Think of the Flyers as an explorer who landed on a deserted island. On this island, deep within miles of thick jungle, is treasure. The explorer knows the treasure is there somewhere, and he aims to find it.
Leo Carlsson would have been a new machete: sharp, strong, capable of cutting through all those vines and branches and trunks to make the Flyers’ journey to those riches easier and faster. Now the explorer won’t have that tool. Now that the Anaheim Ducks have matched the five-year, $90-million offer sheet that Carlsson signed with the Flyers last week, the Flyers won’t have the steel blade that Carlsson represented as a 6-foot-3, 21-year-old, clear-cut first-line center just entering his prime.
So where does that leave them? It means that their trek to that treasure, to their first Stanley Cup since 1974-75, will likely be slower and less certain. They may get to it eventually, but it’s going to take more time and be more costly.
Had the Ducks declined to match the Flyers’ audacious offer — and make no mistake, this gambit by Danny Brière was bold and creative, as close to a Now youse can’t leave move as an NHL general manager can make — Anaheim would have received four first-round picks from the Flyers. That price would have been steep. But the Flyers would have added Carlsson, who averaged nearly a point a game last season, is an excellent player now, and has shown every sign that he will get even better.
They need a No. 1 center, not merely for the talent and scoring touch such a player would provide, but also so they can slot their other centers — Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak, and Sean Couturier — more appropriately. With Carlsson (or any center of similar caliber, for that matter), Zegras would have become the second-line guy. Dvorak would have become a terrific third-line guy. And Couturier would have remained in the role he played so well in last season’s playoffs, as an outstanding fourth-line checker, faceoff-taker, and leader.
What’s more, the Flyers have a roster and a farm system with plenty of promising young players, and if this move had come to fruition, they wouldn’t have had to sacrifice any of them to fill one of their biggest holes. That’s perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this result for them: That luxury of gaining an emerging superstar without having to give up valuable players and/or prospects already within the organization likely is no longer available to them.
With the Carlsson episode behind him, Flyers general manager Danny Brière must be practical about the team’s range of needs.
They’re interested in the Detroit Red Wings’ Dylan Larkin, for instance; though Larkin is 7½ years older than Carlsson, he still would fit the Flyers like a well-tailored suit. But assuming Larkin, who has a full no-movement clause, is even willing to join the Flyers, the trade package necessary to acquire him would probably have to include a player or two on their current roster. Would Larkin be worth the departure of, say, Owen Tippett and/or Denver Barkey?
Just because Brière made such a huge play for Carlsson doesn’t mean he has to answer that question, immediately or ever. The smartest thing he and the Flyers’ leadership team have done in the three years since he took over as GM has been to give themselves flexibility in improving the team. They didn’t have to shock the NHL by presenting that offer sheet to Carlsson — a proposal for a contract that has now made him the league’s highest-paid player. But they did. After years of running in place, after qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 2020, they declared that they were ready to spend again, but they made that declaration on their terms.
They have several choices for how they can proceed. They need not just a No. 1 center, but a top-pair defenseman, or at least one capable of quarterbacking a power play. They can act quickly to acquire one or both of those players, to find short-term and/or long-term answers to those lingering questions, or they can wait.
Remember: Even if they had won their duel with the Ducks for Carlsson, the Flyers wouldn’t have been considered a true contender this season for the Stanley Cup. Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Tyson Foerster, Jamie Drysdale, Alex Bump, Zegras: All of them have growth and development ahead of them. Yes, the Flyers’ hunt will take longer now that Leo Carlsson, that oh-so useful tool, will remain on the West Coast, but they can still find that chest of gold. They just have to take care not to get lost along the way.
The Flyers announced they have reached the end of their rebuild on Friday, when they tendered an offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson for five years and $90 million. The average annual value would be an NHL-record $18 million, at least for a while. Carlsson is a restricted free agent, so Anaheim has a week to match the offer. If they do not, the Flyers would send them their next four first-round draft picks as compensation.
Carlsson would fill the massive hole in the Flyers’ lineup at the first-line center spot that has existed since they traded Claude Giroux in March 2022 and announced the first real rebuild in franchise history. Coincidentally, Giroux, now a 38-year-old free agent, apparently is the consolation prize if the Ducks match the Carlsson offer.
This is a marked departure from the Flyers’ behavior since Danny Brière became general manager in March 2023. His moves have been conservative. His strategy has been patience. Brière, president Keith Jones, and governor Dan Hilferty have resisted adding pricey veterans and have moved on from aging players to allow younger players the ice time to blossom.
However, with every move, Brière has said:
“If something makes too much sense for the future of this organization, we’re going to take it.”
They took it.
They had to after this past season.
They discovered a franchise goalie, they saw their young core overachieve under first-year coach Rick Tocchet, they saw defenseman Travis Sanheim, 30, round into one of the best blueliners in the game, and they realized that their window was opening a year or two earlier than they expected.
They dabbled in discussions to add other completion pieces, but in the end, going all-in for a 21-year-old budding star in Carlsson just made too much sense.
They made the playoffs on the backs of some of those younger players, such as 21-year-old winger Matvei Michkov, in his second season, and 19-year-old winger Porter Martone, who joined the team straight from the NCAA Tournament, as well as the emergence of late-bloomer goalie Dan Vladař.
Then they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins on the backs of some of those same players and, again, Vladař. He just agreed to a five-year extension and will be under contract for the next six seasons. Tyson Foerster, a 24-year-old winger, also had a year left on his contract when, on Wednesday, he signed an eight-year, $56.8 million extension.
