeks may determine which trade-deadline lane the Orioles choose. They play 12 of 15 games before the All-Star break at home, where they were 22-19 with a plus-13 run differential going into the weekend.
And if they’re still undecided on a path as the deadline approaches, the Phillies will visit Baltimore on July 31.
Ward, 32, was popular in trade rumors for years with the Angels before finally getting dealt to the Orioles in the offseason. He entered the weekend with only five homers after averaging 24 in the last four seasons, but appears to have traded power for on-base ability, reaching at a .389 clip.
(Phillies right-handed hitters had combined for a .269 on-base percentage, last in the majors.)
Ward would fit atop the order ahead of Kyle Schwarber and Harper, enabling interim manager Don Mattingly to finally slide Trea Turner down. Or the Phillies could put Ward in the cleanup spot behind Harper and work on restoring his fly-ball and barrel rates to his career levels.
As a free agent after the season, Ward probably won’t come at a high acquisition cost. But the Orioles would get a better return if they package him with rental starter Trevor Rogers or controllable relievers Yennier Cano or Rico Garcia.
Potential trade: Ward and Cano for Nori and right-hander Ramon Marquez.
Giants lefty Robbie Ray has allowed one earned run or fewer in four of his last five starts.
San Francisco Giants
Two years ago, the Phillies raced to a big lead en route to an NL East title. But they went 33-33 after the All-Star break and lost their momentum in part because they lacked a competent No. 5 starter.
Dombrowski regretted not getting one at the deadline.
“I’ll take the responsibility,” he said after a divisional-round knockout. “When you look at the fifth spot that we had, that was not a good spot at all for us the last two months of the season.”
Maybe it will inform how Dombrowski acts now, with Painter back in triple A and a hole at the back of the rotation. But teams don’t use five starters in the postseason. So, unless the Phillies can upgrade from Aaron Nola, or even Jesús Luzardo, they won’t want to give up an asset.
In that case, the rental market is an option. And the Giants’ Robbie Ray is a classic rental. The 34-year-old lefty will be a free agent after the season. He has pitched well lately, too, allowing one earned run or fewer in four of his last five starts.
In lieu of what the Giants really want to do — offload unwieldy long-term contracts for Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, and Rafael Devers — they almost certainly will move Ray.
If the Phillies take on the $12.5 million that Ray is owed through the end of the season, the return would be minimal. But the Giants can get a better prospect by including, say, controllable outfielder Heliot Ramos, who is nearing a return from a quadriceps strain.
Potential trade: Ray and Ramos for outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. and righty Jean Cabrera.
Aroldis Chapman has a 1.41 and 46 saves for the Red Sox over the last two seasons.
Boston Red Sox
When the Red Sox finally accept reality and go into sell mode, they will have players who are in demand.
Atop the list: fire-breathing closer Aroldis Chapman.
Even at age 38, Chapman is lighting up radar guns and overpowering hitters. Entering the weekend, these were his numbers in two years with the Red Sox: 1.39 ERA, 47-for-50 in save chances, 114 strikeouts, 25 walks in 84 innings. His fastball still averages 97.4 mph.
Chapman has 382 career saves, 10th on the all-time list. With the Phillies, he would supplant José Alvarado as the high-leverage lefty and set up for Duran. He has filled a setup role before, notably in 2023 for the World Series-winning Rangers.
Two years ago, the Phillies acquired walk-year closer Carlos Estévez from the Angels for two pitching prospects (Klassen and Aldegheri). The Sox will likely seek a similar haul for Chapman, a free agent at season’s end.
They will have a harder time maximizing the value for outfielder Jarren Duran. Although he’s under team control through 2028, the 29-year-old’s production has dropped off since his All-Star season in 2024.
Duran is a left-handed hitter, not an ideal fit for the Phillies. But given the lack of righty-hitting outfield options, he’s worth considering as a buy-low candidate.
Potential trade: Chapman and Duran for Escobar, Marquez, and righty Matthew Fisher.
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.
