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Following their drafting of left handed defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii at 27th overall on Friday night, the Philadelphia Flyers began building the rest of their 2026 Draft class.
With stated goals of adding goaltending and defensemen, general manager Daniel Briere targeted those areas with the majority of the Flyers second day selections.
Brek Liske (RHD-Pick #53)
At pick #53, the Flyers selected Everett Silvertips defenseman Brek Liske. A teammate of recent draftees Matthew Gard and Luke Vlooswyk, Liske is described as a versatile, do it all defenseman. He finished with 24 points (seven goals, 17 assists) in 54 games.
A 6 foot 1, 190lbs blueliner, Liske plays a situationally aware style. More notably, he was a strong performer (four goals, 13 assists for 17 points) for the Silvertips during the WHL championship run, earning the moniker “Big Game Brek.”
“I would say it was kind of a confidence thing (during the playoffs)” Liske said. “I realized more who I was and what I could do. Started believing it and feeling it, convincing myself that I could do it.”
Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr agreed.
“I think the first half of the season he didn’t get to play alot, but he made the best of it when he got the opportunity down the stretch. He really showed what he could do. His ability to skate, retrieve pucks, and making passes under pressure is a difficult thing as levels go higher.”
“He’ll need to get stronger, but I think we’re banking on another layer of his offense to come as well as his confidence grows.”
He also grew up a Flyers fan thanks to his father Lonnie, as he told reporters during his Zoom press conference.
“My dad has maybe 30 Flyers jerseys. At least five out here on the deck here,” Liske said. “The (Flyers) staff know my dad was a crazy Flyers fan. He has an Orange Jeep with a Flyers license plate.”
Martin Psohlavec (G-Pick #62)
At pick #62, the Flyers took their first goalie since 2024, taking 6 foot 5, 190lb goalie Martin Psohlavec. Playing for Karlovy-Vary in the Czech Republic, he’s described as having a big, athletic goalie, with great flexibility.
His technique sees him stay square to shooters even though he could rely on his almost Dan Vladar-esque dimensions. However, his skating is an area for him to develop, as he’ll need to improve his lateral movement as he develops.
He had some remarkable numbers at the Under-20 level with eight shutouts.
Marek Sklenicka (G-Pick #120)
The Flyers waited until the fourth round for their next selection at pick #120. And they added to their goalie pipeline when they took Marek Sklenicka from the WHL Seattle Thunderbirds. A teammate of Luke Vlooswyck, the Czech-born goalie had a 3.21 goals against average, a .902 save percentage for Seattle.
The 6 foot 3 Sklenicka is a high energy netminder who loves to make sprawling saves, but there is concern that he has a lack of structure and doesn’t yet make the extensions needed to succeed at the NHL level. He’s expected to be a project to develop.
KJ Sauer (C-Pick #136)
In the fifth round, the Flyers shifted their focus to the forward position. At pick #136, they drafted center KJ Sauer from Andover High School in Minnesota.
Sauer’s split time between Andover and USHL Lincoln with a combined 10 goals and 20 points in 30 combined games. He plays a power forward style and his checking mechanics are considered advanced with stick on puck ability, timing, angles, and violent finish.
Unsurprisingly, Sauer models his game after Brady Tkachuk.
However, he suffered a torn PCL injury that required surgery at the end of his junior season in the Minnesota state tournament in April 2025. He didn’t play his first game of the season until early January 2026.
Sauer will be playing for the WHL Edmonton Oil Kings this upcoming season.
“I’d like to work to showcase my talent as a gritty guy not taking anything from anyone,” Sauer said. “I want to prove I can put points on the board and pucks in the back of the net.”
Max Laatikainen (RHD- Pick #213)
With their final pick of the 2026 Draft, the Flyers took a smaller puck moving defenseman in Max Laatikainen.
A smooth skater, his primary attributes are his puck poise. One of the youngest players in the draft, he played for the Finnish Under 18 team and had six games in Liiga before suffering a season-ending injury in December.
It’s expected that he’ll continue to get opportunities to play in Liiga. Whether he’ll project to North American hockey over time is to be determined.
Summary of the 2026 Class
If the Flyers intentions were to hit certain areas of their pipeline such as goaltending and defense, then they accomplished those goals.
That said, they passed up on a pretty good option in Ryan Lin at pick 21 for a bigger boom-bust possibility in Sokolovskii. There’s little question there’s major variance in where the big Kazakh blueliner will end up as an NHLer.
Liske is an interesting prospect in which he possesses some “Swiss Army Knife” abilities, but the question will be if he can add to his offensive arsenal.
After going two seasons without taking a goaltender, they took a pair of Czech netminders to bolster that position beyond Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin.
Interestingly, both Sauer and Laatikanen are coming off significant injuries, which likely contributed to their draft positions.
However, this is a draft that’s going to require some substantive developmental work for the Flyers.
Sokolovskii may be a home-run swing attempt in an underwhelming 2026 NHL class, but the Flyers selections seem to be a reinforcement of the weak points of their prospect pool.
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