June 26, 2026

Maksim Sokolovskii is huge, and so is the upside he could have for the Flyers

It's going to take a while to see if Sokolovskii can translate to the NHL, but the size, skating, and compete are reason enough for the Flyers to find out.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Timothy T. Ludwig/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

There's a lot to like about Maksim Sokolovskii's game, but it's going to take a while to see it fully develop.

There's no mistaking Maksim Sokolovskii.

The 17-year-old defenseman from Kazakhstan stands at a massive 6'7" and 240 pounds, based on NHL Central Scouting's listing approaching the league's draft Friday night in Buffalo.

There's no mistaking either that the London Knights prospect is going to need a while to fully develop his game.

But there's a lot to like. The skating impresses, so do the crushing hits that only a player of Sokolovskii's size can throw out, and the way he plays the puck, which seemed to improve as the junior season in the OHL progressed.

It was all enough for the Flyers to make Sokolovskii their pick at 27th overall on Friday night, after they traded back several spots from No. 21 with San Jose.

The upside he brings is just too huge to ignore, arguably standing just as tall as he does.

"The one thing that really stood out, I think, it was the progression that he showed throughout the season," general manager Danny Brière said from the Flyers' draft headquarters at the Hard Rock in Atlantic City. "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 was gonna be a first-rounder, and to be able to move back, get some draft capital, and still get him feels like it was the right thing to do."

On multiple fronts.

That the Flyers were able to slide back from 21 and gain an additional second-round pick (No. 62) and a fourth-rounder (No. 120), along with retaining a late first was its own win. The team went into this weekend looking at a thin draft, with only four selections lined up in total, but now it has six after making the move with the Sharks, which will keep Brière and assistant GM Brent Flahr busy going into Saturday for Rounds 2-7.

But that they were able to move down the order and still get the blueline prospect they grew increasingly high on, it's hard to complain, especially in a few years' time if it all shakes out.

"I mean, we don't expect him to be the next big point producer," Brière said to his expectations of Sokolovskii. "I don't think that would be fair to say he was drafted for that. We see him as a big, physical force, a defenseman that's going to be tough to face.

"There's a lot that needs to come, obviously," Brière added.

But the GM, overseeing his fourth draft since taking over the Flyers' front office and their rebuilding efforts, is confident, both in Sokolovskii and the development staff that the organization has in place to guide him along.

BIG MAKS BOOOOOOOM 💥 #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/bafthLEcix
— London Knights (@LondonKnights) February 22, 2026

"We know there's a lot of work to be done," Brière continued. "But there's things that you can't teach. There's things that you can't change. He's still gonna be 6'7" 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.

"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."

And for right now, that's more than good enough of a starting point for the Flyers, which will hopefully put them on a path toward an eventual top-four caliber defenseman if everything shakes out.

"Just with the reach that he's going to have, he's going to be tough to go around," Brière said. "And if he keeps improving his puck game, who knows how good he can be."

MAKS SOKOLOVSKII#NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/U8uaxIpIde
— London Knights (@LondonKnights) February 16, 2026

But from the outset, as his name was called and he made his walk up to the stage to accept his Flyers jersey and hat over in Buffalo, Sokolovskii is already a menace enough for any opposing puck carrier trying to cut up the ice with the puck.

There's no missing that giant on skates, who's lining up the check with the speed to close in faster than you realize, and with the level of compete to make sure he lands it and has the puck going back the other way.

"The compete level is something that, in a lot of cases, you have it or you don't," Brière said of Sokolovskii's drive. "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 you don't like facing or playing against.

There's no mistaking it.

Sokolovskii's game is huge, but so is the amount of time it's probably going to take to fully realize it.

But the upside is just as huge, too, and the Flyers couldn't ignore that.