Sunday morning's Philadelphia Flyers news.
While we impatiently wait for the Philadelphia Flyers and, more broadly, NHL hockey to return, the OHL preseason is underway, and many European pro leagues are beginning to kick things off, too.
Let's start in Sweden, shall we?
Flyers forward prospect Max Westergard, who was unable to participate in development camp in July, scored a goal and an assist in 11:44 of ice time for Frolunda HC in a 6-1 win over SaiPa in Champions Hockey League competition.
Over in Russia, Egor Zavragin will likely debut for his new club, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, on Sunday (today) or Tuesday, Sept. 8, with two games against Amur Khabarovsk on the docket.
He'll have some competition from the older, more experienced Alexander Smolin, who is also a Gagarin Cup champ with Metallurg as Ilya Nabokov's backup, but we can expect the two Russian netminders to share the crease barring something unforeseen.
And here? We will soon see if David Jiricek has what it takes to stick at the NHL level with the Flyers.
Head coach Rick Tocchet and GM Danny Briere both acclaim Jiricek's shot and offensive ability, but only 12 days separate the start of training camp on the 17th and the first game of the regular season on the 30th.
Don't forget about Maksim Sokolovskii
Lost in all the prospect talk, try not to forget about Maksim Sokolovskii throughout the year. I mean, I'm sure there will be highlights, as you will see shortly here, but regard him as a legitimate prospect.
Yes, Sokolovskii is going to be a project, and yes, it will be some time before we see him take the ice for an NHL game with the Flyers, but the potential gets more and more fascinating with each watch.
In the clip above, Sokolovskii aggressively pinches up the left wall, narrowly missing an opponent en route to the 50/50 puck. After settling an attempted play up the boards from his opponent, Sokolovskii turns up the ice and immediately looks to make a play.
A smaller, more nimble 5-foot-7 Cameron Schmidt, who led the WHL with 51 goals last season, was waiting to defend in the high slot, but Sokolovskii pulled the puck back to his left side and powered past Schmidt and another defender with just a few strides.
Shielding the puck, Sokolovskii tried to make the high-percentage play, passing across the slot as time expired, but his nearest teammate was tied up, and nobody else was available at the back post.
So, despite no goal being scored, I loved this play by Sokolovskii. It proved a few things.
The 18-year-old is showing a willingness to take control, be the guy, and use his talents and tools to manufacture offense in a pressure situation.
The skating, which is already anomalous for his size, looked Travis Sanheim-esque as he shielded off defenders, and Sokolovskii clearly has an understanding of where the puck needs to go create a dangerous chance for his team.
Sokolovskii, drafted 27th overall by the Flyers in June, can easily outperform his draft slot just by getting in the same orbit as his full potential.
His passing and puck-handling will have to develop further, as will the decision-making, but when things go right, they look incredible.
Sokolovskii is the player I'm most excited to watch at Flyers rookie camp next week, especially as we have already seen a good bit of Porter Martone, Alex Bump, Denver Barkey, and Jett Luchanko in past years.
