We’re continuing to chip away at our season reviews around here, but before we get too deep into dissecting the seasons of some of the Flyers’ top contributors, it’s worth taking a bit of an intermission to remind ourselves of all of the work that the supporting cast did around them.
The season is long, after all, and to keep the whole operation going, at times, contributions over the shorter term are required from players elsewhere in the organizational ladder. Some of these stopgap impacts were stronger than others, but all provided some value to keep this thing on the tracks, so we take our moment to extend nods where they’re due.
Adam Ginning
5 GP, 0 G, 0 P, 2 SOG
Stretching the memory all the way back to last fall, we recall that filling out the bottom of the defense lineup was something of an adventure for the Flyers, as they looked to work around Ristolainen’s continued absence and find the right mix. Ginning’s play wasn’t perfect, but after something of a disastrous training camp for just about everyone in the battle to grab a depth spot on the back end, Ginning rose above as someone who at least looked like he wanted to make the team, and that was enough to make it happen. He got in for five games to start the regular season, and the results were mixed — though they didn’t ultimately allow opponents to convert on them at a high rate (the Flyers were even in goals scored 2-2 while Ginning was on the ice), they were conceding a lot of dangerous chances, and the tenuousness of that situation ultimately led to Ginning being shuffled out of the lineup in favor of working Emil Andrae in, who would go on to more or less solidify his role from there.
All the same, Ginning still gave the Flyers some good flashes of sound defending mixed in there, but the somewhat uneven process left him shuffled out of the rotation by season’s end.
Lane Pederson
5 GP, 0 G, 0 P, 0 SOG
That Pederson was called upon to fill in for a while on the fourth line was not a surprise, given the success that he had for the Phantoms at the top of their lineup throughout the season, but if there was a hope from some that he might be able to come up and deliver a bit of an offensive boost on that line, they would have been disappointed. Pederson has some good experience at the NHL level, so he was able to keep pace well enough, and playing with a defensive mindfulness such that where, even if if they were giving up some looks when he was out there on the ice, they weren’t getting buried by goals (they exactly broke even across his five games played).
Jacob Gaucher
4 GP, 0 G, 0 P, 4 SOG
For the second season in a row, Gaucher was recalled to play exactly four games for the Flyers. He was tasked with stepping in as an injury replacement in a fourth line center role, and once again, he did just fine. Gaucher’s offense hasn’t translated to the NHL level in a terribly meaningful way, and while he’s made some strides in this area over the last couple of years, some of those foot speed issues, the lack of a true separation gear, have held him back as his stints have gone on, but outside of that, his engagement off-puck and his sort of no-nonsense approach to the game have made him effective in those limited minutes. It hasn’t been enough to force a longer stay, but there have still been some positives in his play.
All the same, he’s done his job well up to this point, stepping in to fill a role when the Flyers have needed him, and avoided sulking back down with the Phantoms when he was again eventually returned to them.
Jett Luchanko
5 GP*, 0 G, 0 P, 1 SOG
This season has been so long that it’s almost difficult to remember all the way back to the start of it, when Luchanko once again kicked off his season with the Flyers. With a new head coach at the helm — one who seemed a little less assured about his immediate readiness for NHL action — Luchanko’s runway was a little less set, and though he showed some flashes through his four games in the regular season, the team didn’t seem eager to beleaguer the experiment. It was nice to see him get in for a playoff game, and that’s useful experience banked for him, but even his speed wasn’t enough to break things open against the Hurricanes in that make or break situation.
The sense, in all of that, of where Luchanko is at with his game remains the same. That is, there’s a lot of reason for optimism about the fundamentals of his game, between the speed he offers up the middle and the playmaking boost he can bring, but there’s still a real mindset shift that he needs to undertake before he’s ready for a full time NHL job.
Ty Murchison
3 GP, 0 G, 0 P, 1 SOG
Murchison got off to a very strong season to the season down in the AHL, so much so that he vaulted himself up in the pecking order to the top of the list of options for a recall in December when the Flyers needed someone to fill in on the back end while Cam York was out with injury. It was a big step forward in his development arc, but he managed to take everything really nicely in stride. His physical presence made itself known pretty immediately, and his steadiness away from the puck made him really dependable in that third pair role. We didn’t see much offense chipped in from him — not that that’s a major hallmark of his game to begin with — but he looked capable with the puck in transition, which was a plus.
On the whole, it was a really solid stint from Murchison, so much so that at the time there were discussions about his ability to force the team’s hand to keep him around longer, but once the NHL group was back to full health, the decision was ultimately that he would be better off heading back down to play in an increased role down in Lehigh. All the same, it was about as strong of an introduction as Murchison could have hoped to make, and went a long way to making the case that he should be able to make things really interesting when training camp rolls around again.
