VOORHEES, N.J. — Somehow, 19-year-old Matvei Michkov won’t be the youngest player on the Philadelphia Flyers’ roster when they open up their season on Friday in Vancouver.
The club made official on Monday what it had essentially telegraphed late last week with its roster cuts: Jett Luchanko, drafted No. 13 overall in June, has made the team. Not only that, all indications are that Luchanko, who turned 18 less than two months ago, will be put into key situations right away. He skated as the third-line center for Monday’s practice with Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink, and also on the second power-play unit.
“As I (said) the other day, you could see his maturity right away,” coach John Tortorella said on Monday. “Where he is right now he deserves through his play, and just how he’s handled himself.”
General manager Daniel Briere said on Monday that going into training camp, he “never thought (Luchanko) had much of a chance” to make the team. But Luchanko impressed team brass with what Briere called “top-end NHL speed already.”
“And then you start watching him play, and it’s just all the little details in his game, the way he supports everybody, makes players around him better,” Briere continued. “Especially defensively, in the neutral zone, always in good position. And offensively just supporting his teammates, keeping plays alive.”
Whether Luchanko stays on the team for the full season or returns to Guelph in the OHL, though, is unresolved, and will likely remain that way for the first couple of weeks. He can play in as many as nine games before the first year of his three-year contract would kick in. The Flyers open the season with a four-game road trip to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Seattle before hosting the Canucks on Oct. 19. Assuming he suits up on Friday, he will become the youngest player in Flyers franchise history.
“I get that there’s different rules with him. Everybody’s going to bring up the nine-game thing,” Briere said. “There’s no decisions made on that one way or the other. It’s going to be on a daily basis, just like everybody else.”
Luchanko appeared in four preseason games for the Flyers with two points, both assists. They came in the opener in Washington against a very weak Capitals lineup, though, and Luchanko had zero points or shots on goal in his final three games. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Luchanko breaking camp with the Flyers is that a player who still needs real work offensively — something others in the organization spoke about at development camp in July — didn’t really do all that much on the scoresheet in his preseason appearances.
At the same time, the Flyers could use more speed down the middle. Sean Couturier seemed to lose a step in the second half of last season, and underwent what he termed as minor core surgery in the offseason. It’s impossible to predict whether Couturier will more resemble the player he was in the first half, when he looked like he hadn’t missed a beat despite nearly two full years off because of back issues, or the second half, when his struggles eventually led to him getting controversially scratched for two games. Notably, Couturier wasn’t on either of the power-play units on Monday.
Briere said that in Couturier’s three scoreless preseason appearances, he was “just OK,” but also added that a number of veterans were “too casual” in the games.
Scott Laughton also had an uneven 2023-24 season, although he was much better after the All-Star break. He’s been shifted to the left wing of the fourth line, with Ryan Poehling in the middle and Garnet Hathaway on the right side. All three will surely continue to kill penalties, too, although Tortorella said he’d like to get Luchanko involved on the penalty kill, as well.
On Friday, Tortorella said that Luchenko’s being a center “certainly comes into play. Speed up the middle is so important in our league, and he has it. How he sees the game, how he sees the play away from the puck, has given him the opportunity to still be playing (with the Flyers).”
There’s always a risk in rushing young players. Luchanko was one of just two 2024 first-round picks to make his team out of camp, the other being No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini of San Jose. But both Tortorella and Briere appeared confident that should Luchanko struggle at the NHL level, or if he’s eventually reassigned to Guelph, he will be able to handle it from a mental standpoint.
“That’s probably the one area that everybody’s raving about him — his character, his demeanor,” Briere said. “He’s a very, very mature person already.”
Said Tortorella: “We’ll start seeing him play, and if we feel what’s happening is not good for his development, those are the decisions we’re going to have a constant conversation about. But we’re not going to overthink it and say, ‘Oh, he made a bad play, and he’s going to go back.’ We’re going to let the kid play and have conversations as we’re playing the games, and see where it goes from there.”
Something else that gives Tortorella confidence that both Luchenko and Michkov can handle the stresses of professional hockey has been a talking point of his for some time now — the strength of the dressing room and the renewed culture established throughout last season, when the Flyers exceeded expectations.
The coach said that a group of players went to the Philadelphia Phillies playoff game on Saturday, and “I know (Michkov and Luchanko) were looked after. … As I’ve said, I’ll put this room up against any room in the league. In this type of situation, I know there’s speculation and questions, and you have the right to ask them and think about: Are they too young? Are they ready? Especially with Jett. I think the room helps that, and will help him through some rough spots.”
Travis Sanheim said: “It’s great for the organization with younger guys that are going to be full of energy. It’s our job to make sure it’s the right energy, and they understand moving forward it’s only going to continue to get harder as you get into the regular season. Just try to help them along as much as we can, and make it as easy of a transition as we can.”
(Photo of Jett Luchanko: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
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