6'7 Flyers prospect Maksim Sokolovskii 'mauls' teammate at practice.

Teams around the National Hockey League hire the best and brightest development coaches and staff in a bid to get the most out of each and every one of their prospects, but there are some things you simply can't teach.

One thing you can't teach a player is how to be a gigantic 6'7 defenseman who towers over the vast majority of his competition, and it is in large part thanks to those natural gifts that Flyers prospect Maksim Sokolovskii was drafted in the first round (27th overall) of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.

Sokolovskii's newest teammates are already becoming familiar with his size, with Flyers defenseman Oliver Bonk recently admitting that it was something he had to learn the hard way.

"He mauled me in practice," said Bonk as per NBC's Jordan Hall. "We were doing a little keep-away drill and I wasn't ready for it. The first one, I just came up, I'm like, 'OK, whatever, this is like a warmup drill.' I go and he just mauls me, takes the puck away, he has the puck from me for like a minute [and] 30."

You can hardly blame Bonk who is no small man himself at 6 feet 2 inches tall for struggling to deal with such an atypical body type in the sport of hockey. It is those unique physical gifts that the Flyers are looking to exploit when it comes to Sokolovskii and it sounds like he's determined to put them to good use.

"I'm trying to chase this guy around, he's just arms out, giant, I can't do anything," added Bonk. "I got ready the next one, I got back at him a little bit, protected the puck a little bit better. He's going to be a really good player."

Even better news for the Flyers is the fact that Sokolovskii's development has been in good hands with the 18 year old Russian blue liner coming off of a season with the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights. That organization has seen some of the greatest hockey talents in the world pass through its doors in recent years, including the likes of Patrick Kane, Mitch Marner, Matthew Tkachuk and many, many more.