The NHL Draft is great for finding the cornerstones of your franchise and the future stars of your team at the very tippy top of it. Nailing down those top five picks to set your team up for many years of future success with a very good player leading it. All of that is great, but what might be even more exciting is taking advantage of other teams not really knowing just how good that smaller kid in Norway can be, or how there’s this underscouted team in the MHL and this guy you take in the sixth round can just be stored away in the KHL for years until he’s ready to explode into the NHL at 24 years old.
It’s those moments where NHL amateur scouting departments can really flex their muscle and show off just how much better they are at their job than some other team’s. It’s that fun practice of finding hidden gems.
For the Flyers, there have not been an overwhelming amount of these big hits in the later rounds of the draft. At most, you can think of Dennis Seidenberg or Pat Maroon being these types of diamonds in the rough, but they both had their best years outside of Philadelphia. On the current team, we do have Alex Bump as maybe the biggest steal that they could potentially have draft-wise. But yes, slim pickings.
Could this regime maybe buck that trend and get someone in the later rounds of the 2026 NHL Draft that can truly become something special? There are a few candidates.
While these players aren’t perfect or anything, there are certain characteristics that could lead them to becoming mid-to-late-round draft picks that truly make it into the NHL and make an impact.
Alexander Grunin, LD
Grunin is an interesting guy to me. He’s one of the best skaters in the entire draft class, according to the scouts that are crushing MHL game tape. In 44 games for Sibirskie Snaipery Novosibirisk, he scored six goals and 15 points — while that is not the type of numbers you want to see from a high-end draft pick, he is by all accounts extremely raw.
Elite Prospects describes Grunin as “one of the draft’s best-kept secrets” since he could just be a unicorn. To go along with his mobility, he’s 6-foot-3 and also has a fairly late birthday, as he will turn 18 years old just two days before the 2026 NHL Draft. Oh, and he can also hammer dudes into the boards at a punishing rate if it means getting the puck back for his team.
While Grunin is not expected go anywhere near the first two rounds, a team could grab him somewhere in the middle of the draft as a big bet on his mobility and physicality. There isn’t a whole lot of actual puck skills here other than an above-average shot from the point, but the foundation he has as a very good skater and the knowledge of how to use his body in an impactful way, is something to build upon.
As with all of these players, Grunin is a long-term project.
Jonas Lagerberg Hoen, RW
Jonas Lagerberg Hoen had his draft year completely unraveled due to injury. The Swedish winger had his season ended by a devastating injury all the way back in October, so there is massive risk in this player since no one has seen him play for several months, but there is also a whole lot of potential with what he was able to show.
The 6-foot-2 winger scored a whole lot last season in the Swedish U20 league, with 27 goals in just 38 games, tying him for fourth among all skaters in that category. And in the nine games he was able to appear in for Leksands IF U20, he managed to score nine goals and 16 points. It’s an insane rate of scoring. The most ever goals scored in the U20 Nationell by a draft-eligible player was Liam Ohgren in the 2021-22 season, with 33 goals in 30 games.
And who knows, maybe if he stayed healthy, Lagerberg Hoen would have ended up playing in the SHL for more than just two games and could’ve risen his draft stock even more. There is clearly ample skill here.
His best attribute is his shot of course, but he also skates fairly well and with his larger frame, there is no concern about him being physically outmatched too often.
There is a whole lot of uncertainty about Lagerberg Hoen’s projection, which also opens up the possibility of him going as high as somewhere in the top 50 picks, or dropping down to the sixth round. If it’s the latter, then a team could do extremely well picking him up that late and just hoping he returns to full health and can get back on track.
Vertti Svensk, RD/RW
Vertti Svensk is one of the most interesting players to be in this draft class — which is something I might say a whole lot throughout this article.
While he came up as a defenseman, Svensk spent ample time on the wing this past season down in the Finnish U20 and in Liiga. That’s right. There is a draft-eligible player this season that has played on the blue line and on the wing in his top domestic division already. Svensk appeared in 18 games for SaiPa and earned just one assist, but down at the junior level, scored three goals and 31 points in 33 games. There is a whole lot of offense here and that is mainly powered by his skating ability.
Svensk can fly. He is seen carving through players in the neutral zone, moving at a very high pace with overall four-way mobility and he brought all of that on the blue line and on the wing. There is a lot of anticipation in his game, as his hockey sense isn’t elite but very, very good.
He’s basically the biggest wild card in this draft — Elite Prospects doesn’t even have him ranked but he’s a pet favorite to a couple of online scouts — so there’s no telling where he could be drafted, or if he even gets drafted at all. With some high-end mobility and as someone you can just store in Finland for a couple seasons to see how he grows, he’s a no-brainer in the late rounds.
