Entering draft night, there was certainly a lot of buzz and excitement surrounding the Philadelphia Flyers as they owned the 12th overall pick.
While they weren’t going to get their hands on Macklin Celebrini, there was a lot of trade buzz about the possibility of Daniel Brière moving up to 4th to select Ivan Demidov. While the trade never materialized due to Columbus’ extremely high asking price, the Flyers and their fanbase still felt pretty good with whoever was going to be sitting there at 12.
As the draft was getting underway, there weren’t many surprises at the very top as Celebrini went to San Jose and Artyom Levshunov went 2nd to Chicago, but then the first curveball was thrown a lot sooner than expected when Anaheim selected Beckett Sennecke with the third overall pick. There were a few more players that were taken a little bit earlier than most had projected and that left the Flyers in prime position to select either Zeev Buium, Konsta Helenius, or even Cole Eiserman.
The media always does a fantastic job pre-draft at hyping up certain players so that when it’s your favourite team’s turn to make a selection and that player is still available, it almost seems like a slam dunk. Players A, B, and C were on the board and after the Flyers made their selection, it felt like they drafted Player G instead. Jett Luchanko was not on many people’s lists – at least in the top-12 – but after a very strong finish to his season, the youngster jumped up Bob McKenzie’s draft board and looked primed to be a later first-round choice.
The Flyers, however, felt much differently about Luchanko’s game and felt the need to take him 5-8 picks earlier than his projections. Social media was not happy, the fanbase was rather irate, and with Buium and Helenius still on the table it left many scratching their heads. Not to mention that almost every media outlet that posted a post-draft grade, handed the Flyers nothing higher than a D, some going so far as giving them an F.
There was a similar uproar when the Flyers drafted Cam York ahead of Cole Caufield during the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. The Flyers looked to have a stronger need for a scoring winger instead of defensemen considering they had Ivan Provorov, Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Sanheim, and Phil Myers expected to take on larger roles at the time. However, Chuck Fletcher and company not only traded down – like Brière did – but they opted for the less “sexy” pick in the sure-footed defenseman rather than the high-scoring winger. Fast-forward 5 years and York is solidifying himself as the club’s top-flight defenseman alongside Sanheim, while Provorov, Gostisbehere, and Myers regressed before subsequent trades.
Part of the mystery was that Luchanko played for the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League, a team that finished just 6th in their conference with a 33-28-6- 1 record. They aren’t one of the more storied franchises in the OHL like the London Knights and they generally don’t hold much value with top-end draft picks either.
Luchanko also finished 30th in the OHL in scoring with 74 points in 68 contests and outside of Braeden Bowman – who scored 71 points – the Storm didn’t possess much talent with their next-best player scoring 55 points.
The recently-turned 18-year-old had a great season altogether after he finished with just 5 goals and 14 points in 46 games the year prior. Luchanko improved to the tune of 20 goals and 54 points in 22 additional games played and added 3 assists in 4 playoff games. His 200-foot game, two-way prowess, and motor caught the attention of several teams but perhaps none more than the Flyers.
As is the case with many prospects, over time they become a lot more palatable, and that’s what ended up happening with Luchanko. His game became more apparent, social media got a hold of more of his highlights, and the prevailing opinion on him started to change on a dime.
After a fantastic rookie camp and an even better showing in the Flyers’ first preseason game on Sunday against the Washington Capitals, they’re going to have a hard decision on their hands when it comes to sending Luchanko back to Guelph for his 3rd season in the OHL.
If the Flyers want to see what he can do against NHL talent, they can opt to give him a 9-game tryout basis before sending him back to his junior club. It would give him some real reps at the age of 18, it can help with his confidence and overall gameplay, and there’s always the slightest chance that he does so well the Flyers keep him beyond the 9-game tryout, but at that point they would be burning the first year of his entry-level contract.
The rebuilding Flyers will more than likely opt to send him back to the junior circuit, but he’s been so good that’s it’s become an actual discussion. He only just turned 18 late last month and the prevailing opinion coming out of the draft was that he was at least two years away, but that’s why it’s so important to see those types of players in action.
His speed was on full display, he created several high danger chances, and recorded 2 assists during the Flyers’ 6-2 victory over the Capitals, including a nifty backhand pass to Bobby Brink, who finished the play off with a hard backhander of his own. Fantastic forechecking and awareness were displayed by all three forwards, including Joel Farabee who got the play started with the turnover outside the Capitals’ zone.
The Flyers were severely thin down the middle to begin with and the departure of Cutter Gauthier didn’t help the cause. At one point it was believed that Matvei Michkov was looking to transition towards the centre position but the youngster looks set to stick to the wings for now.
Luchanko automatically became the organization’s best centre option within the pipeline after being drafted, but after seeing what his game looks like and how it translates against NHL players and hopefuls, there should be a lot more optimism around his name for years to come. There should also be a few more flowers thrown towards Brière’s way for the selection.
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