BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Flyers like taking centers.
Since assistant general manager Brent Flahr took over, starting with the 2019 draft, the Flyers have drafted nine middle men, eight of them in the last three years with Danny Brière as general manager.
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“You can never have enough centers,” Brière told The Inquirer in early June at the NHL scouting combine. He doubled down on Tuesday in his annual pre-draft press conference alongside Flahr.
Don’t stop the Flyers now; they’re having a good time picking centers with Jack Berglund, Heikki Ruohonen, Jett Luchanko, Jack Nesbitt, Nathan Quinn, and Matthew Gard starting to make some noise.
And several pivots could be around when the Flyers pick at No. 21 in the first round, although Ilia Morozov may be the most interesting. He also may be the most interesting prospect in the entire draft.
“Blazing down my trail to education”
According to his Instagram post in August 2024, Morozov committed to Miami (OH) University and coach Anthony Noreen, who was hired that April. In July 2025, it was official that the kid from Moscow would head to Oxford, Ohio.
There was only one thing that would make someone pause when reading the news: Morozov, who played one year for the Windy City Storm based out of Illinois as a 15-year-old, and had just wrapped up his lone year for Tri-City of the United States Hockey League, was still 25 days away from his 17th birthday.
“We felt like his game was mature enough, but we really knew that, just who he is as a person, we felt he would thrive in our environment,” Noreen said.
Spoiler: he did.
When Morozov squared up to take his first faceoff — centering the top line to boot — the now 17-year-old began the 2025-26 season as the youngest player in men’s Division I hockey. Opposite him was 24-year-old senior Kyle Gaffney for the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and although the youngster lost that one, he won 12 of his next 20 while putting a team-high four shots on goal, was plus-1, and got the primary assist on the RedHawks’ lone goal in the 4-1 loss.
“Morozov is intriguing in that he went to college early and was one of the youngest players,” FloHockey draft and prospect analyst Chris Peters told The Inquirer via text.
“He didn’t look out of place and has the size and skill combination that suggests he could be a middle-six center with some scoring ability. His production slowed as the season progressed, but there were flashes of a player that could have some higher-end production capabilities if everything goes right.”
A self-proclaimed two-way center who has good details in the defensive zone — the Flyers always like that — and can produce offensively, he went on a heater to start his collegiate career. In his first six games, he notched four goals and nine points.
But then, as the RedHawks played their National Collegiate Hockey Conference schedule against teams like defending 2025 NCAA champion Western Michigan and eventual 2026 winner Denver, his scoring went a little cold. Morozov finished with eight goals — three on the power play and one shorthanded — and 20 points in 36 games, helping Miami go from a three-win season to 18 wins this past year.
According to Elite Prospects, Morozov is a chaos creator in the offensive zone and a transition puck carrier who plays a middle-driven style. The lack of production did not impact him on or off the ice.
“All the struggles and adventures and challenges [in life], they taught me that consistency just works, you should never give up and keep going,” Morozov said after finishing in the top 25 of eight fitness tests at the scouting combine, including atop the leaderboard for left-handed grip strength, tied for second on the right side, and tied for fifth all-time with 17 pull-ups. (The Flyers notably tend to draft players who do well in grip strength).
“I believe that life’s fair, and if you put honest work, if you do 100% every time you have a chance, you will get the result.”
What gives him such optimism?
“Because that’s my experience,” he replied. “If I wasn’t doing something right, it was going one way. If I’m doing it right, it’s going the right way. So that’s personally just my experience, and I believe I did lots of work to be here.”
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Ilia Morozov recorded an average grip strength of 182.5 at the 2026 #NHLScoutingCombine, which ranks in the top five in NHL Combine history.
Full results: https://t.co/vtZbnfjAJg pic.twitter.com/VpScIlAZb6
— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) June 6, 2026
“This Midwest way of ease”
Like Peters, Noreen believes the offense will come for Morozov. And the coach was quick to note that while he may not have made the score sheet, the young center was involved in countless scoring chances each night, leading the team wire-to-wire in scoring chance differential.
Using the word “involved” is important here because, keep in mind, when once asked what he wanted to be remembered for, Hockey Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan responded, “That I was involved.”
“I think he’s played such a mature 200-foot game that even when he’s not scoring — like, there’s certain players where, if they don’t score, they’re hurting you — he’s the guy that you love his game, you want him on the ice as much as possible,” Noreen said of Morozov. “When he scores, that even takes his game to another level, and we’re confident he’s going to do that.”
But then Noreen said the part that should make every Flyers fan’s ear perk up:
“You don’t get many guys that are 6-foot-2[¾], [205] pounds, and can skate and have a brain, and have all those things. He’s a rare package and … the makeup and the intentionality in which he goes about his business and [how he] works, and everything in the person is even more special. We know whatever his ceiling is, he’s going to get there because just the way that he goes about things.”
On the flip side, Morozov said something that should also draw the Flyers’ attention. When asked how he looked at the opportunity to play against older players, he said: “I think that was an amazing opportunity, because I believe that if you play with somebody who’s better than you, it will make it better.”
This is all starting to fit the Flyers’ modus operandi since Brière took over. A player over 6 feet — check — who is a center — check — playing hockey in North America — check — who is still 17 at the draft like seven players drafted since 2023 — check. And he would be the fourth Russian taken under the GM, too.
And then there’s this: Although the question asked to Flahr on Tuesday about the characteristics they look for in kids who are more of a project and not projected first-rounders, he gave more insight.
“There are certain traits, whether it’s hockey sense, competitiveness, skill level. You can overcome size if you’ve got the great motor, big heart, and you’re smart, and certainly when you’re small, you’ve got to have some speed, quickness. … So, there’s different types of players you want to take a chance on, but there’s certain traits you have to have.”
Well, let’s check these boxes, too.
Competitiveness? A 17-year-old playing college hockey, he says one of his strengths is his compete level, and, per Noreen, “he’s a winning hockey player” with intensity across the board.
Hockey sense? He’s a 200-foot, detailed center who can play at all strengths.
Smart? He’s a finance major at a major university in his second language — language was the biggest adjustment he said about coming to the U.S., but he was ready for the cultural aspects like how people don’t take their shoes off in their homes here — and is learning French through Duolingo.
Oh, and he said he’s working on his skating — a common theme for the Flyers — like his explosiveness and first few strides. Called an intense guy by Noreen, Morozov is putting in the work on the ice and in the gym by doing sprints, plyometrics, and weightlifting. The focus? So he can produce way more offense.
And how about the intangibles like big heart or being a locker room guy? Well, first off, he stuck around after his media availability to translate for Maksim Sokolovskii.
“I certainly think the size, the strength, the heaviness, the skating, the being a 6-3, 200-pound-plus centerman in a game that, when it comes down to it at the end, that’s what you need, and that’s what it takes,” Noreen said.
“Also just the selflessness, the team first, the character, just all of those things added up, you want this kid on your team, you want him in your locker room, you want him as part of your organization. You can’t say that about every guy but this kid, without a doubt, you know he’s going to fit somewhere, and you know that you’re going to love.”
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