Leo Carlsson, 21, is one of the NHL’s top rising stars. Last year, he averaged just under a point per game for the Anaheim Ducks.
Now, the Flyers have offered Carlsson the moon.
Rebuild over.
This comes on the back of the Sixers’ surprise trade with the Celtics, in which Boston sent star swingman Jaylen Brown, 29, to Philly in exchange for broken-down Paul George, 36, and the crippling contract he carries, as well as two first-round picks and two second-round picks.
And don’t forget that the Eagles traded disgruntled franchise receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots last month.
Oh, yeah: LeBron James is considering signing with the Sixers, too.
Perplexingly, the news about Carlsson might have a larger impact than any of the others — and it could have the least impact as well.
Four firsts and $90 million is a massive overpayment for a player who, after three seasons, sits firmly in the second tier of NHL stars. But prying a restricted free agent from his team always requires overpayment, and that’s why it happens so seldom.
That said, Carlsson’s goals and points totals have steadily increased, though his 67 points last season were tied with three other players, including potential new teammate Trevor Zegras, for 57th in the league. The Flyers are banking on the ever-improving Carlsson, who possesses a tantalizing combination of size (6-foot-3, 208 pounds), speed, skill, and goal-scoring ability, growing into one of the league’s top players.
This (pending) move is sort of a bookend to the trade of Giroux to the Florida Panthers. Part of the return from that deal was cornerstone winger Owen Tippett and a third-round pick that became promising forward Denver Barkey.
More than anything, though, this move is a recognition that the Flyers believe they are much closer to winning their first title in five decades than they’d previously advertised.
Flyers general manager Danny Briere’s offer sheet sends a clear signal that he believes the Flyers can win now.
Between Vladař, Sanheim, 29-year-old All-Star wing Travis Konecny, and 33-year-old captain Sean Couturier, a former first-line center now serving as a fourth-line defensive specialist, the Flyers have a productive veteran core. Couturier has four years left on his deal. Konecny has seven years left.
What that means is there is a five- or six-year window in which the Flyers, scanning the landscape of the NHL, believe they can win it all. And, apparently, it just made too much sense to add Carlsson to this roster, regardless of the absurd price.
It is the dawn of a new era in the NHL, and the Flyers are officially among the trailblazers.
A few short hours after watching the next generation wrap up development camp with a spirited and competitive three-on-three tournament, Danny Brière and the Flyers announced they are major players for today’s stars with the signing of budding star Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet.
The offer is a five-year contract worth an average annual value of $18 million. According to a league source, it is front-loaded with a heavy signing bonus. It would make Carlsson the highest-paid player in terms of AAV in the NHL and would walk him directly to unrestricted free agency.
Pat Verbeek and the Anaheim Ducks have seven days to match the offer. If they don’t, according to the team’s press release, the Flyers would have to transfer their own first-round draft pick in each of the next four seasons as compensation. However, according to PuckPedia, it is four in the next five years.
The yearly signing bonus payments in Leo Carlsson's offer sheet: $19.95M, $18.1M, $17.05M, $15.2M and $15M.
Carlsson, a restricted free agent, is coming off his entry-level contract, and the two teams could also elect to work out a trade for the Swedish center ahead of Anaheim’s deadline. It should be noted that if the Ducks match the contract, they cannot trade Carlsson for one year.
Carlsson, 21, is a 6-foot-3, 208-pound center and is coming off a breakout season. There is the critique that the deal is an overpayment, but he is exactly the type of young No. 1 center the Flyers have been craving for years. Ironically, the last 1C was Claude Giroux, who is in talks with the Flyers, although it sounds like that potential reunion is contingent on what happens with Carlsson.
Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson (91) is widely considered one of the top young players in the NHL.
The Swede has size, speed, playmaking ability, and a lethal shot. Selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft, Carlsson had 29 goals, 38 assists, and 67 points in 70 games this past season, despite missing time from mid-January to the Olympic break with a Morel-Lavallée lesion in his left thigh. According to Physiopedia, this is “due to shearing forces which separate the skin and subcutaneous tissue from the deep fascia.”
Four of his goals and 18 of his points last season came on the power play. He added another four goals and 11 points in 12 playoff games, his first postseason experience. Across 201 career games, he has 141 points (61 goals and 80 assists) with a 14.7 shooting percentage, while he has won 41% of the career faceoffs he has taken — although it was 34.8% his first year.
Carlsson is a former teammate of Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale — both of whom are restricted free agents and due new contracts. Zegras and Drysdale’s new deals are expected to account for something in the neighborhood of $15 million combined.
According to PuckPedia, the Flyers have a smidge over $29 million in cap space before Carlsson’s proposed deal. If Anaheim does not match, that leaves $11 million in cap space for the Flyers — technically, because the PuckPedia numbers have Nolan Foote ($850,000), Jett Luchanko ($941,667), Carl Grundström ($1 million), and Oliver Bonk ($909,166) in the NHL. It is also burying David Jiříček’s salary in the minors, but all signs point to Jiříček — who is no longer waiver-exempt — and his $1.5 million cap hit being in the NHL.
Adding the first four names and subtracting Jiříček and Carlsson, that leaves just over $13 million between Drysdale and Zegras, with the expectation that fellow restricted free agents Nikita Grebenkin and Hunter McDonald would also be in the minors. If Anaheim doesn’t match the offer sheet, the Flyers would likely have to move a contract or two out to accommodate Carlsson’s massive deal.
