Welcome to the Philadelphia Flyers Top 25 Under 25 ranking, Winter 2026 edition. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be putting out our ranking of the, well, top 25 players in the Flyers organization who are under 25 years old. A total of 13 writers at Broad Street Hockey submitted ballots and here is the consensus ranking.
As we continue down this ranking and now into the top 10, we’re getting into the very interesting prospects who should play a sizeable role for the Flyers going forward. Or, maybe, they’re just good young players on the team right now.
Let’s get into it.
10) Oliver Bonk
Primary Team: Lehigh Valley Phantoms, AHL
2025-26 Stats: 2 G, 6 P in 22 GP
Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 8
Age: 21
Acquired: 1st-round pick (22nd overall) in 2023 NHL Draft
Evan (Ranked #15): Bonk is pretty clearly the highest-upside defense prospect in the Flyers’ organization. He’s going to compete for a spot in the NHL lineup next season, and he’ll have a good shot to make it. The Flyers had him at their Olympic break practices this week, so they must be happy with his progress in Lehigh Valley after missing a fairly significant chunk of time to start the year. It’s only his first pro season so there’s much more development to be had. I think he’ll generate more hype after a healthy summer. Flyer or Phantom, he’ll have some pretty solid defensemen around him to help grow his game.
Cole (Ranked #10): Since his draft year, Bonk has always been such an straightforward, albeit safe projection for a defenseman. Outside of his “Bumper Bonk” season on the power play with the London Knights, Bonk’s projection as a second-pairing, No. 4/5 defenseman has stuck. That’s not a bad thing! In his return from injury this year with the Phantoms, his play in the AHL has kept him on track to hit at least that projection at some point in Philadelphia. He’s very solid, and if he remains healthy for the remainder of the year and into the summer, I’d imagine he’s in position to get NHL minutes next year.
Brad (Ranked #7): As Cole said, Bonk has been on this trajectory for a while now, and with a real lack of defensive prospects in the system, Bonk continuing to show NHL upside is a big deal. He had a bit of a slow start after returning from a lengthy injury, but his play has picked up since. After experimenting with it some in January, the Phantoms went back to “Bumper Bonk” on Friday night, and while that role seems unlikely to stick for him at the next level, it’s at least interesting that the Phantoms are willing to use him on the power play in that way. Assuming he stays healthy, he should definitely push for a roster spot out of camp next year.
Jacob (Ranked #8): Echoing what everyone has said before, Bonk is the premier defense prospect in the Flyers system. While he may never be a top pair defender, when watching Bonk I always see a future NHLer. The poise and adaptability that he possesses is something that the Flyers have long needed, and he always seems to be a player that coaches try and experiment with. His skillset may not have the highest ceiling, but I find it hard to see a world where Oliver Bonk isn’t a part of the Flyers defense corps to start next season.
9) Yegor Zavragin
Primary Team: SKA St. Petersburg, KHL
2025-26 Stats: .919 SV%, 2.63 GAA in 12 GP
Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 10
Age: 20
Acquired: 3rd-round pick (87th overall) in 2023 NHL Draft
Evan (Ranked #8): I’ve been a big fan of Zavragin’s work, and I’m not alone in that regard. While goaltender numbers in Russia tend to be more inflated– there are roughly 40 goalies at .920 or better in the second-tier VHL– Zavragin’s are among the very best at just 20 years old. Currently the third goaltender at his top-flight club SKA St. Petersburg with our old friend Mikhail Vorobyov, Zavragin has the 16th best save percentage in the KHL; unfortunately, two of the 15 above him are teammates, so playing time has come at a premium. He’ll be an exciting story when his KHL contract expires in 2027, but for now, Zavragin is one for the slow-cooker.
Cole (Ranked #11): I have no idea what to make about Zavragin’s developmental situation right now, but you’d think he’s bound to get more minutes next season, right? Either way, while it’s concerning he’s not getting tons of minutes in the KHL right now, what he’s done in those limited minutes is exciting. Goalies are impossible to project, and you don’t want to get your hopes too far up, but it’s really difficult not to dream a bit with Zavragin. Clear No. 1 goalie prospect in the organization, and he fell into their lap as a third round selection. Hopefully, if Zavragin is not slated to earn more minutes in 2026/27, the Flyers can carefully get Zavragin to North America sooner rather than later.
