The Philadelphia Flyers have made their first four selections of the 2023 NHL Draft and two of them are goaltenders.
In the third round, at 87th overall, the Flyers selected Russian netminder Egor Zavragin.
🔸 WELCOME TO PHILLY! 🔸
With the 87th pick in the 2023 #NHLDraft, we are proud to select Egor Zavragin. pic.twitter.com/euplWcOphk
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) June 29, 2023
As for where Zavragin was projected to go, the highest he was ranked was 98th overall by FC Hockey, but as low as 150th overall by Daily Faceoff.
The major thing that sticks out about Zavragin is that he is a very young goaltender. Still 17 years old, with an August birthday the 6-foot-2 goalie was less than a month away from being eligible for next year’s draft. Philadelphia is certainly hoping for some upside but he has shown he is a capable player where he has played so far.
In 21 appearances for Mamonty Yugry of the MHL (the Russian junior league), Zavragin earned a 2.49 goals against average and a .920 save percentage. And in the playoffs this past year, that was bumped up to a .927 percentage through four games. It’s still a mystery where he will play next season, but the likely destination is returning to the MHL with some brief appearances in the second-division VHL.
Philadelphia is planning for the extra long-term so far with this draft class. Matvei Michkov isn’t going to be here for three years, Oliver Bonk is a project that should take at least the same amount of time, and then there are two goaltenders who we will be waiting for quite a while. Maybe with the Michkov pick they determined that they might as well not have any prospect touch the NHL until then.
