What prospects have met with the Flyers, the latest on free agency rumblings, and other notes from the NHL scouting combine
The Flyers met with approximately 50 players last week. They have just five picks over seven rounds. The draft begins June 26.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Blake Zielinski walked into his interview with the Flyers on Thursday at the NHL scouting combine and said the first thing general manager Danny Brière asked him was whether it felt like home.
Zielinski said the question helped ease his nerves. A native of Berlin, N.J., he grew up a diehard Flyers fan, learning how to play at rinks like Pennsauken Skate Zone and skating for the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers. He is now preparing for his first NHL development camp by training at Holleydell Ice Arena in Sewell.
At one point, the 18-year-old, who is heading to Providence College in the fall, wanted to be ex-captain Claude Giroux. These days, he’s keeping an eye on Travis Konecny’s game and told The Inquirer he thinks he was at every Flyers home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“I made it known I was a Philly kid, and kind of understood what it took to play for them, and hopefully they got that message,” he said Saturday after completing the last day of testing, including the dreaded Wingate test, which calculates a player’s anaerobic fitness. Zielinski finished 10th.
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Now, while one would expect a kid from South Jersey to be a Flyers fan, how about a teenager from Finland? For the record, these days Juho Piiparinen is a Dallas Stars fan because his idol Miro Heiskanen plays there, but he grew up liking the Orange and Black.
“They are pretty legendary,” said Piiparinen, who did meet with the team. “They’re from Philadelphia, and that was my dad’s favorite team, and I have their hat, too.”
So, how did this all happen? His dad, Jarkko Piiparinen, liked watching in the ’90s “the legendary goalie” Ron Hextall, and Eric Lindros, “a big center.” And the 6-foot-3, 203-pound, right-shot defenseman who is strong defensively but is working on developing his offensive game, especially with getting time on the second power-play unit, is someone the team could snag at No. 21 in the first round of the NHL draft.
A teammate of Flyers prospects Max Westergård and Heikki Ruohonen at the 2026 World Juniors, he’s also keeping an eye on the Flyers.
“This season, they were in the playoffs, but they couldn’t get so far,” he said. “And there’s this big, big Finnish defender, [Rasmus] Ristolainen, and I really like his style, how he plays.
“But I think it’s an amazing logo, too.”
Taking a Flyer
Zielinski and Piiparinen were two of the approximately 50 players the Flyers, with only five picks across seven rounds, met with last week.
The Inquirer can confirm the following prospects spoke with the Flyers. Players said the meeting was typically straightforward — no off-the-wall questions like Montreal is known for — with one player saying they seemed to want to know he was a good kid.
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The players are divided by the position where the fitness testing schedule listed them, but keep in mind some wingers can play center, and some centers can play wing. Also note, The Inquirer did not speak to every player who was at the scouting combine. Center Viggo Björck thinks he met with the Flyers but could not remember exactly.
Centers: Rūdolfs Bērzkalns, Ryder Cali, Alexander Command, Maddox Dagenais, Beckett Hamilton, Jack Hextall, Ilia Morozov, Brooks Rogowski, Markus Ruck, Oliver Suvanto, Blake Zielinski
Left wings: Niklas Aaram-Olsen, Ethan Belchetz, Wyatt Cullen, Chase Harrington, JP Hurlbert, Adam Novotný, and Victor Plante
Right wings: Jaxon Cover, Elton Hermansson, Simas Ignatavicius, Kayden Lemire, Casey Mutryn, and Liam Ruck
Defense: Tommy Bleyl, Vladimír Dravecký, Malte Gustafsson, William Håkansson, Jayden Kurtz, Ryan Lin, Ben Macbeath, Piiparinen, Timmy Runtso, Maksim Sokolovskii, and Xavier Villeneuve
Goalie: Michal Oršulák and Tobias Trejbal
Family ties
Some players fell in love with the game because their dads played hockey. Plante’s dad, Derek, skated in 450 games, including 12 with the Flyers in 2000-01; he also spent time with the Phantoms in the American Hockey League that season.
“We were always talking about hockey. We love hockey, and everything we do, we compete,” said Plante, who will be joining his brothers Max and Zam at the University of Minnesota-Duluth; Max just won the Hobey Baker as men’s college hockey’s best player.
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“Whether it’s raking leaves or shooting pucks or we’re in the backyard playing Wiffle ball or something, we’re always doing something competitive. At the dinner table, definitely a lot of arguments about hockey and stuff, but we’re always having good, clean fun.”
Dravecký’s dad, also named Vladimír, is still playing pro hockey in Czechia, and Dagenais’ father, Pierre, played across five NHL seasons, seven AHL seasons, and a handful more in Europe. Cali’s mom, Fiona McLeod, played professionally in Switzerland for several seasons, where she met his dad.
Cullen’s father, Matt, played more than 1,500 NHL games, winning a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and two with Flyers coach Rick Tocchet in Pittsburgh. He told The Inquirer that Sidney Crosby would come over to the house and play mini-sticks — and, yes, Crosby even won at that.