Former Flyers right wing Cam Atkinson (left) and Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson battle for the puck during a game in 2023.
The offer sheet also leaves Anaheim in a pickle, as the Ducks still have to sign restricted free agents Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, and Tyson Hinds. Next summer, Tim Washe is up for a new deal, and in two years, budding star Beckett Sennecke should also get a monster deal.
Brière and Verbeek have some history. They came into their GM roles roughly the same time — Brière in May 2023 and Verbeek in February 2022 — and have already made two major deals. In January 2024, Gauthier was sent to the Ducks for Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick that became Jack Murtagh. Last June, the Flyers acquired Zegras for Ryan Poehling, a 2025 second-rounder and a 2026 fourth-round pick. Because of these trades, it is a good sign that the Ducks would not be retaliatory and try to offer sheet Zegras or Drysdale.
Although this is the first offer sheet for Brière, this is not the first in Flyers history. In 2006, they tendered an offer sheet to Ryan Kesler, but the Vancouver Canucks matched. In 2012, with Paul Holmgren at the helm, defenseman Shea Weber was signed to a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet that the Nashville Predators matched. And before the salary-cap era, Chris Gratton was signed to an offer sheet in 1997, and the Tampa Bay Lightning did not match; however, two of the four first-rounders were sent back in a trade for Mikael Renberg and Karl Dykhuis.
If we’ve learned anything lately from smallish Flyers GM Danny Brière, it’s that size matters.
The Flyers were swept out of the second round of the playoffs by the fast, physical, slightly bigger Carolina Hurricanes, and often struggled against bigger, heavier teams. Their defensemen were particularly unimposing, and Brière has been on teams where the bigger, the better. His teams as a young player in Buffalo brought the beef and laid the wood. The 2010 Flyers made their Stanley Cup runs with 6-foot-6, 220-pound Chris Pronger and 6-5, 224-pound Braydon Coburn lying in wait for unsuspecting forwards.
The Flyers’ most promising prospect is 5-10, 172-pound wing Matvei Michkov. Brière, who was 5-9 and 174 pounds as a player, knows little guys need big guys to protect them.
For all the beautiful hockey witnessed in South Philly, physicality is part of the Flyers’ DNA. The franchise’s two best players, Bobby Clarke and Eric Lindros, were known as much for their guts as their skill.
Brière recognizes this.
His two, er, biggest pieces last offseason were 6-5 veteran goalie Dan Vladař and 6-3 first-rounder Porter Martone, both of whom pushed the Flyers into the playoffs and past the Penguins in the first round.
Darnell Nurse, Donovan McNabb’s nephew and a defenseman who asked for a trade out of Edmonton, landed with San Jose but the Flyers were in the mix. He’s 6-4, 215, and he would have been the second-biggest skater on the roster if he came to Philadelphia.
Porter Martone’s late-season addition to the Flyers helped push them to the playoffs and to a series win over the Penguins.
Vladař also signed an extension, for five years and $27.5 million. Only four other full-time starters are as big as he is; his nickname, “Darth Vladař,” certainly fits.
Retaining Foerster and Vladař underscored the club’s commitment to heft. The most significant move before those deals included trading talented defenseman Emil Andrae, who, at 5-9, was the shortest of a legion of Lilliputian blueliners. Cam York, the overtime hero who eliminated the Penguins in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series, is listed at 6-foot, perhaps measured while wearing his helmet. Jamie Drysdale, the No. 2 scoring defenseman last season, is 5-11 … ish.
“It did make our defense a little small at times,” Brière said when Andrae was dealt. “We have Jamie and Yorky there, so the three of them — it wasn’t ideal.”
It’s notable that Brière recently has traded sizable wingers Garnet Hathaway, who is part wolverine, and Nic Deslauriers, who is not. And Brière will always choose exceptional skill in a smaller package over modest skill in XXL.
But XXL occupies more space on the ice and carries a lot more punishment in the corners than small/medium. These Flyers are growing by leaps and bounds in performance, expectation, and laundry bills.
Team Canada defenseman Travis Sanheim, the Flyers’ best player at 6-4 and 222 pounds, is the biggest skater on the roster, and he’s under contract for five more years. The back end of that deal could see the back end of the hockey team grow like Jack’s beanstalk.
The Flyers used their first-round pick on Maksim Sokolovskii, a 6-7, 240-pound bulldozer with the attitude of that bulldog you see on the grills of Mack dump trucks. Properly fed, he could occupy most of the defensive zone by himself. He doesn’t even turn 18 until July 12.
Apparently, neither his speed nor his skill warrants a first-round grade, but, as Brière noted, speed and skill can be developed.
“He was also a big defenseman, something we don’t have a lot of. We don’t expect him to be the next big point producer. We see him as a big physical force, a defenseman that’s going to be tough to face,” Brière said. “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 are things that you can’t teach.”
Things like size. Things like grit.
The Flyers selected 6-foot-7 defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii in the first round of the NHL draft last week.
“He’s still going to be 6-foot-7 two years from now,” Brière said, “and that internal physicalness is something you can’t really teach.”
That was true when 6-6 Kjell Samuelsson and 6-5 Chris Therien helped the Flyers to the 1997 Stanley Cup Final.
It was true when — in a different era, when a 200-pound defenseman was imposing — the Broad Street Bullies went to three straight Cup finals from 1974-76, and won twice.
Will Brière’s strategy revive the Broad Street Bully ethic and swagger?
No. Nothing will ever do that. The NHL has grown softer than playoff ice, and won’t allow it.