Garrett Wilson
3 GP, 0 G, 0 P, 3 SOG
Something of a surprise late-season recall, Wilson joined the team down the stretch on a brand new NHL contract after spending the previous five seasons holding it down in the AHL with the Phantoms (and eventually serving them well as their captain). Whether this is just a thank you move, or a broader wrapping up gesturing towards retirement, it’s still uncertain, but all we can say is that Wilson came up for this first Flyers stint, got in for three games in a limited role on the fourth line, and performed admirably. There wasn’t a ton of flash in that role, but he brought his standard defensive responsibility and high level of physical engagement, and held up well in the minutes he was tossed. An experienced player at all levels, it wasn’t a surprise to see, but it was certainly still a positive all the same.
Oliver Bonk
2 GP*, 1 G, 2 P, 1 SOG
Bonk’s stint with the Flyers this season was short, but it sure was exciting. Called up to make his NHL debut in the final game of the regular season, Bonk made an immediate impression as he picked up his first NHL point before even hitting the halfway point of the first period of that game against the Canadiens, and followed up with his first goal before the same period was done. Combining that pop with the fact that he brought some generally sound defensive positioning and that first impression was so strong that he ultimately earned himself a look in Game 4 against the Hurricanes (where he was less noticeable, but at least didn’t get completely exposed by their pace, which is about as much as we could have hoped to see). Bonk’s game is still developing, but he showed enough in these brief looks to, at the very least, suggest that he’s a little farther ahead in that development than we might have expected him to be, given the time he missed with injury to start the season.
Hunter McDonald
1 GP, 0 G, 1 P, 1 SOG
On the other side of that pair in Game 82 was McDonald, finally getting his NHL debut after a bit of a weird false start — getting recalled to join the team on a quick trip out West in January, where he was able to get in some practice time with the big club but never saw any game action — and looking quite solid in that debut. His game wasn’t overly flashy (though he did have a nice moment, picking up his first NHL point with the secondary assist on Bonk’s first goal), but he played his game well, defending conscientiously, remaining physically engaged, and otherwise opening up space and providing a sound defensive foundation to allow Bonk to do his thing and rove a bit more. It’s a pairing that worked really well over a longer span of games down with the Phantoms for a reason, and it was nice to get an immediate taste of what McDonald can offer in terms of balance for a more offensively minded partner.
Anthony Richard
1 GP, 0 G, 0 P, 0 SOG
Given the solid play that he brought in short stints for the Flyers in the season before, it seems a bit of a surprise that it took until the very last game of the season for Richard to be called upon by the big club, but that’s how things shook out. There wasn’t too much to be taken from that final game of the season, with Richard being given just seven minutes of ice time to work with, but he brought his standard high pace of play, and even if there wasn’t much offense popping in that showing, at least the pace was working well. All the same, it felt like a bit of a fizzling out to end the season, and a bit of a shame of a way to bring his tenure in the organization to an end.
David Jiricek
1 GP, 0 G, 0 P, 1 SOG
Rounding out that group of players who filled out that Game 82 lineup is Jiricek, making his Flyers debut after the deadline day trade and a reasonably solid stint with the Phantoms. That debut wasn’t quite as flashy as Bonk’s — that’s a hard act to follow — but he did still show some nice flashes. We saw him put up one nice shot on goal, and even if he couldn’t convert on it immediately, it was nice to get a small taste of his instincts, and just as importantly, he avoided getting exposed in any major ways defensively. Taking in the broader context of his situation, and all of the datapoints from his longer Phantoms stint, it’s clear that much of Jiricek’s game is a work in progress and that part of the equation hasn’t changed, but all the same, it was a positive to see him hold up well in those first NHL minutes in this organization, and he’ll just continue to build up from there.
Aleksei Kolosov
4 GP, 4.00 GAA, .830 SV%
The end of Kolosov’s stint with the Flyers is the bit that really stands out and sets the feeling for the whole of it — that start against the Rangers in which he made zero saves, allowing three goals on three shots before being pulled not even nine minutes into the first period. It was particularly brutal, there’s no other way around it, but it does also obscure a little bit the fact that the beginning of that four game stint started out reasonably well. Kolosov made his season debut in a relief showing against the Leafs, where he was perfect, stopping seven of seven shots, and then he followed that up with a decent start against the Flames, where he allowed a respectable two goals on 21 shots (good for a .905 save percentage) though still came away with the loss.
All the same, the arc of that run was a decline, as he went .813 in the penultimate start before the disaster game, as he still struggled some against NHL shooters. So, in all, there’s a reminder here that for as much positive work as he put in down with the Phantoms this season, there’s still more to be done before he can handle a more full-time NHL job.
