The Philadelphia Flyers selected defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii in the NHL Draft on Friday night, with the 27th overall selection. The defenseman is a towering 6-foot-7 skater from Kazakhstan. Flyers general manager Danny Briere revealed why Philadelphia took him.
“It’s not a secret, we don’t have a lot of defensemen,” Briere said, per NBC Sports Philadelphia.
"It's not a secret, we don't have a lot of defensemen"
Danny Briere explains why the Flyers went with Maksim Sokolovskii in the first round of the NHL Draft. | @CureInsurance pic.twitter.com/OeU0VjFq16
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) June 27, 2026
“It’s a guy that’s not afraid to mix it up as well,” Briere added. “Long reach. We liked his progression last year.”
A scouting report of Sokolovskii says that he has upside. He had committed to play at the University of Maine.
“Sokolovskii is the definition of a project prospect. He has all the makings of a heavy-hitting shutdown defenseman in the vein of Jamie Oleksiak or Nikita Zadorov, averaging 20-plus minutes a night and putting up around 20 points a season,” NHL.com reported.
Heading into the 2026 Draft, Briere shared a little bit about his overall philosophy.
“Especially in the first round, I think we try to be careful, try to go with the best player,” Briere said, per NBC Sports Philadelphia. “Because we have a pretty decent pool of prospects coming. It’s not like we’re depleted; we still have some really good ones at almost every position.”
The Flyers are coming off a fantastic season, that saw them return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in years. Philadelphia knocked out the Pittsburgh Penguins in the postseason, before getting swept by the Carolina Hurricanes.
This offseason, Philadelphia has been busy. The club traded with the Florida Panthers for draft picks. Briere has been open about his desires to make any deal that he feels will help his team.
“Absolutely,” Briere said. “Everything’s on the table. It has to make sense. We want to make sure that it helps us for the future; not just for one season or a few months.”
During the 2025-26 regular season, Philadelphia posted 98 points. The team finished +7 in goal differential.
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