NHL free agency officially opened at noon on Wednesday, meaning the Flyers could begin signing free agents from other teams. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Flyers quickly inked goalie Dan Vladař to a longterm extension, worth $27.5 million over five years.
They also agreed to a two-year deal with Noel Acciari, who is expected to be their fourth-line center.
Before those deals, the Flyers had about $32.7 million in cap space, a number that will drop to around $17 million if the team re-signs Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale as expected.
Defenseman John Carlson and center Dylan Larkin remain among the list of top trade targets for the Flyers.
// Timestamp 07/01/26 5:47pm
Zach Werenski staying in Columbus despite trade speculation
The Flyers won’t be landing Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski.
After weeks of speculation and a vetoed trade to Dallas, Zach Werenski is staying in Columbus after all.
The Blue Jackets and Werenski released statements Wednesday saying that Werenski wants to stay in Columbus and maintains his desire to win there. The statement including the following:
“The past two seasons have been very challenging ones, but also ones of growth for our team. Our goals from ownership on down and Zach’s goals are the same … to win a Stanley Cup. Our city and our fans deserve nothing less and we are all on the same page working towards that end. Zach has been a very important part of this organization and our community for a long time, and we couldn’t be happier that he will continue to be moving forward.”
Werenski, who won the Norris Trophy last season as the league’s best defenseman, echoed similar sentiments.
“[President of hockey operations Don Waddell] and I have had very open and honest dialogue since the season ended” his statement said. “Ideally, this wouldn’t have become such a public thing but that is the world we live in now and everything got blown out of proportion in my opinion. I want to win and I want to do that in Columbus.
“As I’ve thought about things and discussed everything with my wife and family, we want to be in Columbus. It has been my home for the past 10 years and I have always been proud to be a Blue Jacket. We have the best fans in the NHL. I love my teammates and coaches and I’m looking forward to doing everything I can to get us back in the playoffs to compete for a Stanley Cup. Don and I are completely aligned on that and are excited about what’s to come with our team.”
After signing former Flyers goalie Sam Ersson earlier on Wednesday, the Ottawa Senators have signed two former Flyers farmhands in defenseman Christian Kyrou and center Philip Tomasino.
Kyrou and Tomasino were both in-season additions for the Phantoms and both put up strong numbers in the AHL. The Flyers did not qualify either player by Monday’s deadline.
Flyers add more AHL depth with Jack Studnicka and Cam Dineen
In addition to Zach Aston-Reese and Danila Klimovich, the Flyers announced they have signed AHLers Jack Studnicka and Cam Dineen as they look to fill out their roster in Lehigh Valley.
Studnicka, 27, has bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL with Boston, Vancouver, San Jose, and last year in Florida. He had 30 points for the Charlotte Checkers last year in 41 games and was held pointless in 19 games with the Panthers. The forward has just 16 points in 126 NHL games but has been a productive American leaguer throughout his career.
The last name Dineen may ring a bell in Philly, but Cam is not related to former Flyers captain Kevin Dineen or Kevin’s father, and former Flyers coach, Bill Dineen. The younger Dineen is 28-year-old defenseman and a native of Toms River, N.J. A former third-round pick, he has played almost 400 games in the AHL.
OFFICIAL: We have agreed to terms with forward Carl Grundstrom on a one-year contract worth an average annual value (AAV) of $1 million. https://t.co/quTjpWlDjw
After weeks of twists and turns, the Darnell Nurse saga has come to a conclusion that will not see him follow in his uncle Donovan McNabb’s footsteps in Philly.
Nurse, who beat the Oilers to the punch by demanding a trade this summer, is headed to San Jose in a trade that will see defensive defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin go the other way. In the end, the Oilers, somewhat miraculously, did not have to retain any of Nurse’s $9.25 million salary.
Sharks are acquiring Darnell Nurse from Edmonton at his full $9.25M cap hit
The Inquirer reported a few weeks back that there was mutual interest between Nurse and the Flyers, but only if the Oilers retained some of Nurse’s salary. In the end, the Oilers found a dance party and the Flyers rightfully walked away from the negotiating table for the 31-year-old blueliner.
Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse (left) already had the Flyers on his shortlist.
The Flyers have been confirmed as one of three teams rugged defenseman Darnell Nurse would be willing to accept a trade to. But that list could soon grow. With Edmonton yet to find a deal, Sportsnet reports that Nurse could add teams to his list, with San Jose mentioned by Elliotte Friedman.
There is word this afternoon Darnell Nurse has agreed to expand his list of teams he will accept a trade to.
San Jose is one to watch. We will see where it goes.
One potential hang-up with Nurse is salary retention, as the Flyers likely would want Edmonton to pay at least 25-30% of Nurse’s $9.25 million cap hit. That would bring Nurse down to a much more manageable $6.5-7 million player, and make him a more attractive proposition as a second-pair guy. The Flyers also could be waiting things out on the blue line, as they are reportedly still in the mix for Zach Werenski and John Carlsson, and also have a decision to make with Rasmus Ristolainen.
Nurse, 31, is a left-shot who brings toughness and shot suppression to a team’s back end. He also happens to be the nephew of former Eagles QB Donovan McNabb.
Flyers add more depth with forward Zach Aston-Reese
The Flyers continued to add organizational depth Wednesday with the signing of NHL veteran Zach Aston-Reese. Aston-Reese’s deal is a two-year one-way/two-way deal, which will see the NHL vet make $850,000 this season.
Zach Aston-Reese. 2 years. Philadelphia Flyers.
