June 27, 2026
Timothy T. Ludwig/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Flyers will have a few extra names to call on Saturday thanks to the trade back they made with San Jose before they took defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii at 27th overall.
The Flyers returned to their Atlantic City war room early Saturday, gearing up for the remainder of the 2026 NHL Draft, where they began the day with five more picks to make in Rounds 2-7.
On Friday night, they took big Maksim Sokolovskii with their first-round pick at 27th overall, adding a green but bruising and surprisingly fast skating presence to their blueline pipeline.
And they gained themselves a couple extra picks in Rounds 2 and 4, after trading the 21st pick they originally had to the San Jose Sharks in a slide back.
The Flyers now have five more picks to make, or trade with, on Saturday.
Below is a live tracker of the Flyers' board, as it plays out.
The Flyers had Sokolovskii waiting there for them after they made a trade back with San Jose from 21 to 27, collecting a couple of extra Day 2 picks in the process.
The 17-year-old Sokolovskii is still a very raw prospect, but his appeal to the Flyers was immediately clear: He's huge (at a listed 6'7" and 240 pounds), and he can move.
Sokolovskii skates smoothly and can line up a crushing hit that someone of his hulking frame really only can, but the Flyers were also impressed by his improving play to the puck and the overall progression they saw out him down the stretch of the junior season with London in the OHL.
"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," general manager Danny Brière explained after making the pick Friday night.
"We know there's a lot of work to be done," Brière later added. "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 if everything shakes out the Flyers' way with his development over the next few years, maybe even as a future top-four defenseman that's a nightmare for other teams to deal with every night.
Sokolovskii is a huge gamble on late-round upside, but the Flyers were game to take it.
More on Sokolovskii from Night 1....
• NHL Draft: Flyers take hulking London defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii with 27th pick
• Maksim Sokolovskii is huge, and so is the upside he could have for the Flyers
The Flyers took another defenseman, and a pretty well-rounded one in Liske, who can skate well, play with his head up, and thread the needle to the back of the net with a pinpoint shot.
The 18-year-old Liske scored seven goals and 17 points for the Silvertips with a plus-36 rating, and was a force for them through the playoffs with four goals, 17 points, and an insane plus-25 rating through 18 postseason games.
The 6'1" and 190-pound blueliner should be another promising right shot for the Flyers to bring along.
OH THAT’S PRETTY! 😮💨#NHLDraft eligible prospect Brek Liske puts on the moves and nets his 3rd of the postseason! @WHLsilvertips | #WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingTheFuture
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) April 16, 2026
📺| @victoryplustv
🔗| https://t.co/ejuFny1mnK pic.twitter.com/QF9P5hG99B
Liske and his father Lonnie are also diehard Flyers fans over in Manitoba.
Liske wore a Flyers jersey that he already had during his introductory Zoom call with the media, and said there were about 30 other orange and black jerseys getting worn around at this draft party at the family's home that his dad collected over the years – a lot of Claude Giroux ones, Liske said.
So yeah, Liske and his dad are both pretty stoked that he's going to Philadelphia.
Brek Liske came to his draft zoom call prepared.
— Nick Tricome (@itssnick) June 27, 2026
Said he and his dad are huge Flyers fans over in Manitoba, so yeah, they're pretty stoked. pic.twitter.com/Rw1igBrN7M
The Flyers took a goalie.
Psohlavec is a 6'5" netminder who posted a .928 save percentage playing junior hockey in his native Czechia.
The 18-year-old is a ways off from the North American pros, but he does serve as the next main goalie prospect to track, now that Carson Bjarnasson and Aleksei Kolosov are both a step away with the Phantoms in the AHL.
Round 4 (No.120)
Round 5 (No. 136)
Round 7 (No. 213)
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