The 2026 NHL Draft isn’t starting for a few weeks but we might as well skip the whole process because we know who the Philadelphia Flyers are going to be selecting with the first-round pick at 21st overall already. They’re just making it so obvious.
Saturday was the final day of the 2026 NHL Draft Combine, as all the top prospects came down to Buffalo to speak with any team remotely interested in them, hop on a bike, lift some weights, make some jumps, throw up a little bit in a garbage can behind a curtain, and then also do some other strength testing. One of those little strength tests is grip strength — measured in pounds the prospects are tested in, well, how strong their grip is.
We have no idea how this would translate to hockey, since the cliche of “gripping your stick too hard” is still alive and well and if a player grades out at the very top of this test, maybe that’s a bad thing. That player could grip is stick harder than anyone else.
The Flyers don’t think that way. For some reason, whether it is coincidence or not, for the last three Drafts, the Flyers have selected a player that finished either at the top or very close to it in the grip strength test at the combine.
In 2022, Devin Kaplan finished second in right hand grip strength and was selected in the third round by the Flyers. In 2023, brutish defenseman Matteo Mann finished at the very top of the list in both left hand and right hand grip strength, and was selected by the Flyers in the seventh round — Mann’s draft rights have since expired and he is no longer a prospect, but the point still stands.
In 2024, Jett Luchanko had the highest grip strength in both his right hand and his left hand among all prospects. He even beat out massive center Cayden Lindstrom in the category, proving he just has some wicked forearms for a 5-foot-11, 17-year-old center. And just last year, Shane Vansaghi, one of the Flyers’s second-round selections also finished first in both the left and right hand grip strength test; and Jack Nesbitt also finished fourth in right hand grip.
It’s a laundry list of Flyers draft picks, and fairly high ones at that, who all graded out well in this test. It might just be a silly little coincidence, or is a serious strategy that the Flyers have cooked up for some reason. Maybe they’re just looking for some upper-body strength so that they can push the opposition around a little bit better. No one truly knows but them if this is something that look out for.
So now turning our attention to this year, it is now obvious who the Flyers are absolutely, for sure, with no doubt, with 100% certainty, going to be selecting with one of their first two picks.
Who finished top in the grip strength test this year
It is just a little funny that the strength test that a lot of the Flyers decisions on Draft Day correlate to is the grip strength. Not something with more brute strength behind it like the bench press, or seeing who has the best aerobic fitness with their VO2 max result, or even just a physical attribute like biggest wingspan. It’s grip strength — how good a player can squeeze.
Anyways, it looks like someone who has actually been hovering around as a mid-to-late first-round selection graded out very well this year.
The name that pops off the sheet is certainly Ilia Morozov. The 6-foot-3 Russian center tied for third in right hand grip strength, and then finished at the top on his left hand. And even comparing him to someone like Luchanko, Morozov graded out extremely well.
Luchanko was able to get 172 pounds of force in his left hand, and then 175 in his right; and that was the best two years ago. Morozov blew him out of the water with 181 pounds in his right and 184 in his left. Again, no idea what this means for hockey, but the best thing is that Morozov actually fits what the Flyers want.
As mentioned, he’s a big center, but he also has played very well. At 14, he left Russia and came to the United States to pursue his dream. He joined the Under-15 Windy City Storm team for the 2023-24 season, and then was bumped up to the USHL’s Tri-City Storm in the 2024-25 season, in which he scored a decent 11 goals and 22 points in 59 games as a 16-year-old.
Morozov then made the giant jump to college hockey, lacing up for Miami University of Ohio this past season and was the youngest player in the entire country playing in the NCAA. He scored eight goals and 20 points in 36 games while being 17 years old all season long (with his August 3 birthday),for a very respectable season.
His entire game is more about supporting his team on the defensive side of the puck and then moving the puck up the ice in an efficient way. He can use his body very well to disrupt opposing scoring chances, while also possessing some solid playmaking. The 2026 Elite Prospect NHL Draft Guide compares his game to Jordan Staal, and that certainly seems like someone the Flyers are prone to take.
Another really interesting player that is most likely not a first-round pick, but could be had in the second round, is center Ryder Cali. The North Bay Battalion center was able to finish at the top of the right hand grip strength test, but did not place in the top 10 for his left hand, but that shouldn’t matter for the Flyers. He’s a 6-foot-2 center with a solid base and has some high-end soft skill to go along with some proactive work ethic. And, he’s already heading to college hockey next season as he’s committed to Providence College for the 2026-27 season despite being one of the youngest players in the entire draft class.
As for defenseman, Giorgos Pantelas is a name that we could see selected by the Flyers. The shutdown, right-handed, 6-foot-2 blueliner from the Brandon Wheat Kings, finished second to Morozov in the left hand grip test and was tied for eighth in the right hand test. He doesn’t have the most dynamic game but he’s ranked at No. 49 at Elite Prospects and is a physical defender that can also move fairly well. That pick also screams Flyers.
Factoring in just who we know the Flyers like and, well, the somewhat silly connection to the grip strength test, it would not surprise us if Morozov was the Flyers’ choice at 21st overall in a few weeks, or even someone like Cali or Pantelas at 53rd overall in the second round. And we’ll be able to connect their decision one again, to one little strength test at the combine.
