The 2026 NHL Draft is a week away, and the Philadelphia Flyers have one first-round pick to use on Friday night. While there is a chance they make a first-round trade for the third straight year, what we know right now is that Danny Briere & Co. own the 21st overall selection in the upcoming draft.
It’s tougher to get a top-of-the-lineup player later in the first round, but teams can still find impact players. The Flyers have done that a few times themselves with the likes of Claude Giroux (22nd), Travis Konecny (24th), and Tyson Foerster (23rd).
The first group of mock drafts after the NHL Scouting Combine had the Flyers focused on centers. While they may still look to add down the middle, we’re starting to see some variety in these mock drafts, particularly with a few defensemen in the mix.
Let’s take a look at some recent mock drafts, in chronological order.
The Athletic – Scott Wheeler (June 9)
21. Philadelphia Flyers: Maksim Sokolovskii, LHD, London (OHL)
“The 6-foot-7.25, 240-pound Sokolovskii was the talk of the combine this year. The belief is that he’s going to go in the first round and potentially as early as the early 20s. He’s a physical specimen who can move, and while his game is still very raw in a lot of areas, he started to put his game together in the second half of his rookie season in the OHL this year. He’s the Flyers’ type, and they have a track record with the London Knights. If Bleyl is still here, I could see them targeting him over Sokolovskii as well.“
Sokolovskii is a player that Keith Jones would love. The Flyers don’t have a ton of defensemen in the pipeline, and as Wheeler mentioned, they’ve drafted some London Knights in the past.
The big defenseman is 55th in Elite Prospects’ consolidated ranking, with EP themselves being the highest on him at 22. However, Chris Peters has him at 59 and Craig Button at 60.
The Athletic – NHL Staff (June 15)
21. Philadelphia Flyers: Maddox Dagenais, C, Quebec (QMJHL)
“Dagenais would have fit right in with the Flyers’ 2025 draft class as a player with good size (6-foot-4, 196 pounds) and who needs to continue to work on his skating. While the Flyers already have a few centers like that in their system (Jack Nesbitt, Jack Berglund), adding another wouldn’t necessarily be a deterrent — particularly for a team that’s probably going to have to trade at least one or two prospects in the future to procure more high-end NHL talent. — Kevin Kurz“
Dagenais would be a fun name to add to the Flyers’ prospect pool, and he’s ranked by most in the first round. The only potential issue is that he’s projected to possibly be more of a winger than a center at the next level, but teams should ultimately take the best player available, and the Flyers could use a wing in their pipeline.
EP’s consolidated ranking has him at 29, with EP, Chris Peters, and McKeen’s Hockey ranking him in the teens.
The Athletic – Corey Pronman (June 18)
21. Philadelphia Flyers: William Håkansson, LHD, Luleå HF (SHL)
“Håkansson reminds a lot of scouts of Stars defender Lian Bichsel at the same age, and this is the range he went in. The Flyers add a big, physical, mobile defenseman to a system which currently lacks that player type.“
Hakansson split time this season between the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan, which is the Swedish equivalent of the AHL. He also won gold with Flyers prospect Jack Berglund at the World Juniors, which is impressive for a 17-year-old.
While he’s not quite 6’7″ like Sokolovskii, the Swedish blueliner stands at 6’4″ at age 17. He could be a perfect fit for the Flyers at 21st overall.
The defenseman is 31st in the consolidated ranking, getting two rankings as high as 19 but as low as 44 and 58.
Bleacher Report – Hannah Stuart (June 18)
21. Philadelphia Flyers: Oliver Suvanto, C, Tappara (Liiga)
“Oliver Suvanto is absolutely massive, and while that alone isn’t a reason to assign him to the Philadelphia Flyers, it certainly doesn’t hurt. Size, however, isn’t even the most attractive part of his game.
“Granted, 21st is high for Suvanto at this point in the game. But it’s not so high that it’s a crazy pick—the Flyers could make moves that make a lot less sense here than taking a center with a huge frame, the tenacity of a Labrador Retriever whose owner is trying to keep him out of the pool, and excellent details.
“There’s just something about a two-way center who actually embodies what that means. Too many guys get that two-way label added to their bio because they’re centers with lower production numbers. Suvanto is a power forward type who is also mature, reliable, and intelligent. That’s honestly like catnip to most teams these days.
“Suvanto impressed more in his U20 regular-season play than he did at the U18 World Championships this year—expecting to see more offensive ability shining in a tournament against his peers doesn’t feel unreasonable. Chief among what we need to see moving forward is improvement in his skating (specifically his edgework), as well as greater assurance that both sides of his game will translate to the professional level.“
Suvanto was mocked to the Flyers by Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis back on June 4. He’s 16th on EP’s consolidated ranking and is consistently ranked in the top 28.
Including the first group of mock drafts we looked at a few weeks ago, here is an updated list of players projected to be drafted by the Flyers:
- Alexander Command (2)
- Jack Hextall (2)
- Oliver Suvanto (2)
- Brooks Rogowski
- Maksim Sokolovskii
- Maddox Dagenais
- William Håkansson
