2023 NHL Draft: Philadelphia Flyers Draft Yegor Zavragin 87th Overall

The Flyers double dip on goalies and draft Yegor Zavragin with their 87th pick after previously drafting Carson Bjarnason at pick 51. 

After drafting Carson Bjarnason 51st overall following a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, the Philadelphia Flyers further strengthen their goaltending prospect pool by drafting Russian goalie Yegor Zavragin 87th overall. Zavragin joins Bjarnason behind current Flyers prospects Sam Ersson and Felix Sandstrom, and will likely take a few years before coming over to North America.

Yegor Zavragin has pretty average size at 6’2″, 190 pounds, and has posted extremely impressive numbers in his short career thus far. Across three years and 52 games in the MHL, Zavragin is 31-10-3 with three shutouts, a 0.926 save percentage, and a meager 2.28 goals-against-average. In the playoffs, Zavragin is 2-2-0 in five games with a 0.913 save percentage and a much higher 3.31 goals-against-average. Zavragin doesn’t come with the same winning pedigree as fellow Russian Matvei Michkov, but he’s at least proven to be a prolific performer in the regular season. Goaltending is generally much trickier to project and develop compared to forwards and defensemen, so Zavragin’s strong record is an encouraging sign.

Yegor Zavragin is someone who Matvei Michkov might be familiar with, given the two have likely played against each other at some point during their time spent in the MHL. Michkov is slated to graduate to the KHL full-time when his contract with SKA St. Petersburg kicks in this year, so the two won’t see each other until Philadelphia Flyers development camp later down the road.

Yegor Zavragin is almost entirely unknown, so now that he’s a Flyers player there will start to be a more general consensus around him and his game. Zavragin is ranked as high as 66th by Smaht Scouting and as low as 150th by Daily Faceoff. Still, until Zavragin arrives in North America, there will be more to learn about him and his game. Zavragin is currently expected to continue with Mamonty Yugry in the MHL for the 2023-24 season.