With the 21st pick of the 2026 NHL draft, the Philadelphia Flyers have selected … Nobody.
After some speculation that the Flyers could trade back a few spots in order to accrue some more picks later on in the draft, they ended up doing just that, sending their 21st overall selection to the San Jose Sharks for the 27th overall selection, the 62nd overall selection, and the 120th overall selection.
With the resulting 27th overall pick, the Flyers would then select Maksim Sokolovskii, the tallest draft eligible player at 6-foot-7, out of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.
Sokolovskii is a defense first defender who uses his massive size and wingspan to disrupt plays all over the ice. His puck play leaves a lot to be desired, but with such a raw prospect, there is still a runway there to expect some more growth in that department. He only managed eight points in 44 OHL games, but as the season wore on, Sokolovskii grew more and more comfortable handling the puck, and the Flyers are more than likely betting that trend will continue.
Flyers go with size in their first-round pick
Sokolovskii has drawn comparisons to Nikita Zadorov, another former Knight with a mean streak who has been terrorizing opposing forwards for the past decade. Again, there will be a learning curve here as he adapts to pro hockey, whenever that day comes, but the projectable skills are there to view Sokolovskii as a future middle-pair defenseman who makes life hell for forecheckers and forwards flying through the neutral zone unaware.
He adds size to a blueline that has sorely needed some snarl, with Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, and soon Oliver Bonk, all not being the largest defenders in the world. If Rasmus Ristolainen is to depart, Sokolovskii could help to fill that gap a couple years down the line.
The Elite Prospects Draft Guide had Sokolovskii ranked as the 22nd best prospect in this draft, after a meteoric rise that started late in the OHL season. This is what they had to say about the hulking rearguard:
“With a shockingly deep skating stance, four-way mobility, and open-ice speed, Sokolovskii has about as large a defensive range as possible. Plus, he fully embraces the physical side of the game, constantly leveraging his frame and mobility. He hunts down opponents to slam them to the ice, set picks, and line them up for crushing hits. His skating allows him to quickly change directions and adjust to ensure the opponent walks straight into his shoulder. Reverse hits, heavy crosschecks, subtle pick plays, and locking up opponents on retrievals – he has it all.”
With this draft having a very undefined order, especially outside of the top 10, there were a host of teams looking to trade down, or even move off their picks entirely. There’s a very decent chance that Sokolovskii was someone that Daniel Briere and the Flyers scouts viewed as their possible option, and multiple mock drafts had them taking him, even if they stayed pat at number 21, including The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler.
The Flyers will now look towards Saturday and round two, where they now possess the 53rd and 62th picks in the second round, as well as the 120th, 136th, and 213th picks the rest of Day 2.
