June 27, 2026
Kirby Lee/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Flyers had to prioritize long-term upside in the NHL Draft this weekend.
The Flyers were pretty set on taking a goalie at some point in the NHL Draft, assistant general manager Brent Flahr admitted once it was finally over Saturday evening.
They left with two.
Martin Psohlavec was the choice at 62nd overall in the second round, and then the Flyers went straight for Marek Sklenicka when they were back on the board in the fourth round at No. 120.
Both are Czech prospects, and both put up strong performances in their draft year, though Psohlavec to a better degree for his junior club in Czechia (with a .928 save percentage) than Sklenicka here in North America for Seattle in the WHL (.902 save percentage).
Still, there's talent to develop in both of them, in a highly imperfect process for a position where a team needs as many options on the way as possible.
Lead GM Danny Brière and the Flyers, on the whole, know that much about goaltending, maybe better than anyone.
They had to stock up.
"It's something that Danny wants to focus on and keep adding to the stable, because not every goalie you draft plays," Flahr said from the Flyers' draft HQ at the Hard Rock in Atlantic City. "But it's a process to develop them, and it takes a lot of time to do it properly.
"So I think we'll continue to try to draft a goalie most years. If not, this year was two, so maybe the pressure's off. We'll see how they do next year, but it's something you – I don't know how many goalies were drafted today, it was crazy – but it's something I think every team now focuses on and wants to draft a goalie almost every year."
The Flyers decided it was time to go for a goalie as their name was coming up for their second pick of the second round, after Calgary (Tobias Trejbal at No. 42) and Boston (Yuri Ivanov at No. 56) were the first to take a dice roll on the position.
Psohlavec's selection at 62, and then Sklenicka's turn after at 120, were the first time the Flyers have gone for a goalie at the draft since 2023, when they took Carson Bjarnasson and Yegor Zavragin back-to-back in the second and third rounds.
Bjarnasson is a step away in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms now, but struggled in his first full season as a pro in a tandem with Aleksei Kolosov, who is still young himself at 24, but has been mired by his own consistency and a seemingly always fluctuating status within the organization.
Zavragin, meanwhile, is the great mystery goaltending prospect out of Russia, who circulates online with eye-popping stat lines, but it's uncertain still when the Flyers can actually get him to North America.
So that leaves the picture considerably thin behind Dan Vladar and now Joseph Woll at the top of the NHL roster.
The Flyers had to start stocking up again for later down the line, knowing that they're not going to see any actual payoff for years, if any.
But Flahr said he's confident that goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh can get Psohlavec and Sklenicka on track as the new netminding prospects, and that European scout Jan Slansky identified as a diamond in the rough with Psohlavec as he went over to Czechia to scout the 18-year-old.
"He was a guy that we were targeting," Flahr said of Psohlavec. "And then Sklenicka is another guy who's very talented. He's going to take a little longer physically to get where he needs to get, but with goaltenders again, they're gonna take a while to develop."
And really, this whole 2026 draft class is going to.
The Flyers largely prioritized defense and goaltending this weekend, highlighted by their first-round pick of the big and bruising blueliner Maksim Sokolovskii at 27th overall.
But he won't immediately jump into the NHL within a few months' time like Porter Martone did late last season as the 2025 sixth overall pick.
This just wasn't that kind of draft for the Flyers, which fans had gotten used to over the past several years.
These were later-round dice rolls on Upsider and the strength of the organization's own player development.
And it'll take at least several years to see if anything from this weekend actually materializes to its fullest.
The final tally of the Flyers' 2026 draft haul:
• Round 1 (No. 27) – LHD Maksim Sokolovskii, London (OHL)
• Round 2 (No. 53) – RHD Brek Liske, Everett (WHL)
• Round 2 (No. 62) – G Martin Psohlavec, Karlovy Vary (Czechia Jr.)
• Round 4 (No. 120) – G Marek Sklenicka, Seattle (WHL)
• Round 5 (No. 136) – C Kent Sauer, Andover, MN (High School)
• Round 7 (No. 213) – RHD Max Laatikainen, K-Espoo (FIN Jr.)
SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
