Sep 26, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Jett Luchanko (17) during the second period against the New York Islanders at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
The Flyers wrapped up their preseason Thursday night with a 5-4 win over the New Jersey Devils.
That opening sentence was a bit of fake news. Yeah, the game happened. Yeah, that was the final score. But with very few exceptions, the players who played in that game will not be on the Flyers or Devils when the season begins.
Heck, the season does begin for New Jersey tonight - as the team is kicking of the season in Prague in the Czech Republic against the Buffalo Sabres.
As such, the Devils sent only minor leaguers to Philadelphia to play the Flyers last night.
You might ask, why would the Devils schedule a preseason game in Philadelphia the night before having to open the regular season in Europe? I was wondering the same thing. So, I asked about it yesterday and was told that the preseason game schedule is actually set a year in advance. It may not be announced right away, but the exhibition games are locked in a year ahead of time. So, when the Devils agreed to play the Flyers last night over a year ago, they had no idea they would be chosen to play in the NHL's Global Series to start the season.
As such, they sent a mostly AHL team to face the Flyers.
Because of that, and because they didn't want to risk injury to any of their top guys, the Flyers responded by fielding a team of mostly minor league players themselves. Noah Cates, Garnet Hathaway and Erik Johnson were the only guaranteed NHL skaters to dress for the Flyers. Alexei Kolosov and Ivan Fedotov dressed in goal.
Notable from who was not in the lineup was 2024 first round pick Jett Luchanko. Luchanko has hung around with the team for the entirety of training camp. While other prospects have been returned to their junior clubs or have been assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms or are practicing on the second rink with the minor league coaching staff, Luchanko continues to practice with the big club.
On Thursday he centered the Flyers third line at practice between Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink, bumping Scott Laughton down to the fourth line as a left wing.
It's a bit of a surprise for a kid who just turned 18 (Aug. 21), to be making the impression he has, but the Flyers couldn't be happier. Coach John Tortorella has been singing his praises as often as possible during his press conferences, and behind closed doors is pushing hard for Luchanko to stick with the team.
#Flyers Head Coach John Tortorella singled out one player who he thinks has played with pace all preseason
Jett Luchanko
I think they are seriously considering keeping the 18yo around for a while… pic.twitter.com/g5b2iV672M
Upper management has now had to unexpectedly weigh the decision of giving an 18-year-old the runway to see if he can play night-in and night-out against NHL-caliber talent or if he would be better suited going back to his junior team in Guelph and develop there.
Before Thursday's game, I sat down with General Manager Danny Briere, President Keith Jones and CEO of Comcast-Spectacor Dan Hilferty for an interview for the Snow the Goalie podcast that will air early next week. I asked them bluntly about Luchanko and making the team.
"He's really surprised us how well he's played at this level already," Briere said. "He's been outstanding. If you watch the details of his game on the ice, he's almost there supporting everybody. He does all the little things. His stick's always in the right lane. He's always in a good position. And he's made plays, too. He's more of a playmaker than a goal scorer. That's definitely an area where we hope for him to take the next level - goal scoring. But the rest of his game, he looks like a 35-year-old out there with the way he can play the game and support everybody and have everybody's back. It's been really impressive that at 18-years-old he's already at the at level."
Beautiful zone entry followed up by a beautiful pass from Jett Luchanko. Anthony Richard almost pulled off a crazy move to finish it off#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/BQAm4pmK9Q
That all sounds good. But is he going to make the team?
"Those are the discussions we are having where we are trying to evaluate what is best for him and for his development," Briere said. "Physically, he's a strong kid, but, you know, an 18-year-old playing against men is something we have to take into (consideration) as well.
"But the most important part when we discuss is, how can we make Jett Luchanko be the best player he can be five years from now for us? Yes, it would be great to have him play for us this year, but does that make him better in five years when we're a Stanley Cup contender? That's got to be the approach we have to have with him."
So, what's the decision going to be?
I've heard from multiple team sources that the Flyers might be willing to let Luchanko start the season with the team and get a handful of NHL games under his belt, but then would send him back to juniors thereafter. The rule is that any player under the age of 20 can play up to nine games with his NHL team before being returned to juniors, but that once he plays a 10th game he burns the first year of his ELC and has to stay on the NHL roster all season or go back to juniors. Teenagers are not allowed to play in the AHL during the season if they are on a junior hockey team roster.
While the Flyers have not yet decided on this, the conversation is that if they let him make the team, then let him play about five games and then reassess. There is a strong belief though that he will not play the entire season with the team and will be returned to Guelph at some point. After all, it's not about making the team better now. It's about making the team better in a few years, and having a dominant season as the go-to-guy for a junior team would do wonders for development versus being a bottom six forward struggling through the grind of an 82-game season on a mediocre NHL team.
But the excitement for him is real.
"Remember when Rod Brind'Amour broke into the league and how physically strong he was? Luchanko has that already," Jones said. "That's what's so incredible to me. That's what really stood out at the combine against all the other kids his age, but to come out and skate through Torts' training camp like he has and to continue to show that he has a great set of legs - there's a reason we're still talking about him now.
"Danny talked about his overall game. There's a lot of similarities to Rod with that with the exception of speed - obviously Roddy wasn't, you know, a speedster like Luchanko is - but there's a lot there. The faceoffs. The details. His defensive work. His penalty killing. You can put him on the power play. We're really pleased with everything he's done so far, and we look forward to watching him in the future."
If Luchanko turns into Brind'Amour, the Flyers will have made an incredible draft pick midway through the first round.
Rod Brind’Amour scores 2 shorthanded goals on the same power-play against the Penguins@MaherMediaCo | #PHIHeritage pic.twitter.com/34ep1ao34R
So, while nothing is final and something could still change internally, it's a pretty safe bet that Luchanko will start the season with the Flyers, but that he'll be sent back to Guelph before the end of the month. Still. He's an exciting prospect for the Flyers and one who will be a big part of their future.