Brad (Ranked #9): We’d all like to see Zavragin get into more games, but his lack of starts this season doesn’t change the fact that he’s currently the Flyers’ best chance at a true top-end goaltender. It’s a smaller sample size, but his save percentage at this point of the season is actually an improvement over last year, and we were already pretty excited with what he showed in 2024-25. It’s a tough situation because SKA’s other two goaltenders are having great seasons in their own right, and getting Zavragin more minutes does not seem to be a top priority right now. Goalies are definitely hard to predict, and once he gets here, it will be important to see his game translate. As we’ve seen with Aleksei Kolosov, it’s nowhere near a sure thing. Still, Zavragin appears to be very important to the Flyers’ long-term success, and until he gives us a reason to think otherwise, he’ll likely continue to float somewhere around the top-10 spot in our rankings.
Jacob (Ranked #9): It’s always hard to decipher where to put goalies on this list, given that it’s not as simple to evaluate them without really knowing the team in front of them, but Zavragin has real potential. As mentioned, SKA has a crowded crease and real ambitions of success, so the development of Zavragin seems to have taken a back seat, at least for now. There’s really no incentive for St. Petersburg to put him in the net if they don’t think he’s the best option, especially since he will probably make the jump to the NHL as soon as he can. Unless he gets on a roll, there’s probably not going to be much to glean from the rest of this year. He’s been great in the VHL, and perfectly fine in the KHL whenever he gets the chances. Zavragin is the 1A goaltending prospect in the Flyers system, but we won’t really be able to fully grasp how good he can be until he makes the move to North America.
8) Emil Andrae
Primary Team: Philadelphia Flyers, NHL
2025-26 Stats: 1 G, 11 P in 40 GP
Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 12
Age: 23
Acquired: 2nd-round pick (54th overall) in 2020 NHL Draft
Evan (Ranked #9): Andrae is an interesting case study. My hottest take when he first arrived was that he’d be better than Cam York by season’s end. Then, John Tortorella struck, and it seemed like Andrae still hasn’t found the same swagger he played with before that demotion. There’s a talented and confident puck-moving defenseman in there somewhere, and we see flashes, but I’m beginning to lose hope that it’ll be with Philadelphia. We’ve got to get him in a game, they said, before having him watch the games from up top in favor of Noah Juulsen. He’ll be 24 in a few days, and may just be the odd man out with some other defensemen needing a look– for better or worse.
Cole (Ranked #8): I ranked him No. 8 on this list, but I agree with Evan in that Andrae continues to feel like the odd-man out long term. I really want Andrae to work in Philadelphia, as he’s the type of puck-moving defenseman that I think really makes a modern day blueline click. However, with Oliver Bonk knocking on the door, and the other three top-4 spots locked in with Sanheim, York, and Drysdale, I struggle to see a world where Andrae’s on the bottom pair consistently. We frequently discuss how the Flyers need to trade a winger sooner or later, but how the Flyers handle the blueline in the coming year or so is going to be fascinating too.
Brad (Ranked #10): I’ve been a fan of Andrae for a long time, but like Evan and Cole, I’m starting to accept that he is probably the odd-man out and isn’t in the Flyers’ plans. I love his tools, and really like what he’s shown at the NHL level, but he’s failed to convince two different coaches now that he should be a lineup regular. He’s played more this season under Tocchet, but that seems to only be because of Rasmus Ristolainen’s lengthy absence. Choosing Noah Juulsen over Andrae could easily be chalked up to bad talent evaluation, but there’s a pattern here that suggests the Flyers aren’t exactly enamored with him. This was a “prove it” season for him and if it ends with him as the seventh defenseman on the depth chart… that’s obviously not a good sign.
Jacob (Ranked #13): Preaching to the choir I suppose, but it does seem that Andrae is stuck in a holding pattern behind older, and less skilled, defenders. Noah Juulsen shouldn’t play over Andrae, but he is, and likely will continue to do so. On the other hand, having a D corps that features both Jamie Drysdale and Andrae just seems like something that the NHL just isn’t ready for. The skillset is there, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see Andrae reinvigorate his career somewhere else, but he’s stuck in Philadelphia. And I don’t think trading Rasmus Ristolainen, or not retaining Noah Juulsen, will clear any room for him.
