Philadelphia Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr spoke with the media Saturday afternoon after the 2026 National Hockey League Draft wrapped up in Buffalo. Flahr said the plan the scouting staff had going into the draft seemed to fall apart early on when the prospects they had targeted began being scooped up.
“Our draft board early on it was cleaned,” Flahr said regarding the two-day event. “We had a lot of teams calling trying to trade up to get our pick and it went radio silent when it got close to the pick. San Jose still wanted to move up, we wanted to move back and to a place we were more comfortable trying him and obviously getting more picks.”
The Flyers added to their 2026 draft class on Saturday, selecting four more players in addition to their first-round pick last night. Philadelphia added defenseman Brek Liske of the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips with the fifty-third pick overall. Then nine picks later in round two, opted for Czechia goaltender Martin Psohlavec. It wasn’t the only Czechia netminder they took however, as in round four (120th overall), the Flyers selected Marek Sklenicka. Sklenicka spent last season with Seattle in the WHL.
Rounding out day two were two more Flyer picks. In the fifth round Philadelphia took center Kent Sauer (136th overall) who played high school hockey in Minnesota. And finally, with their final pick in the seventh round (213th overall), the Flyers selected Finnish defenseman Max Laatikainen who played in the Finnish junior league last season. He was also the youngest player selected in the 2026 NHL Draft.
After the draft, Flahr elaborated on the proverbial swing Philadelphia took in selecting Sokolovskii, seeing veteran defenseman Nikita Zadorov as a comparable. “There’s not a lot of guys like that, especially that are his size that skate like he does already,” Flahr said of the 6’7″, 240-pound defender. “Obviously he’s going to have to get quicker with his agility. He’s got a powerful stride, he covers a lot of space out there with his size, length, and range. He’s going to be a handful to deal with, especially at the junior level. My worry is that he’s too strong at that age for kids at that level and he’ll be heading to the penalty box,which is what he likes to do anyway.
“But he’s a guy that our guys are really excited to work with and see what we can make out of him. He’s a great kid, he’s worked really hard on his English. He didn’t speak English very well at the start of the year and we interviewed him at the combine, he had an interpreter but didn’t use her. He’s got a big smile on his face, loves to be at the rink, loves to play the game. He’s a fun guy to be around.”
Flahr also praised Sokolovskii’s playoff this past season, competing against high-end talents like Brady Martin, and more than holding his own. He knows there’s a learning curve for the youngster, but feels the development staff the organization has, as well as Flyers assistant coach Todd Reirden, should be able to get him over the hump into the NHL. It’s just going to take time.
“I think we’re banking on that just being the tip of the iceberg with him,” Flahr added. “Size, his ability to skate, and if we can get him over the hump into the NHL I think he’s hard to deal with, and they’re hard to find. He’s a unique player, I think he’s a unicorn, these players don’t come around that often. He’s mean and tough but the kid is showing signs he can play the game. Hopefully he’s just going to get better.”
Goaltending shelves restocked
Another area Philadelphia addressed this weekend was in goal. After watching the likes of Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin develop with their respective teams, the club believed it was time to take a goaltender or two this year. After all, since 2021, the club has drafted only three: Bjarnason, Zavragin, and Aleksei Kolosov. The idea originally was to take just one keeper, but both Martin Psohlavec and Marek Sklenicka seemed worth selecting. Psohlavec was strong in the World Junior Championships for Czechia while Sklenicka had a .902 save percentage in 42 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL last year.
“Between Dilly (goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh) and our goaltending department, they’ve helped us out a lot and with their staff and how they finished the year in the second half,” Flahr said of Psohlavec. “The history that Jan (European amateur scout Jan Slansky) had with him, he’s a guy that we were targeting. And then with Sklenicka he was another guy who’s very talented. He’s going to take a little bit longer physically to get where he needs to get but with goaltenders, again, they’re going to take a little while to develop. At the time it just made sense.”
As for Psohlavec, Flahr says the goalie’s size is a huge plus and he’s agile. The big question is his skating, which is something he feels the staff can work with him on to get him to the next level. “Coming into this season he was the guy who played with men and beat others out of position,” Flahr said. “I think for whatever reason he got off to a slow start and in the second half he found his game. He had a really strong second half and then obviously won the starting job in the U18 and had a really good tournament. He’s a guy Jan is really familiar with and tracked for a long time. Obviously we were able to see him and our goalie department are really happy with being able to work with him.”
Liske, Laatkainen, and lots of patience
Given the number of draft picks Philadelphia had in recent years, and with 10 slated for 2027 as of now, some could argue the team didn’t necessarily go off the board with some selections. But they might have felt a bit more comfortable taking some swings that other clubs might not have chosen to do. Flahr agreed with that assessment to some extent. But said the two key things all prospects need (some more than others) are patience and development.
“Obviously when you’re drafting early in the draft they’re closer to NHL ready players,” Flahr said. “Our player development staff are a huge part of it, a lot of these kids now you’re going to see them playing two years of junior, then going to college when normally they had to go to the American Hockey League where before they were maybe not physically or mentally ready. You’re going to see a different development path. But at the same time, especially later round picks when some of these kids physically are nowhere near the NHL, they need time to grow into their bodies. And the college NCAA route really helps these kids because when they turn 19 or 20 they’re not ready for the American Hockey League.”
As for second-round pick Brek Liske, who played with the Everett Silvertips this season (24 points in 52 regular season games but 17 in 18 playoff games) Flahr said it took some time to find his spot on the club initially. But an injury to Tarin Smith opened the door for Liske, and he took full advantage of it.
“He made the best of it and he did a heck of a job down the stretch and in the playoffs,” Flahr said of the defenseman (and diehard Flyers fan). “He really showed what he could do. If you watch film on him, his ability to skate, retrieve pucks, make the first pass under pressure which is a difficult thing to do especially as the levels go higher. He can defend, he’s going to have to get stronger. But I think we’re banking on another layer of his offense to come as well as his confidence grows. Playing with (Landon) Dupont this year he had the puck a lot of times but they were a good pair and had a really good round in the playoffs.”
Last, but not least, Max Laatikainen was the seventh-round pick, a Finnish defenseman who Flyers scout (and former forward) Sami Kapanen was high on. Laatkainen is the youngest player drafted this year, and seems to have impressed a lot of people in the Flyers organization.
“He needs to get physically stronger, and he’s an energetic offensive guy that likes to have the puck, he moves it really well. He played with the national team and was very effective,” he says. “We’re hoping maybe he can catch an inch still but at the same time he’s got lots of juice, lots of energy and he’s a guy that Sami’s been banging the table for. It worked out that way and we’ll see what happens.”
So while the rest of the offseason will be focused on whether or not Philadelphia can upgrade down the middle, or possibly land a stud defenseman, the club seems to have replenished the cupboards a bit more, particularly from the net out.
