Welcome to Broad Street Hockey’s Summer 2025 Top Under 25! The series is back and with the Philadelphia Flyers focusing so much on the future, it’s more important than ever. Join us as we rank the 25 best players under the age of 25 for the next few weeks.
No. 10: Yegor Zavragin
2024-25 Primary League/Team: SKA St.Petersburg/HK Sochi (KHL)
2024-25 Statistics: 6 GP, 2.21 GAA, .941 SV% (Sochi)/ 37 GP, 2.55 GAA, .912 SV% (SKA)
Age as of 9/2/2025: 20 (8/23/2005)
Acquired Via: 2023 NHL Draft – Round 3, pick 87
As the Flyers continue to search for the ever-elusive starting goaltender that will secure their future, younger options in the system keep popping up as the most likely options. And despite a contract that will keep him overseas for the next couple of years, Yegor Zavragin’s KHL play has started to get fans excited for his NHL future, even if they have yet to see him play.
How did Zavragin’s 2024-25 season go? Is his stock trending up or down from where it was entering the year?
Zavragin started this past year so hot that he was recalled early from his loan period at HK Sochi, and returned to his parent club at SKA St. Petersburg (sound familiar?), after his first six games. Out of his first six starts, Zavragin faced over 30 shots in five of them, the one exception being a strange start against his former SKA teammates where he was pulled in the middle of the second period after allowing just two goals. He only allowed 12 goals on 204 shots during his brief time in Sochi, good for a sterling .941 save percentage on a team that struggled to limit chances in their own end.
After transitioning to SKA, Zavragin saw his raw numbers take a downturn, but he also saw a downturn in shots against. He saw 40 shots three times with Sochi, and then never again with St. Petersburg. The sheer quantity decreased significantly, but those quality chances still managed to squeak through when defensive breakdowns occurred. And it’s not as if Zavragin was bad, he still held a .912 save percentage throughout the rest of his season, but it just wasn’t the same heights that he hit early on.
Regardless, Zavragin has asserted himself as one of the most intriguing new KHL goaltending prospects to watch, and the fact that he has already made it to the marquee position of starting at one of the best non-NHL teams in the world, while still only being 20 years old, is pretty impressive.
What are we expecting from Zavragin this season? What should we be looking for from him?
Zavragin should be the starting goalie for SKA this season, who will intend to get the most out of their young goaltender’s last year in the KHL. The team actually had a down year last season, but should be back near the top of their respective conference’s standings, if history is anything to go by. The 5 ’10 Artemi Pleshkov and Columbus prospect Sergei Ivanov will be along to try and compete, but they both don’t have the pedigree and numbers of Zavragin, who will look to become one of the best young goaltenders in the league once again.
The world of goaltending is always difficult to parse through, Zavragin could play another season behind a team that doesn’t quite gel, or, he could 20 shots a night and spend most of the game as a spectator, that is the nature of the position. But Zavragin has the talent to be one of the very best goalies in the league, and while it isn’t a guarantee, it’s definitely a possibility. When he is on his game, he can cover every inch of the net with just a simple push of, and with that sort of game saving ability, it will be intriguing to see if he can bottle that potential up for an entire season. If he can? With a seemingly solid squad in front of him, SKA could make some noise once again.
How does Zavragin fit in the Flyers’ rebuild? Is it likely he’s going to be a part of the next good Flyers team?
Whatever young goalie in the Flyers’ system decides to perform at a high level will have a chance to be their #1 goaltender. Samuel Ersson has shown flashes of good play over his young career, but expecting him to become a starting-caliber goalie on a playoff team seems overly-optimistic at this point. However, he should get another crack or two at being the 1A, especially as the roster around him continues to take shape.
By the time Zavragin’s contract at SKA St. Petersburg runs out in 2026-27, the ultimate decision on Ersson’s own future should already be made. Whether it be him moving to a different team or ultimately becoming a stop-gap/backup, Zavragin should be offered a long enough runway to make himself comfortable at the highest level.
In addition, much of the reason why the organization was so open to the idea of Zavragin staying at SKA for his full deal was due to the fact that the 2026-27 expiration of his KHL contract fits near perfectly with their internal timeline. While this year is likely just going to be another fact finding mission, with a new coach getting acclimated and a potential playoff push somewhere along the way, the season after will certainly be one where the competition clock starts ticking.
If Zavragin can translate the majority of what we’ve seen in the KHL to the NHL, he could end up being the most important piece of the puzzle that ends this rebuild once and for all.
What do we think Zavragin’s ultimate NHL upside is, and how likely is it that he gets to something approaching that?
Again, this is a bit easier to square due to Zavragin’s pro experience, it’s easier to project him as opposed to some of the other goaltending prospects that the Flyers have, mostly due to the fact that he is currently playing in a highly competitive professional league. You would think, that even despite his young age, his experience in the KHL would make the transition a little bit smoother, and when he gets here and is ready for full-time duty, he has the potential to not only be a starter, but maybe a top-15, or even top-10, goalie in the NHL.
While the last two KHL imports that the Flyers have had in net may not have panned out very well, Zavragin has always been a different level prospect-wise. He has the raw skill, size, and explosiveness in his lower half to become something really, really special.
Previously in Philadelphia Flyers Summer 2025 Top 25 Under 25:
