The Florida Panthers selected under the radar goaltending prospect Yegor Midlak in the seventh round (224th overall) with the final pick of the 2025 NHL Draft held at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
During his draft season, Midlak made five appearances split between HC Spartak Moscow’s two entries in Russia’s top junior league, the MHL. In four games with MHK Spartak, he recorded a 1-0-1 record and posted a 1.06 goals against average and .941 save percentage. He made one relief appearance with MHK Krylia Sovetov and didn’t give up a goal. Midlak also saw duty in ten games against his peers with Spartak’s U18 squad, posting a 2.32 goals against average and one shutout.
The 2025-26 season saw Midlak spend the entirety of the campaign with MHK Spartak in a backup role. He appeared in 20 of the club’s 60 games and went 5-5-2 with a 3.60 goals against average and .909 save percentage.
Midlak has yet to come Fort Lauderdale for a development camp. That might be something we see happen next year if he takes a step forward in his development by assuming the number one role for MHK Spartak this season. Bill Zito has a penchant for going off the board and taking a flyer on a tall, lanky goaltender in seventh round, doing so with Denis Gabdrakhmanov (6’5″) in 2024, Midlak (6’6″) in 2025 and Louis-Antoine Denault (6’8″) in June. The left-catching Midlak obviously takes up a lot of net and moves pretty well in the crease, but he’s raw and simply needs more games. There’s plenty of time for him to hone his craft in Russia and ascend the ladder from MHL to VHL to KHL before he makes the move to the North American ranks and tries to the shed the “Mr. Irrelevant” tag.