The NHL Draft saw a ton of trades and excitement, but not so much so for the Flyers. In fact, most pundits were not only down on the Flyers draft class but pretty bored for the most part. Are they right? I have no idea. I am bad enough at evaluating hockey let alone the minutia of the outrageously long draft.1 Instead, let’s look at the people we drafted. That’s where the fun is, especially in the 2nd round.
For those wondering, the Flyers lost their 3rd round pick in the recent Joseph Woll trade and their 5th round pick in last year’s Trevor Zegras trade. However, they did pick up a 5th round pick in exchange for their 6th round pick in the recent Garnet Hathaway trade.
Round 1 – #21 – Trade!
See, I told you there was excitement. Instead of trying to move up though, the Flyers moved back from #21 to #27 in order to pick up some extra draft inventory. They came into the day with only 4 picks, so getting #62 and #120 for their trouble wasn’t a bad bit of business.
Round 1 – #27 – Maksim Sokolovskii
The Kazakh defenseman is a BIG dude. He is 6’8″ and 238 pounds at just 17 years old (he turns 18 in 2 weeks). That’s absurd. He hits and has a huge shot but is a huge work in progress. Because of his age, the plan is for him to stay in OHL London for this season before heading to the University of Maine the year after. His nickname is “The Terminator.”
Sokolovskii was the second largest player in the draft. How do you get larger? Well, Alexander Karmanov from Moldova is 7’1 and 270 pounds (which has to be something to see skating). The big difference between the two is that Karmanov was selected in the 7th round compared to Sokolovskii going in the 1st (even if he was slightly over-drafted as per the experts.
Round 2 – #53 – Brek Liske
This is the fun one. Liske is a 6’1″ 190 pound defenseman from Manitoba who played in the WHL this past season. Growing up, Manitoba didn’t have an NHL team after the Jets originally left in 1996. Even before that though, his dad took to the Flyers despite no ties to the area. When I say he took to them, I mean REALLY took to the Flyers (see below, our boy is on the left). Claude Giroux ended up Brek’s favorite player and needless to say, the dad could not be happier right now where his son landed. That license plate!
Round 2 – #62 – Martin Psohlavec
The first of two Czech goaltenders, Psohlavec was the 3rd goalie off the board this draft after playing in Czechia this past season. He is 6’5″ but only 183 pounds at 18 years old. This was the first Flyers goalie selection since 2023. He played for the U18 Czechian National Team.
Round 4 – #120 – Marek Sklenicka
There is not much difference in the profile between Psohlavec and Sklenicka. Sklenicka is 6’3″ and only 170 pounds, also from Czechia, and also on the U18 National Team. Marek is already in the US though as he played for Seattle of the WHL last season. You have to think fellow countryman and goaltender Dan Vladar is happy about the selections.
Round 5 – #136 – KJ Sauer
Kent Jr is a 6’3″ forward who will turn 19 in October. He played this past season for the Edmonton Oil Kings but played high school hockey in Minnesota. He comes from a hockey family with his father getting drafted in the 4th round by the Predators in 1998 but never making the show, his uncle Kurt played 4 years for the Coyotes, and his other uncle Michael playing 4 seasons with the Rangers.
Round 7 – #213 – Max Laatikainen
Laatikainen is 17, was born in Sweeden but skates for Finland, and is 5’11” tall weighing 185 pounds. He represented Finland at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge in 2024 at 15 years old apparently. That’s kind of crazy.
Sources: Elite Prospects
Photo: Timothy Ludwig
- NHL Rosters are less than half the size of NFL rosters yet the draft is the same length. What are we doing? ↩︎
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