If three months ago Flyers fans would have been told that the franchise would select Maksim Sokolovskii in the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft, the collective response would have likely been… “who?”

That is understandable. Every draft there are late risers, and in this draft arguably no player had a more meteoric ascendency than the hulking Kazakh-born blueliner. In Central Scouting’s midterm North American rankings, Sokolovskii came in at #132, in effect a coin-flip to be drafted at all. Even in their final rankings, released in April, the newest member of the Flyers prospect pool was #40 in North America, effectively a likely third-round pick.

The obvious question: why was he ranked so low for most of the year?

That question has a clear and simple answer. No matter what a player’s tools are, if they playing as a No. 7 defenseman in the OHL in their draft year, it is very unlikely such a player will be drafted, let alone as a high pick. And that was Sokolovskii’s situation for most of the season. Up until January, he averaged less than 12 minutes a game, was a regular healthy scratch, and was behind players like Caleb Mitchell and Julian Brown on the team’s depth chart. Who, you might say? Exactly.

However, back in January on OHL trade deadline day, the seeds were sown that led to a chain of circumstances resulting in Sokolovskii receiving a bigger chance to prove himself, and in turn catapulting into the NHL draft conversation.

His juggernaut OHL team, the London Knights, made a pair of trades that moved out Kings prospect blueliner Jared Woolley and depth defenseman Brown. While they did receive shutdown defender Jacob Xu in return, a top-six spot was finally free for him.

He did not exactly take it and run right away. Xu slotted in ahead of him, but Sokolovskii went from a No. 7 to the No. 6, and the string of scratches halted as well. 12 minutes turned into 13, then 13 into 15, and by the end of the regular season he was being given 17-20 minutes at times, albeit mainly in games where the result was already certain.

Then in the first round of the playoffs against Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, London’s No. 4 defenseman Caleb Mitchell was hurt in Game 1, and then their No. 3 defenseman Linus Funck was injured in Game 3. Both played through their ailments, but saw their minutes reduced as a result. Sokolovskii benefited enormously from this, and averaged almost 23 minutes a night in the series.

While a beat-up London team lost 4-1 in a series they were expected to win, with NHL eyes firmly focused on the marquee matchup, the big Russian’s stock rocketed. He did not set the world alight over the five games in an expanded role, but held his own against a strong team with no less than 10 NHL prospects, including high-end players like Brady Martin and Chase Reid.

And when a 6’7 defenseman who moves the way the pharaonic Petropavlovsk product does announces himself on the stage that is the OHL playoffs? People take notice.

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