Aston-Reese has agreed to terms on a 2-year (yr. 1 – $850k one way. yr. 2 $700/$900k) NHL contract with the Flyers. The orange and black just got another Gold Star ⭐️ #LetsGoFlyers#WeAreGoldStar! pic.twitter.com/8OW3hMcB84
Best known for his time with the Penguins, the veteran forward has compiled 49 goals and 102 points in 416 career NHL games. The 31-year-old split last season between the Columbus Blue Jackets and their AHL team in Cleveland, tallying five points in 27 NHL games and another 16 points in 27 AHL contests. Aston-Reese, who can play center or wing. will be expected to compete for an NHL spot in training camp, but seems more likely to be ticketed for an AHL job.
Phantoms’ point leader Lane Pederson heads to L.A.
Flyers farmhand Lane Pederson has found a new home in Los Angeles.
Pederson, who had 23 goals and 48 points to lead the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last season, got into five games with the Flyers last season. The first year of Pederson’s deal has a two-way option, but it converts to a one-way in Year 2.
Flyers lock down Tyson Foerster with eight-year extension
Flyers right wing Tyson Foerster isn’t going anywhere for a long time.
It’s been a rollercoaster start to his career, but Tyson Foerster’s feet are firmly planted in Philly.
On Wednesday, the 24-year-old winger inked an eight-year extension with an average annual value of $7.1 million. According to league sources, it has limited trade protection in Years 3-8, but it does not feature a no-move clause. The contract will start after next season, when Foerster was scheduled to become a restricted free agent.
“We’re excited to have Tyson be a key part of our long-term future,” general managerDanny Brière said in the team’s press release. “He has established himself as an important piece of the foundation we’re building here. Since coming up through our system, he’s continued to improve and develop every step of the way into a consistent offensive contributor while also being a trusted and reliable 200-foot player.
“We have a great deal of confidence in him and believe he’ll play a significant role as we continue building toward a successful team for years to come.”
According to league source, it is a 2-way deal for the #Flyers & Danila Klimovich with a cap hit of $850K in the NHL. Klimovich won 2025 Calder Cup with Abbotsford.
And a fun fact (I know you all ❤️them): teammate of Aleksei Kolosov for Belarus at 2021 Men's World Championship https://t.co/0BJEupnAu8
Former Flyer Luke Schenn is on the move again, as the rugged defenseman is signing with the Vancouver Canucks.
WELCOME BACK, SCHENNER!
General Manager Ryan Johnson announced today that the #Canucks have agreed to terms with defenceman Luke Schenn on a one-year contract worth $2.25M AAV. pic.twitter.com/nGAMVXqgn9
Schenn, 36, played in Philadelphia from 2012-16. The well-traveled defenseman, who has played for 10 NHL teams, will return to Vancouver for the second time.
The move could spell the end for four-time Vezina Trophy winner and U.S. Olympic hero Connor Hellebuyck in Winnipeg. Rumors have been swirling that Hellebuyck wants out and that Buffalo and Carolina could be potential landing spots.
The Fourth Period reports the Flyers are signing winger Danila Klimovich.
Klimovich, 23, is probably an organizational depth move, as he seems likely to begin the season the Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League. The former second-round pick has spent the past five seasons in the Vancouver Canucks organization, playing with AHL affiliate, Abbotsford.
The Belarusian forward had 18 goals and 34 points last season in the AHL, a year after he scored 25 times and helped Abbotsford win the Calder Cup. Klimovich’s time in Vancouver would have overlapped with Flyers coach Rick Tocchet and assistant Yogi Svejkovský.
Flyers center Trevor Zegras and Penguins center Noel Acciari tangle during a game in October.
The Flyers look to have found their new fourth-line center, as Sportsnet reports they have agreed to a two-year contract with Noel Acciari that carries a $2.8 million cap hit.
Acciari, 34, had 13 goals, 25 points, and an impressive plus-14 rating in 67 games this season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had one assist in six playoff games against the Flyers, winning 61% of his faceoffs. Known for his face-off ability, nastiness, and penalty killing, Acciari will likely take the spot vacated by Luke Glendening.
In 585 career games with the Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Penguins, Acciari has 81 goals and 144 points.
He was a teammate of Owen Tippett’s in Florida and worked with Todd Reirden in Pittsburgh for one season
He was a member of the Bruins’ 2019 Stanley Cup Final team, chipping in with four points in 19 games.
Defenseman Noah Juulsen, who along with Emil Andrae spent most of last season swapping in and out on the third pair, is headed to Colorado. Jackie Spiegel previously reported that he wouldn’t return to the Flyers, but it appears he’s found a landing spot.
Reports: Flyers in the mix for Hurricanes’ John Carlson
John Carlson hasn't closed the door to Carolina, but the Hurricanes couldn't close the deal before noon ET so Carlson's agent Rick Curran now taking calls from other teams as well. I think Tampa Bay and Philadelphia are among them. We'll see where this goes for the No. 1 UFA D.
Former Flyers goalie Sam Ersson signed with Ottawa Wednesday.
Former Flyers goalie Sam Ersson, who was traded twice this offseason, can finally unpack his bags.
Ersson has signed a two-year, $2.2 million contract with the Ottawa Senators, according to Sportsnet. The 26-year-old is expected to back up fellow Swede Linus Ullmark in Ottawa. The Flyers traded Ersson last month alongside Emil Andrae to Toronto in a deal to acquire Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit. The restricted free agent’s negotiating rights were then traded to Ottawa on June 26 for a fifth-round pick.
