With Jett Luchanko’s presence in the lineup for the Flyers’ season opening win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, a new franchise record was set. At just 18 years and 51 days old, Luchanko became the youngest player to suit up for the Flyers in their 57 year history.
The Flyers drafted Luchanko 13th overall in June—a draft whose qualifying birth date he was just three weeks from—and he made the team out of training camp. On Luchanko’s roster spot, coach John Tortorella said he has “a maturity about him”, that he “carries himself in a different way,” and praised his intelligence and 200-foot game.
Luchanko is also the youngest player currently in the NHL, with a full 68 days on San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini. Luchanko and Celebrini are the only two players from their draft class to play their NHL debuts so far.
It’s unknown how much of Luchanko’s 2024-25 season will actually be at the NHL level, as the Flyers have an additional seven games to burn before it counts as a full year off his entry level contract and he didn’t play in the team’s second game, Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames.
Regardless of whether he sticks in Philadelphia or gets sent back to the OHL’s Guelph Storm, the record has been set. So, just how old—or, maybe more fittingly, young—is 18 years and 51 days, anyway? Well, for one, it’s barely even 18. Lady Bird is a period piece for an 18-year-old. Fall Out Boy is classic rock, Miley Cyrus is just Miley Cyrus and goes by no other name, and the little boy from Room is a contemporary. There’s nothing more humbling than realizing how many things you can vividly recall living through that precede an 18-year-old’s entire life. So, the following is an abridged list of things that may humble you to learn are older than the Flyers’ current second line center:
- The NHL careers of Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Mark Giordano, Corey Perry, Ryan Suter, Brent Burns, and Marc-Andre Fleury
- The careers of Justin Verlander, Chris Paul, LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers
- Verlander is the longest-tenured active MLB player, though we could definitely find some more if we count minor leagues as “professional careers”
- The Stanley Cup drought of the Carolina Hurricanes
- The lack of Stanley Cup victories in Raleigh since 2006 can hardly be called a drought—we tend to think of the Hurricanes (in their current incarnation) as a fairly young NHL team, and yet, they haven’t won a cup during Luchanko’s lifetime
- Outdoor NHL games
- The first Winter Classic was 2008, but the NHL’s first outdoor game was the Heritage Classic in 2003
- The trapezoid and regular season shootouts
- Both rules were instituted in the NHL in the 2005-2006 season following the lockout
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, of course, but also The Real Housewives of Orange County, Top Chef, Cash Cab, and America’s Got Talent
- Hurricane Katrina
- The ice bucket challenge
- The youngest son of David Beckham and Posh Spice
- Pluto’s non-planet status
- That’s right—people who are 18 years and 52 days old have never lived in a solar system with nine planets
- Blu-rays, Crocs, and Trader Joe’s “Two-Buck Chuck”
- The Mars Express’s mission
- Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, and “Me at the zoo”, the first ever YouTube video
- Like half of the whiskey at your local liquor store and approximately 14 million Americans who aren’t legally allowed to consume it
- The words/phrases “crowdfunding”, “sizzle reel”, “mumblecore”, and “bucket list”
- Disney Channel’s High School Musical, Pixar’s Cars, and Blue Sky Studios’ second Ice Age movie
- The Xbox 360
- Snowboard cross as an Olympic sport
- It feels obvious to say that there have only been four Winter Olympic Games during an 18-year-old’s lifespan, but it also feels wild that Jett Luchanko has only been alive for four Winter Olympic Games
- The Gnarls Barkley song “Crazy”, the Justin Timberlake song “SexyBack”, and the Carrie Underwood song “Before He Cheats”
