Top Flyers Goalie Prospect Traded to KHL; Good News?

On Tuesday, Egor Zavragin, arguably the best goalie prospect the Philadelphia Flyers have, was traded by Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk to KHL club SKA. St. Petersburg in exchange for monetary compensation and VHL players Matvey Kabush and Egor Gurzanov.

Zavragin, 18, was drafted 87th overall by the Flyers in the third round of the 2023 NHL Draft, splitting his time between Russia’s VHL (minor league) and MHL (junior league) and was virtually unbeatable in both.

In the VHL, Zavragin was 13-1-0 with three shutouts, a 1.60 GAA, and a .943 save percentage. In the MHL, Zavragin went 6-1-2 with two shutouts, a 1.63 GAA, and a .945 save percentage. The Flyers prospect earned a shutout in his only MHL playoff game and, in the VHL, went 4-4-0 with a .933 save percentage in eight playoff games.

Having made a mockery of both the VHL and MHL, Zavragin’s logical next step would be the KHL. Now that he’s been acquired by SKA, Zavragin will play for one of the best teams in the league.

Even better is that the Flyers, apparently, have a good working relationship with the leaders of SKA.

That is, according to SKA chairman Alexander Medvedev, who spoke to great length last week about Matvei Michkov and his chances of joining the Flyers this year and in the future. If Michkov indeed remains with SKA and plays under head coach Roman Rotenberg, he’ll likely be teammates with Zavragin at some point before his contract expires in 2026.

Michkov, 19, was drafted seventh overall in the 2023 NHL Draft. If he and Zavragin play together, they’ll become the second pair of Flyers prospects from that draft class to be teammates at the club level. The other two are, of course, Oliver Bonk and Denver Barkey of the OHL’s London Knights.

It’s unclear if Zavragin will make SKA’s senior team or be sent down to the VHL to play for SKA-Neva St. Petersburg for a season. It’s worth noting, though, that Ilya Sorokin played in the KHL during his teenage years. He and Zavragin have similar draft-year NHL equivalencies, so the Flyers will be watching this development like hawks.