Top 25 Under 25 Flyers: Where do Zavragin, Bjarnason rank?

The midseason edition of the Top 25 Under 25 rolls on. Here we are, continuing to look at players who could be the future of the Philadelphia Flyers and seeing where they stack up against each other, but in a much quicker manner than the full deep dives we do each summer.

Today we\'re looking at the middle of the pack. A position where you hope these players eventually play NHL games, or they already have but just aren\'t going to make as big of an impact as some younger prospects.

A total of 10 ballots were submitted from folks here at Broad Street Hockey but of course 10 blurbs about a player taken in the fifth round of a draft a couple years ago, might be a bit much — so if you’re wondering why the numbers may not add up, there’s that.

Let\'s check in and see who made the middle of the ranking.

15: Samu Tuomaala, RW

Primary Team: Lehigh Valley Phantoms, AHL 2024-25 Stats: 11 G, 31 Pts in 43 GP Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 13 Age: 22 Acquired: 2nd round (46th overall) in 2021 NHL Draft

Jason M (Ranked #17): He’s slipped a wee bit from the summer rankings. Although he should come close to equalling or surpassing his totals from last season, it’s been an up and down year for Tuomaala. And unlike Andrae, that up and down has been on the ice, not being called up to the Flyers and back down to the Phantoms. If the Flyers ship out a few players for picks at the deadline, we might see Tuomaala get a chance with Philadelphia for a stretch if they’re out of the playoff hunt and want to keep Anthony Richard or Rodrigo Abols in the AHL. He’s shown glimpses at times, but the consistency is lacking.

Thomas (Ranked #16): Piggybacking off Jason’s point, it has been a little bit of a rough go for Tuomaala in general perception. The production is still there but his overall impact of a game has not changed – he is not wholeheartedly driving play down in the AHL and at 22 years old, this is when the turning point really is. With Jakob Pelletier and potentially more incoming talent, Tuomaala has a very outside chance of even making the Flyers’ roster next season, so where do we really go from here?

Maddie (Ranked #24): I think some recency bias has crept into my ranking here, with the cold streak that Tuomaala found himself on over the last few months, but on the whole, I haven’t really been loving what I’ve seen from Tuomaala with the Phantoms through most of this season. He showed early in the season – and he seems to be inching back to this – that he has some real scoring strength in his game, but in the areas away from this that the development staff have been working to get him to improve, he hasn’t been making notable strides, so when he’s not scoring, he’s not doing a whole lot else. And this is going to make him a tough sell as a long-term NHL option, and my concern is that if he doesn’t figure it out soon, he’s going to be jumped on the depth chart by some of the younger wingers coming in. He still has some runway ahead of him, but the clock is ticking here.

14: Carson Bjarnason, G

Primary Team: Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL 2024-25 Stats: .911 sv%, 2.95 GAA in 29 GP Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 22 Age: 19 Acquired: 2nd round (51st overall) in 2023 NHL Draft

Jason M (Ranked #19): A future answer in goal for the Flyers? He’s posted fine numbers this season and is down over a goal (4.00 to 2.98) in his goals-against average and up 28 points (.882 to .910) in save percentage from his rookie season in Brandon to this current season. He’ll also be playing meaningful games as Brandon is in the playoff race, hoping to secure home ice advantage while having some comfortable distance from being on the outside looking in. A strong finish to the season and a decent playoff run could only help Bjarnason’s confidence going into the offseason.

Thomas (Ranked #17): Bjarnason was going to need to really show out in his final junior year and he has quickly established himself as one of the WHL’s better goaltenders. He’s fifth in the league in save percentage and is first among all drafted netminders who have projectable tools. And after making Canada’s World Juniors roster and showing some real good netminding in Philadelphia last summer, he has quickly put himself much closer to Yegor Zavragin (who we will talk about later) as the Flyers’ top goaltending prospect.

Maddie (Ranked #14): I feel like Bjarnason is having a good but not stellar season, and my general feelings on him are a little bit middling as a result. His track record through junior hockey’s been solid, and I do see him as having good pro potential (which we’ll see beginning next season when he graduates to the AHL), but I’m just not quite as excited about him as I am Zavragin. I don’t want to get too into the weeds with comparing those two, so I’ll just leave it here – Bjarnason is still a very good goaltending prospect, and it’s been a while since the organization has had the legitimate goaltending depth that he’s contributing to, and that’s a very good thing.

13: Alex Bump, LW

Primary Team: Western Michigan Univ., NCAA 2024-25 Stats: 14 G, 32 Pts in 28 GP Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 21 Age: 21 Acquired: 5th round (133rd overall) in 2022 NHL Draft

Jason M (Ranked #21): Bump has had a good season for his university team, leading them in points and tied for most goals. He’s also been on a roll of late and was a Hobey Baker Award nominee. Clearly he’s moved up (I avoided the pun, people) the rankings since the summer. With any luck he’s able to showcase his talents with a deep run in the NCAA playoffs.