But then there are the players whose parents excelled in other sports.
Tyus Sparks, who did not meet with the Flyers, first skated on a frozen basketball court in Minnesota during a Christmas trip back to his mom’s home state at 2 or 3 years old. He returned to Boise, Idaho, and started playing hockey. How did the family land in Boise? His dad Nate was a quarterback at Boise State before suiting up briefly in the Canadian Football League for the BC Lions.
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Rogowski was on the path to play baseball, but he is now a 6-7, 236-pound center who will play at Michigan State next September. Baseball runs in the family — his father, Casey, was drafted by the Chicago White Sox and reached triple A, and the Los Angeles Dodgers selected his uncle, Ryan. “They’re super supportive, but they’re a bit bummed” that the youngest Rogowski, a first baseman, didn’t follow in their path.
Ignatavicius was born in Memphis and grew up in Lithuania. His dad, Mantas, played college basketball at High Point University and then professional basketball overseas. And according to Mutryn, who Bērzkalns called the tough guy he faced in this draft class, his dad, Scott, is more than happy his son didn’t keep the family sport going.
“My dad always made sure we knew how to throw football, and we played other sports, but he never really wanted us playing football when we were younger,” he said of his dad, who was a QB at Boston College and spent time with the New England Patriots.
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“He’s like, there’s no point in third grade playing tackle football, when the helmet weighs half as much as you do. So he’s like, just wait till fifth grade, and it was too late by that point.”
Flyers news and notes
While the draft prospects meet with front office staff and go through the gauntlet of fitness testing, the week in Western New York is also a chance for general managers to chat with each other and agents.
Here’s what we’ve heard about the Flyers:
Obviously, Dylan Larkin requesting a trade out of Detroit was the hottest topic after it broke Thursday. Multiple sources have confirmed to The Inquirer that the Flyers are interested in the top-tier center, and they do think they have the assets — speculation is that the Red Wings will want a young center and a combination of NHL players, picks and prospects in return — but does he want to come to Philly? The Detroit Free Press reported Monday that he submitted a three-team list of where he’d like to go; the Flyers were not one of them. And, at almost 30, does he fit the Flyers timeline?
» READ MORE: Mike Sielski: The Flyers are interested in star center Dylan Larkin. Can Danny Brière get him?
John Carlson is a name that has been tossed around as a perfect fit for the Flyers, specifically to help the power play. The Anaheim Ducks are currently on the clock to try to re-sign the defenseman whom they acquired at the trade deadline. He would prefer to come back east if that does not happen. However, at 36, he also wants to win another Cup before his career is done, and the Flyers are not in a position to do so next season. Could there still be a match?
The chatter that a contract extension has already been all but inked may have been a little premature for goalie Dan Vladař. Both sides want to get it done, but it doesn’t sound like anything is set in stone. They met this past week to get the ball rolling and, as a reminder, Vladař cannot sign until July 1.
Brière was also spotted chatting with Seattle Kraken general manager Jason Botterill. Shane Wright has been a hot topic these days as a possible solution to the Flyers’ need at center, as has Matty Beniers. But multiple reports have indicated that the ask for Wright, a 22-year-old center, is high and there is no indication that Beniers is available.
Breakaways
Hermansson’s older brother, Simon, a former hockey player, was the leading man for “The Bachelor” in Sweden in 2019 (check out his picture on Elite Prospects for proof). The younger Hermansson did not watch and, if given the option, he would not go on the show today. … The Montreal Canadiens upped their game of weird questions by making prospects decide how far back they wanted to throw a puck into a garbage can. Don’t recall a single player saying they got it in the basket. Like last year, they asked players what animal are they on the ice? Lemire had the best answer: “I’m a grizzly bear on the ice. I like to be that horse, that big body, and yeah, can’t really stop a grizzly bear going top speed.” Montreal also asked questions like, what type of boot would you be, would you kill someone you’re in the desert with if they had the only water bottle, and if you were the captain of a destroyer during World War II and had to sink a submarine but it meant killing 10 of your crew members who fell overboard, what would you do? “Oh, I killed them,” revealed Gustafsson. … Asked Suvanto what he knows about Philadelphia, “Obviously, Rocky is from that city. … Big rivalry with the Penguins. … they got Trevor Zegras, good talented player, a lot of young great players so I think they’ve got good future ahead of them.” He’ll also listen to Linkin Park’s “Bleed It Out” before games. … How did Oršulák become a goalie? “I hated skating.” … Asked Macbeath if he sees some comparisons between himself and Travis Sanheim, who also played for the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League: “Yeah, I can see it. Elite skater too.” He’s off to Denver in September. … Villeneuve played competitive soccer as a midfielder growing up and thinks it has helped with his footwork and how he sees the game. … Sam Reinhart’s ears must have been ringing Saturday as several players said he was either a comparable, like Hurlbert and Liam Ruck, or, when asked what is one skill they would want to take from an NHL player, like Hermansson saying he wanted his shot. Of course, several players would steal Connor McDavid’s speed. Aaram-Olsen said he’d steal Tom Wilson’s fighting.