The New Jersey Devils re-signed center Nico Hischier to a huge five-year deal.
In addition to long-term deals for Dan Vladař and Tyson Foerster, contracts and extensions are rolling in across the league. Here’s a look at what has happened so far:
Former Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas is reportedly signing a six-year contract with the Florida Panthers with an average annual value of $1.5 million. Gudas, whose rights were acquired from Anaheim this week, is the latest veteran Panther to receive one of those stretched out contracts.
The Panthers also have locked up middle-six winger Eetu Luostarinen to an eight-year, $40 million extension ($5 million AAV).
Buffalo has reportedly signed newly-acquired smooth-skating defenseman Olen Zellweger to a three-year, $9 million deal ($3 million AAV). The restricted free agent was someone we mentioned as a potential fit for the Flyers entering the summer.
Montreal locks up budding superstar Ivan Demidov to an eight-year contract with an AAV of $9.125 million.
New Jersey has locked in captain Nico Hischier to a massive five-year contract. The Swiss international, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2017 Nolan Patrick draft, is one of the league’s top defensive forwards and now will make $11.7 million-a-year beginning in the 2027-27 season.
Los Angeles has been busy as they have reportedly agreed to deals with veteran forwards Erik Haula (two-year, $3.6 million) and Mats Zuccarello (one-year, $1 million).
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar parlayed his career best season into a longterm deal.
Last July 1, the Flyers surprised many by signing Dan Vladař to a two-year, $6.7 million contract. Vladař then went out and surprised many with his play.
One year later, Vladař is sticking around for the foreseeable future. According to a league source, he is signing a five-year, $27.5 million contract extension with an annual average value of $5.5 million. The contract comes with a no-trade clause for the first two years, followed by a no-movement clause for the remaining three years, with it dwindling from 15 teams to five. Vladař’s contract won’t kick in until the 2027-28 season and will take him through his age 34 season.
The writing had been on the wall for some time that this was happening. Asked about the rumors of an extension, Vladař joked at his end-of-season availability that, while he would accept the phone call for the extension, “If you can ask the same question to Danny Brière, I’m going to be watching. So we’ll see what he says.”
Two days later, the general manager was quick to respond, saying, “I heard his answer. Maybe we wait, and I’ll talk to you guys [off camera] about that.” The extension could not be signed until July 1.
Good morning! Happy Free Agency Frenzy Day to all who celebrate. Here's what we know re: #Flyers
– 4th-line center. 3 names in play, one being Glendening – Add some toughness with Deslauriers and Hathaway gone – Vladar extension coming – Restocking Lehigh Valley – Nurse in mix
Ottawa Senators right winger Claude Giroux (center), defenseman Thomas Chabot (right), and right wing Drake Batherson (left) celebrate a goal.
With Mavrik Bourque off the board, could the Flyers pivot to a familiar face?
Pierre LeBrun reports that the Flyers have interest in bringing back former captain Claude Giroux.
Giroux, 38, has played the last four seasons for the hometown Ottawa Senators. The Flyers traded Giroux in March of 2022 for a package that included Owen Tippett and a first-round pick.
Giroux, who ranks second in career games (1,000) and points (900) in Flyers history, is still an effective top-six player. Last season, he had 14 goals and 49 points, including 13 points on the power play. While he’s mostly played wing in Ottawa, he’s also still one of the league’s top face-off men (63% last season on almost 800 draws). He also has a strong personal connection to Philadelphia and general manager Danny Brière.
The Flyers were reportedly in the mix for Dallas Stars forward Mavrik Bourque but ultimately lost out to the Nashville Predators. The Preds paid a modest price of second- and third-round picks for the 24-year-old Bourque, who had 20 goals last season. They also took on the final year of defenseman Ilya Lyubuskin’s deal in the trade, which was reportedly a deal-breaker for the Flyers. The Preds will now need to extend Bourque who is a restricted free agent.
For a player of Bourque’s age and upside, one year of eating $3.25 million owed to Lyubushkin doesn’t seem like the end of the world. We’ll see where the Flyers go from here in search of a center.
Stars forward Mavrik Bourque could be on the move as Dallas looks to clear cap space.
Dallas’ Mavrik Bourque has been viewed by many around the league as a prime offer-sheet target given Dallas is big-game hunting and has limited cap flexibility.
The threat of that could also lead to a trade, something we suggested in our recent Flyers target list. It sounds like that could be the case, as the Fourth Period is reporting there is some traction on a Bourque trade.
Sounds like there’s some trade traction in Dallas surrounding RFA Mavrik Bourque. We’ll see where this lands, nothing is done yet.
Bourque, who has played mostly wing in the NHL but is a natural center, is coming off a 20-goal season and is a restricted free agent. At 24, and with runway to grow, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Flyers get involved here.
Columbus Blue Jackets’ Zach Werenski (right) is one of the big fish. Can Danny Brière reel him in?
Amid a wild offseason marked by trade demands and the dawning of the player empowerment era in the NHL, Norris Trophy-winner Zach Werenski is viewed by many as the ultimate prize.
You can count the Flyers among that group, as according to multiple reports, Danny Brière and Co. are serious about getting involved in the sweepstakes for Columbus’ wantaway defenseman. It’s hard to blame them, as Werenski has averaged 23 goals and 82 points over the past two seasons, ranking in the top three among defensemen in both categories.
The big questions with Werenski are would he entertain a move to Philly and whether the Flyers could pull off a deal without including Porter Martone or Matvei Michkov? The first question seems to be the sticking point, as Werenski, who has a no-move clause, turned down a move to Dallas on Tuesday and seems to be zeroing in on a few specific Eastern Conference destinations, including Tampa Bay and Toronto.
