After executing their trade with the Calgary Flames in January, the Philadelphia Flyers currently own seven picks in the first two rounds of the upcoming 2025 NHL Entry Draft, including three in the first round.
With a clear need down the middle, there will be several options to choose from but a player in particular that could tickle their fancy with how they’ve operated in recent years is Russian prospect Ivan Ryabkin.
The Flyers are one of just a handful of teams that have dipped their toes in the Russian/Belarusian pool in recent years and so far, it’s yielded decent results. Matvei Michkov is the cream of the crop after he dropped into their laps during the 2023 NHL Entry Draft but they’ve also selected goaltenders Yegor Zavragin and Aleksei Kolosov as well as forward Ilya Pautov in recent years.
Not to mention they already have Ivan Fedotov in goal and Egor Zamula playing heavier minutes, on top of the fact that they’re also linked to Maxim Shabanov, who will become a free agent at the end of the KHL season and is a highly skilled winger.
Their centre depth all throughout the organization is lacking and it starts with their NHL roster with just Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, and Ryan Poehling.
Rodrigo Ābols was promoted again from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms but doesn’t necessarily possess the skillset to be an everyday NHL player. In terms of their prospect pool, Jett Luchanko is their only noteworthy prospect and trading Morgan Frost without getting a front-line centre in return makes it even more necessary – and sooner rather than later.
Outside of the obvious choices at the top of the draft in James Hagens and Michael Misa – who probably won’t fall into their laps without some lottery luck – there are several options that should still be on the board when the Flyers make their first selection.
Anton Frondell, Roger McQueen, and Caleb Desnoyers would all be wonderful choices but the Flyers will need a top 5-7 pick to be able to ensnare their services. Further down the list we go, we see a lot of prospects who are both centres and wingers in Jake O’Brien, Carter Bear, Brady Martin, and Cullen Potter.
Ryabkin is an interesting piece because he’s highly skilled, is a pure centreman, and could be Michkov’s centre of the future if they play their cards right. What makes him even more intriguing is that he recently moved to North America and has been playing for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL.
His contract was terminated by Dynamo Moscow of the KHL after a subpar start to the year after he was unable to emulate what was a very promising campaign the year prior. He tallied 24 goals and 58 points in just 44 games in the MHL before scoring just once and adding 11 assists in 15 games this year in the same league. He didn’t make the greatest impression in the VHL either, which promoted a swift termination.
With the Lumberjacks, he’s tallied 15 goals and 24 points in 21 games and has seemingly found his footing after a rough start to the year. Playing in North America also allows the Flyers to develop him at the AHL level instead of having to worry about him playing in the KHL and remaining under a long-term contract like most Russian prospects.
His draft stock has dropped from the beginning of the year after many believed he was going to be a top-end talent heading into 2025. TSN’s Bob McKenzie had Ryabkin ranked 19th in his last draft rankings in January while Craig Button currently has him ranked 27th. That comes off the heels of McKenzie having him ranked 5th in September and 17th in November.
This is what he had to say about Ryabkin in September:
“Ryabkin, the Russian centre who plays for Dynamo in the Russian MHL, is said to be cut from similar cloth as Ivan Demidov, the fifth-overall pick to Montreal in last year’s draft.
Ryabkin received two votes at No. 2, behind only Hagens, and as is often the case with Russian prospects had his support sprinkled throughout from No. 2 to No. 9.”
“High-end skills, skates really well, good size and strength – just your really good, all-around Russian centre,” one scout said.
And this is what he said in an article from the end of January:
“The top-rated Russian is forward Ivan Ryabkin, who slots in at No. 19 after starting the season at No. 5. In fact, Ryabkin is the only Russian in TSN’s Top 32.
When the season began, it was anticipated Ryabkin could or would follow in the footsteps of Michkov (seventh overall to Philadelphia in 2023) and Ivan Demidov (fifth overall to Montreal in 2024) as a blue-chip Russian top-10 talent.
But Ryabkin’s season got off to an inauspicious beginning and he terminated his contract with Dynamo Moscow to join the Lumberjacks. He scored three goals in his first four games before getting a three-game suspension for slew-footing. He’s back playing now.
Scouts are still hopeful he’ll re-establish his game and move back up the ladder into Top 10 contention, but if he fails to get traction in the USHL, he could slip and slide some more.
Eight of the ten scouts on the TSN panel still ranked him as a first-rounder, as high as 11th overall, but there was a wide variance amongst them, including the two scouts who had him well into the second round.
So it’s obvious that the skill and talent is still there with the young Russian but his move to North America didn’t help with his draft stock. He will have to turn things around in short order before the USHL regular season comes to a close to ameliorate his stock and to put an end to his fall in the rankings.
There are still several hopeful pundits that believe he has the wherewithal to be a first round pick and should they remain hopeful heading into June, the Flyers should be all over him:
Smaht Scouting – Dec. 10th: “When he is on his game Ryabkin has almost everything you want in a player. A quick release, fantastic anticipation and IQ, creative passing, and a willingness to engage physically.”
Steven Ellis – Daily Faceoff – January 16th: “He’s been productive since his move to Muskegon, though, scoring three goals in his first two games. We’ve also seen him flesh out his physical and playmaking games, with his passing and hockey sense being two of his best traits.”
Hannah Stuart – Bleacher Report – January 20th: “We still really like the skill that we see from Ryabkin, and feel that he has very real potential. We mentioned on our first board that consistency wasn’t quite there yet. That seemed to be the case for him in Russia this season, which is part of why we want to see what he puts together in a good, sustained stretch in the USHL.”
The other two first round picks the Flyers own belong to the Edmonton Oilers (currently 11th in the NHL) and the Colorado Avalanche (currently 5th in the NHL). Barring an early – but unexpected – exit from the postseason for either team, the Flyers might have to trade up if they believe Ryabkin is their guy.
With their own pick, they will be able to select a very talented player, which would invariably solve a lot of their issues. If they can come out of the first day of the draft with two top-end centres, the future standing of the club would change on a dime.
First and foremost, Ryabkin has to prove his worth with a strong finish to the season with the Lumberjacks, otherwise he could continue his free-fall in the rankings.
However, as things currently stand, he’s finding his footing in North America and could be a steal for the Flyers in the latter portion of the first round should they decide to keep their picks.