Thomas (Ranked #15): To me, Bump is a good-at-all, master-of-none type of winger. He has a NHL quality to his game that just screams a dependable middle-six contributor who might score 20 goals once or twice throughout his career. He doesn’t have one particular area that will set him above the rest, but there is nothing to really complain about in his game. We aren’t ranking him higher because of his low ceiling, but he still comes close to making the top half of the list because he most likely will play his fair share of NHL games.

Maddie (Ranked #15): I’m a big fan of Bump’s game. He might not have one area that he particularly pops in, but he projects as a good utility-type player, and he already plays close to a pro-style game. That might not blow viewers away, but there’s a lot of value in that to the organization – the high skill players make the most noise, players like Bump do a lot to support them (and, particularly the younger ones, at a lower cost). With how much the organization has been talking him up recently, one imagines he signs after the season, and the hope is that he can show well in the run that Western Michigan is primed to make in the NCAA Tournament.

12: Jakob Pelletier, RW/LW

Primary Team: Philadelphia Flyers, NHL 2024-25 Stats: 4 G, 11 Pts in 24 GP (with CGY) Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: N/A Age: 23 Acquired: Trade with CGY

Jason M (Unranked): Yes he’s under 25 but was an oversight on my part. Recently acquired from the Flames, Pelletier should get a look down the homestretch. He’s a well-liked guy but that doesn’t mean much if he can’t produce. He’ll be given a shot. Probably he’s another project or work in progress. But it’s a good return (plus Andrei Kuzmenko and the second-round pick) for seeing Morgan Frost leave for a fresh start and Joel Farabee’s contract head out West too. I hope he sticks but I’m not getting my hopes up.

Thomas (Ranked #12): Pelletier is a guy that is so easy to root for. Not the biggest (that is my nice way of saying he is small) but he gives it his all on every shift and actually cares about all three zones of the ice. Considering he is far too good to stick around in the AHL but the Flames kept him down there for some reason, it still feels like there is untapped potential here. He won’t make the top 10 just because of the unknown factor and his age, but he could easily rocket up the rankings if he has a very good stretch to close out the season.

Maddie (Ranked #11): I still don’t have a great handle on Pelletier’s game yet (hopefully that will change on the other side of the break here, now that his visa issues are finally resolved) but given he track record as a more or less established NHL player at this point, he gets an automatic spot in the top half of the ranking for me. Like the guys have said, there could be some real untapped potential here, and that’s something to be excited about, to see how that plays out over the rest of the season.

11: Yegor Zavragin, G

Primary Team: SKA St. Petersburg, KHL 2024-25 Stats: .914 sv%, 2.63 GAA in 33 GP Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 17 Age: 19 Acquired: 3rd round (87th overall) in 2023 NHL Draft

Jason M (Ranked #20): He was tearing it up early this season in the KHL with an unconsciously high save percentage. That’s levelled off to .907 (not bad, hell the Flyers would take it now!). Perhaps it’s years of being jaded, cynical or numb to the belief a Flyers goalie prospect can stop a puck when it matters. Please prove me wrong Yegor or Carson, I am begging you. As for his talent, if he’s just scratching the surface at age 19 of what he could develop into, then Flyers fans could be in for a treat for a long time. A great first impression, but a long way to go yet.

Thomas (Ranked #10): Zavragin has already done something no typical goalie prospect does. It is not normal for an then-18-year-old netminder to be a KHL club’s starting option and that club be one of the best in the league with Gagarin Cup aspirations. That alone is something saved for the very best. The Shesterkin, Sorokin, Vasilevskiy-type goaltenders are the ones that do this and Zavragin is suddenly thrown in that group. Now, Vasilevskiy and Bobrovsky both had better Draft+2 seasons than the Flyers prospect is having right now, but Zavragin’s .914 save percentage on the season is better than Sorokin, Askarov, Shesterkin, Kochetkov, and so many others. The hype is real.

Maddie (Ranked #13): Like Jason mentioned, Zavragin’s come back to earth a little bit after an absolutely scorching start to the season, but even with that drop-off, he’s still sitting at that very solid .907 SV%. I’m trying to keep expectations reasonable because he’s still so early in his development, but you can’t deny how impressive the work he’s done up to this point is, and there’s no question he’s the organization’s top goaltending prospect outside of the North American pros, and it sure feels like he’s going to be putting some legitimate pressure on those over here before too long. There’s a lot to be excited about in his trajectory.

Winter 2025 Top 25 Under 25 Flyers: 15-11

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