Werenski’s landing spot, even if it isn’t Philadelphia, could have a major impact on the Flyers. The gold medalist ending up in Tampa Bay would eliminate another landing spot for top free-agent defenseman John Carlson and potential increase the Flyers’ chances there. Carolina currently has Carlson’s negotiating rights, but after 12 p.m., the 36-year-old power-play quarterback is free to negotiate with other teams.
Longterm Dan Vladař extension expected once free agency opens
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar had a career year last season.
All signs are pointing to Dan Vladař signing a five-year extension with an AAV of $5.5 million once deals can officially be announced at noon.
The Czech goalie, who signed a two-year, $6.7 million deal with the Flyers last summer, is coming off a season where he went 29-14-7, with a 2.42 goals-against average and .906 save percentage. It was the lowest GAA of his career and tied his career-best save percentage, although he played in 22 more games than in any prior season.
He was even better in the postseason with a 2.18 GAA, .922 save percentage, and two shutouts after not posting one in the regular season.
These are the Flyers’ top options via free agency or trade
Dallas Stars center Mavrik Bourque could be an offer sheet option for Philly.
John Carlson, on a big-money, short-term deal, would make a lot of sense for the Flyers to help with the power play. But do the Flyers make sense for him? He’ll turn 37 during the season, and time is ticking on his chances of winning another Stanley Cup.
Rumors are percolating that the Flyers could add Noel Acciari to the roster. A 5-foot-11 center who just played against the Flyers in the playoffs with the Penguins — he had one assist in the six games — the Rhode Island native would slot onto the fourth line and be a key piece in the faceoff dot as a coveted right-shot, as well as on the penalty kill. Fellow bottom-six center Teddy Blueger is also another name to keep an eye on, as he played for coach Rick Tocchet in Vancouver.
What about offer sheets/trade targets?
As previously mentioned, the Flyers and Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse have a mutual interest in one another, with the Flyers, alongside Pittsburgh and Boston, on his short list of teams. He previously requested a trade and would need to waive his no-movement clause to approve any trade destination.
The Flyers are obviously interested in Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Zach Werenski from the Columbus Blue Jackets and All-Star center Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings. Like Nurse, they would need to approve any trade. And they surely wouldn’t mind adding one of Shane Pinto or Dylan Cozens, two young centers from the Ottawa Senators, to the mix if either was made available via trade.
Now, who doesn’t love an offer sheet? Would the Flyers be willing to partake in the one thing that gets everyone going? To be determined, but if they do, center Mavrik Bourque, 24, might be an attainable target given Dallas’ cap crunch.
Philadelphia Flyers general manager Danny Briere should have some money to spend, even after he re-signs Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale.
According to Puckpedia, as of Wednesday, the Flyers have just over $32.68 million of cap space before signing their four restricted free agents. The expectation is that Hunter McDonald will be in the minors to start the year, and Nikita Grebenkin, who was skating on Tuesday at development camp, is working his way back from an injury.
Not counting Grebenkin’s deal, the expected cap space to sign Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale should come in at an approximate annual average value of $15 million combined. That leaves about $17 million, and then subtract $3-4 million to cover Grebenkin and McDonald. So there is some room left to add pieces to the lineup.
AHL unrestricted free agents: forwards Karsen Dorwart, Oscar Eklind, Brett Harrison, Boris Katchouk, Lane Pederson, Anthony Richard, Tucker Robertson, and Philip Tomasino; defensemen Adam Ginning, Maxence Guenette, Artem Guryev, and Christian Kyrou
Dorwart, Harrison, Robertson, Tomasino, Guryev, and Kyrou were not given qualifying offers on Monday. They could all be signed to a new deal or an AHL-only deal to stay with the club. Garrett Wilson is listed as an unrestricted free agent on Puckpedia, but he is signed to an AHL contract for next season.
A league source has told The Inquirer that Juulsen will not be re-signed.
“This draft, I’ll be honest with you, there’s layers, and especially early on, our layers got cleaned out quickly. And I’ve never seen it like that before,” he said. “Even as the draft went along, but we were able to move back in the first, and then we’re able to move around and get players we’re happy with, so it worked out fine.”
Maybe that’s it. It was fine.
Yes, it’s too early to tell where this draft will land because 99% of the time, players need time to develop and grow. And there may have been something in the air because while the gambling floor of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino had people testing their luck with the press of a button on a slot machine, on each spin of the roulette wheel, and every roll of the dice, that appears to have permeated upstairs to the Flyers’ draft room as they selected their next generation in the 2026 NHL draft.
The Black and Orange opted for long-term wait-and-see projects. (They love projects, don’t they?) And, to be fair, they have some time with the past few draft classes finally bearing fruit.
Maksim Sokolovskii, the Flyers’ first-rounder who Flahr called “a unicorn,” is a big, mean defenseman who needs to continue building his defensive game while also trying to add some offense. Goalies Martin Psohlavec and Marek Sklenička looked great at the U18s for Czechia — another Flyers trademark — but are still raw. And second-rounder Brek Liske, probably the best story of the draft, just for the fact that his dad is a diehard Flyers fan, has a solid foundation, but does have to work on his skating — where have we heard that before?
The Flyers were higher than most on Maksim Sokolovskii. They view him as a defensive “unicorn.”
