All things square, the Philadelphia Flyers failed to leave the NHL Draft with more than one or two good-value selections. and it makes you wonder about where things are headed for the organization in the near future.

The crown jewel of their draft class, the Flyers drafted Maksim Sokolovskii with the 27th overall pick after trading down with the San Jose Sharks to recoup some mid-round draft capital.

In a vacuum, I actually liked this pick.

Reviewing the Flyers' 2026 Draft Class

Sokolovskii, a 6-foot-7 monster on defense who actively seeks to punish his opponents, has a ton of potential. He's quite young for this draft class, is already filled out at 240 pounds, and defends well and hits hard.

The best way to look at this pick is that the Flyers basically have five or six years to teach him how to play offense and do stuff with the puck.

Sokolovskii is a wildly good skater for his size and has enough talent to put moves on defenders, but his passing ability isn't very expansive, needs to learn how to shoot (when and where, not how hard), and needs to practice making decisions under pressure.

The physicality and stick work are already good, but the Flyers are going to need to teach Sokolovskii how to do anything with the puck on his stick and in the opposing zone. Flyers general manager Danny Briere believes that the massive Kazakh rearguard made significant strides throughout the year, and how far Sokolovskii can go will determine if he's a first-pair guy or a third-pair guy at the NHL level.

Another question I have with the Sokolovskii selection: who is he going to play with? As a natural insulator, you have to imagine he would be best suited playing alongside an offensive player. Is that Jamie Drysdale? That's looking increasingly unlikely.

The Flyers left this draft without a true power play specialist or offensive defenseman, and that's a sticking point for me, even if it doesn't have anything to do with Sokolovskii directly.

He already struggles with the puck, and the last thing the Flyers should want to do is stick him with another defenseman who either can't skate or pass the puck, or both.

Grade: B

I was less a fan of the Brek Liske pick at 53rd overall in the second round.

Liske is a 6-foot-2 right-shot defenseman, but the Flyers already have a ton of those. Think names like Oliver Bonk, David Jiricek, Spencer Gill, Carter Amico, Luke Vlooswyk, Austin Moline, and even Helge Grans. Why use a third second-round pick in as many drafts on another right-shot?

Liske is a well-rounded defender who doesn't do anything particularly special, and his draft stock was undoubtedly boosted by a WHL playoff run that saw him score 17 points in 18 games, despite having only 24 in 52 regular season games.

Left-shot defensemen Alexander Bilecki and Ben MacBeath, who are both highly regarded for their skating ability and are both 6-foot-2, would have been much better choices if defense was the play.

Grade: C

Goalie Martin Psohlavec was a fine bet at 62nd overall, but this goalie class was not the greatest, and a second-round pick felt a bit rich, even with his outstanding size (6-foot-5) and production. He went one spot ahead of MacBeath, who was picked by the rival New York Rangers.

Grade: C+

With their next selection, the Flyers went with another Czech goalie in Marek Sklenicka, who is 6-foot-4 and quite athletic for his size. Sklenicka, all things considered, was a better value pick than Psohlavec was.

Grade: B

Flyers' Strange Asset Management

The Flyers hadn't drafted a goalie since 2023 before this draft, but it is a bit strange that they both drafted two of them and did so back-to-back.

It is unfortunate that high-upside talents like Mikey Berchild and Lavr Gashilov went to two rivals in the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils, respectively, in the same round the Flyers drafted Sklenicka.

Sure, the Flyers didn't have many draft picks, but it would have been nice to see them get aggressive and move up to get someone they really want.

Berchild (105th) and Gashilov (119th) weren't out of reach with the Flyers sitting at 120th, but they opted for the goalie in Sklenicka instead of a forward.

Speaking of forwards, the only forward the Flyers drafted in 2026 was K.J. Sauer, who played high school hockey for Andover High in Minnesota before getting into 13 games with the USHL Lincoln Stars.

He's big and physical, but we'll have to wait until he plays for the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings next year to get a better read.

Alex Bump was drafted out of high school, after all, but this is a file-it-away pick until this time next year. Beckham Edwards and Giorgos Pantellas were still on the board here, and better options at that.

Grade: D

With their last pick in the 2026 draft, the Flyers took Max Laatikainen, a smaller Finnish defender at 5-foot-11 who played in some Liiga games last season, 213th overall. He picked up two assists in six games for Kiekko-Espoo.

Laatikainen was one of five draft-eligible players to record multiple points in Liiga this season.

Alberts Smits, Oliver Suvanto, and Juho Piiparinen were all first-round picks (and regulars), and Anttoni Uronen went to Columbus in Round 6.

Laatikainen played in 23 fewer games than Piiparinen and had only one less assist, so there's potential there.

Grade: A

Similarly to Max Westergard last year, I liked that the Flyers threw a dart at a kid who already played some pro hockey and was productive doing it, especially compared to much more esteemed peers.

The Flyers' Path Ahead

Overall, though, it was a pretty uninspiring draft for the Flyers, who made some boring picks going after the same traits as always: size and experience.

The Flyers did not draft any speed or skill this year whatsoever, and that isn't hyperbole.

It is a recurring theme, at this point, in the fourth draft I covered since I started writing about the Flyers in 2023.

It hasn't all been bad, to be fair, but the lows have been too low, and the highs haven't been high enough.

That 2023 draft saw the Flyers take Carter Sotheran and Matteo Mann, and neither player signed a contract with the team. Alex Ciernik, injury issues notwithstanding, was probably lucky to get a contract from the Flyers, too.

The 2022 draft was Cutter Gauthier and... that was what it was. In 2021, the Flyers traded their first-round pick for Rasmus Ristolainen, and used their second-round pick to take Samu Tuomaala, who isn't with the team anymore and has yet to play an NHL game, over Logan Stankoven and Matthew Knies.

In 2024, it was Jett Luchanko over Konsta Helenius, and in 2025, it was Jack Nesbitt over Jackson Smith and Cam Reid.

Overall, the Flyers have just made a habit of making uninspiring picks and hunting for concepts of players, rather than the players themselves.

The outlook in Philadelphia hasn't changed much after this draft, and that isn't a good thing. This draft class will likely hinge entirely on the continued development of Sokolovskii.