The Philadelphia Flyers landed a monster of a defenseman, selecting Maksim Sokolovskii with the No. 27 overall pick in the 2027 NHL draft.
Originally slated to select 21st overall, the Flyers traded down six spots with the San Jose Sharks. In return, picking up the 62nd and 120th overall picks in this years draft.
From London Knights of the OHL, Sokolovskii finished with 2 goals & 6 assists in 44 games.
Sokolovskii is a towering, physical defenseman who likes to throw his body around. For his size, his skating is very smooth and uses his stride efficiently to cover long distances.
While his offensive game did not standout out last season, he did put 84 points in AAA the year before. The jump from AAA to the OHL showed its struggles early on in the season, but he did show massive improvement as the season went on.
The 6’7″ 236lbs left shot defenseman finished as the #22 ranked prospect according to Elite Prospects.
“Sokolovskii is a massive and highly athletic defenseman. He’s a strong, mobile player who’s very physical and projects to make a ton of stops. The debate on Sokolovskii will come down to his puck play. He can certainly fight the puck at times, although he showed progress as the season went on. The hope is that he can make basic outlets and retrievals because if so, an NHL coach will play him a lot.” Corey Pronman, The Athletic
Sokolovskii’s game reminds scouts of heavy-hitting shutdown defenceman in the vein of Jamie Oleksiak and Nikita Zadorov.
The Flyers have 5 picks remaining in the 2026 draft which continues tomorrow at 11:00am.