Center KJ Sauer missed most of this past season after tearing his posterior cruciate ligament the year prior and compared his style of play to that of Brady Tkachuk. Flahr said last week the Flyers could add a small, dynamic defenseman — but in the later rounds — and they got Max Laatikainen, a small Finnish defenseman they are hoping still can grow.
Whether they actually see an NHL game is truly a crapshoot anyway. But that’s always the case. In 2020, DobberProspects did a study showing that 60 NHL players from a draft class eventually make it to the NHL, which is less than 27%. TSN director of scouting Craig Button recently told NBC Sports Philadelphia that “approximately 45 players from any draft will play 350 games or more in the NHL.” That’s not a whole lot.
Entering this draft, since Flahr has been at the helm, the Flyers have drafted 50 players. Not counting the two previous classes, although Porter Martone and Jett Luchanko have already played NHL games, 44% have played at least one NHL game. Will this class make it? Who knows.
Now it does feel like they stayed the course and went down the path of previous drafts with a slight twist.
They again drafted for size — even though Flahr said Saturday it wasn’t a focus — with only Laatikainen of the six picks under 6 feet. In the process, they left players like dynamic but risky small defensemen Ryan Lin, Tommy Bleyl, and Xavier Villeneuve on the table in the first round and talented forwards like the Ruck Twins, Jack Hextall, J.P. Hurlbert and Brooks Rogowski.
But Flahr and general manager Danny Brière did stress that players drafted today will not help the team in the near future — so drafting a power-play specialist would not have made the atrocious power play better in the here and now — and they needed goaltending and defensive depth.
It just felt like maybe there were better options?
But who is to know today what tomorrow brings?
Rugged defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii was the second-biggest player drafted this past weekend.
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.
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.
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.”
On the eve of the 2026 NHL draft, Inquirer Flyers reporter Jackie Spiegel hopped on r/Flyers to answer some fan questions in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) Thursday afternoon. Topics included everything from who the team will select on Friday night to whether or not general manager Danny Brière will make a splashy trade or free agent signing. Here are some highlights …
(Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.)
Q. Who is your No. 1 choice for the Flyers’ pick at 21, and do you see anyone being worth moving up a few spots for if a reasonable deal is possible? For example, moving up to secure someone like Alexander Command.
A. My No. 1 choice at No. 21 would be Command, if he is there. Like Shane Vansaghi last year, he oozes Flyer, and he feels a connection to the team and the fan base. Ilia Morozov and Jack Hextall are also strong candidates at center, as is Maddox Dagenais, who projects more as a wing but can play down the middle. If going the defense route, I wouldn’t be against Tommy Bleyl, who will now be linking up with Matthew Gard at Michigan State in 2027.
Q. What are the chances the Flyers pick Xavier Villenueve if he’s available? … I think he’s a player you should take a swing on because his upside is just so high.
A. Villeneuve is quite small, height- and weight-wise, and there are serious question marks about his competitive level and defensive awareness. Now, assistant GM Brent Flahr did say that a small blueliner has to be dynamic, and there is no question that he is the most dynamic defenseman in this draft class. He will get a lot of coaching at Boston University, where Lane Hutson, to whom he compares his game, went. But from what I’ve heard in my conversations around hockey, I don’t know if he’s a first-rounder. If he is there in the second round, I think it may be a no-brainer, but not in the first.
Q. Is there any sense at all that Flahr’s position might be in question with the organization?
A. I don’t believe so. Are there miscues and missteps? Sure, but it happens to a lot of teams. Thirteen other teams passed on Cole Caufield in addition to the Flyers, and working with Danny Brière, they have restocked the cupboard, especially at center.
Something else to keep in mind, whenever looking at drafts in general, according to a study done by DobberProspects back in 2020, approximately 60 NHL players from a draft class make it to the NHL, which is less than 27%. Since Flahr has been at the helm, 50 players have been drafted. Not counting the 16 players from the last two draft classes, although Porter Martone and Jett Luchanko have played NHL games, 44% have played at least one NHL game. I’m not defending him at all, but that is a pretty good number with seven total coming from the 2022 and 2023 classes, which are just starting to break into the league as a whole.
Q. Due to the crazy sellers’ market lately, why is Brière not doing everything he can to sell obvious pieces like Rasmus Ristolainen and Owen Tippett? Does he think these players will be winning us a Cup before they retire?
A. Good question! Keith Jones told me in 2024: “I can assure you that if there is something that’s happening, it’s going to be highly unlikely that anybody knows about it.”
I think we’ve seen that, so my gut feeling is patience. Also, I do think Ristolainen is getting moved. Brière has held firm on getting a No. 1 pick for guys like Scott Walker and Scott Laughton, and I believe he is holding firm here. Why wasn’t he traded earlier, you may ask? As previously reported, teams wanted to make sure he was healthy. That’s been proved, and now there is a lot of trade chatter. As for Tippett, I know the haul would be huge, especially with what we’ve seen of late, but trading him takes a ton of speed out of the lineup, and the Flyers need that.
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladař stops Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin’s shootout attempt.
Q. Will Danny make a move that will shock the fan base?
A. It wouldn’t surprise me. There have been a few, no? I remember sitting watching a game in January 2024 — couldn’t even tell you off the top of my head who the Flyers were playing that night — and getting the shocking news about the Jamie Drysdale-Cutter Gauthier trade. I do think it’ll be an interesting few days coming up.
Q. Are the Flyers in on Alexander Nikishin? If not, then why?
A. Are they peeking in? Sure, but I don’t believe they are all in, and I doubt Carolina would trade him to a division rival.
