Yegor Zavragin, the Flyers bluechip goaltending prospect and their third-round pick (87th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft, appears to be switching teams in the KHL. And the move should be for the better in terms of his development.
On Saturday, Zavragin was sent from his SKA St. Peterburg club to Metallurg Magnitogorsk (HC Metallurg) along with Yegor Zelonov. In exchange, Metallurg sent back Alexei Maklyukov.
TRADE #KHL
— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) June 6, 2026
To Metallurg: #LetsGoFlyers prospect Yegor Zavragin and Yegor Zelenov
To SKA: Alexei Maklyukov
Zavragin had a trying 2025-26 in the KHL, playing only 12 games with SKA St. Petersburg. He was 5-7-0 with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. Those numbers are very respectable for a young goaltender, but they were a dramatic drop off from the amount of playing time he had in 2024-25. In the 2024-25 season, Zavragin appeared in 37 games, going 17-11-3 with a 2.55 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. Those numbers were in addition to the netminder playing six games for Sochi HC the same year, with a solid 2.21 goals-against average and a solid .941 save percentage.
The goalie spent the season not just with the KHL club, but with St. Petersburg of the VHL, the second-tier of professional Russian hockey, so essentially the rough equivalent to the American Hockey League. In 18 games there Zavragin shone, ending up with a .949 save percentage and a 1.44 goals-against average. In the VHL, his record was 10-6-2.
The main issue and cause of this trade is that there is a log jam ahead of him at SKA, with Artemy Pleshkov and Sergei Ivanov on top of the young Flyers prospect in the depth chart. So unless one or both goalies ran into injury problems or played their way out of the lineup, Zavragin would be hard pressed to see a lot of ice time. Both Pleshkov and Ivanov seemed to be a tandem, with Pleshkov in 32 games and Ivanov in 29 games last season — essentially causing a somewhat lost season for Zavragin that could have been used to be a full-time KHL starter. Hopefully he now gets that chance.
By moving to HC Metallurg, otherwise known as Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Zavragin should get more playing time on a team that won 49 games in the 68-game KHL season. They also had a deep playoff run before being eliminated in the third round. The duo of Alexander Smolin and Ilya Nabakov played all but 59 minutes of the regular season. However, Nabakov, who was drafted by Colorado in the second round of the 2024 draft, was assigned to the Avalanche’s AHL club following the KHL season. He’s expected to play in North America next season, opening up the slot for Zavragin to be a tandem (or more) with Smolin. On June 4, Smolin agreed to a one-year contract extension with his current club.
It also appears that despite the change in team, Zavragin will still wear #30 with his new club. It’s a good trade for the goaltender to get more experience, and it’s a good move in terms of his development for the Flyers. Having far more playing time should bode well for the netminder, and the Flyers should have a clearer idea whether or not he can truly be an NHL-level starter.
Unfortunately, that won’t be for a couple more seasons.
Zavragin reportedly extends KHL contract after trade
According to Hockey News Hub, Zavragin could be extending his contract for one more year so that he stays over in the KHL through the 2027-28 season.
The 20-year-old netminder had just one year left on his current deal and was then expected to make the trip overseas to North America to then start playing more directly in the Flyers organization at the age of 21. But with the trade causing a more long-term solution and a brighter future than just being stuck in the SKA depth chart mess for the next season, he must see it as a better opportunity and it gives him more reason to develop further in the KHL.
If Zavragin did come over to the Flyers at the end of next season, it would be incredibly surprising if he were to be starting games in the NHL for the 2027-28 season. He would have started in the AHL no matter what, and then would have to have some insane performances over the first few months to then get a big-league shot at 21 years old.
The more likely scenario would have been that Zavragin would spend the entire season in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and then the following year, he gets a real shot to be Dan Vladar’s backup and be in competition with whatever other goalie the Flyers bring in this summer.
But now, we know that Zavragin will be starting a whole lot of games in the KHL for the next two seasons, and once he makes his expected jump to North America in 2028, he could realistically have a chance to go straight to the NHL and not even touch the AHL.
It also gives the Flyers more flexibility to maybe target a goalie upgrade this summer that can be with the Flyers for two more years, without feeling the pressure that they should make room for their top goalie prospect in Zavragin coming over here. It is not as exciting, since it delays us seeing Zavragin actually in person, but it does make sense for all parties involved.