Roman Laman, C
Let’s go back to the depths of the MHL and truly get in the mud. Roman Laman is a 5-foot-11 center who has been praised for his high motor, his smarts, and his ability to really get aggressive in pursuit of the puck at the right times. That just screams like someone the Flyers want to take a long-term bet on.
Laman scored 16 goals and 40 points in 55 games for Omskie Yastreby of the MHL this past season.
Sure, he’s not the biggest player but in a fairly visible way, there are ways that Laman can project into the NHL with his off-puck play. There isn’t anything crazy about his physical tools, as he’s just a solid skater and doesn’t have incredible hands or anything, but the way he sees the game and his work ethic can bring him into a solid bottom-six role in the NHL.
Tomas Chrenko, C
Let’s get small and skilled. Even smaller and more skilled. Here’s Tomas Chrenko.
The 5-foot-11 Slovakian forward has all the tools you want in a solid offensive contributor, other than some physicality. Chrenko really shone at the World Juniors, where he scored five goals and eight points in just five games, finishing the tournament tied for fifth in points per game — he even finished above Porter Martone in that category.
And he has professional experience. Chrenko played the majority of his season for HK Nitra in the top division in Slovakia. Of course it’s not the most competitive league or is overflowing with high-end NHL prospects, but to be playing against men as a draft-eligible anywhere in the world is a good accomplishment. And, Chrenko finished the season with nine goals and 31 points in 44 games — he was no slouch.
Chrenko’s 0.70 points per game is the third-highest ever by a draft-eligible skater in Slovakia. The two above him? Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa. That seems good.
He doesn’t have the most projectable game to the NHL, but there is certainly a path. He has an early birthday so he is on the older side for this class; but that can also mean he can step foot into the AHL in a year or two, and then go from there. He won’t be staying in Slovakia for very long and then he can really start a solid path to the NHL.
There’s truly “steal of the draft” potential in Chrenko.
Beckett Hamilton, C
While Chrenko has some flash, Beckett Hamilton is more of the smaller-but-projectable side of centermen potentially available in the later rounds. The Red Deer Rebels forward scored 24 goals and 62 points in 67 games in the WHL this season but was truly the underlying driving force of that team — a team who did not score a whole lot.
Hamilton led the Rebels in scoring with his 62 points and the player right after him managed to score just 38. It’s an insane drop-off and it makes us wonder if he was on a team like Medicine Hat, just how much higher he would rank in the overall consensus. Because right now, Hamilton is looking like a solid top-100 pick but it would be a surprise if he went in the second round.
“A Swiss Army knife, Hamilton adapts his game to the situation,” the Elite Prospects 2026 Draft Guide reads. “Away from the puck, he’s constantly battling opponents and overwhelming them with his closing speed. He forces turnovers regularly and has the subtle lean-and-cutback game to create space for himself. In transition, he plays a direct, retrieval-focused game based on setting up sustained pressure.”
And the Flyers know Red Deer well enough. They selected center Matthew Gard from the Rebels in the second round just last season, so they would’ve been able to see plenty of Hamilton. It would be interesting if they managed to grab him somewhere in the middle rounds — they don’t have a pick in between the second and sixth rounds right now, but if a trade is made and they suddenly do, watch out for Beckett Hamilton to be the choice.
Jonas Woo, RD
And finally, a defenseman that might not even be drafted because there is just an insane variance on how he could project into the NHL. Jonas Woo can skate as well as most defenders in this draft class, has the shooting and puckhandling ability to rival some of the projected first-round picks, and has also used his offensive awareness to score an insane amount of points, leading all WHL defensemen in scoring with 29 goals and 86 points in 56 games on a Medicine Hat Tigers team that depended on him.
Woo was already passed over in the draft once and it was for one reason: His height.
The Winnipeg native is 5-foot-9 and just 174 pounds, but has almost everything you want in an offensively minded defenseman prospect.
Woo doesn’t even back down physically all that much — feeling very much so like an Emil Andrae-type in that sense — and was often the Tigers’ main playdriver from the back.
But, in the end, projection remains an issue because what really is his role? (It’s very Andrae-esque in that sense.) If he can be ultra offensive and be a Shayne Gostisbehere in a sheltered bottom pairing but on the top power play, then that’s perfect. But if he can’t bring that skill to the pro level, then it’s overall a problem and he might just get caught being an AHL all-star instead.
He should be at least someone that some team takes a late-round flyer on, and it could be the Flyers.
