Although it became apparent yesterday after their most recent cuts that forward Jett Luchanko would be on the Flyers roster when they submitted it to the league later today, Flyers general manager Danny Briere said there’s no guarantee he’ll play the entire season with Philadelphia.
From the sounds of it, they are taking a wait-and-see approach, much like they did when Luchanko made the club to start the 2024-25 season before returning to Guelph in the Ontario Hockey League.
“Nothing’s set in stone,” Briere said Monday during a media scrum regarding Luchanko. “He has to keep earning it, he has to keep playing well. He’s not the only one, it applies with everyone. I know we make a big deal of the opening roster, but that doesn’t mean that you’re on the team forever. Every day you’ve got to keep earning your ice time and your spot on the team.”
Briere stated that Luchanko’s status is still a work in progress. It’s conceivable he sees a few games of action before he is possibly sent down to the OHL for the rest of the season. The Flyers general manager said that there was no schedule planned for Luchanko as to whether he would play a game then possibly sit out a game during the early part of the season. Or he could end up getting more than the four-game look he had last year before the Flyers pulled the plug on Luchanko playing his first full rookie season in 2024-25. “He has to earn his spot, there’s no guarantee that he’s going to play every single night,” Briere said, emphasizing that no option was off the table.
“Absolutely you saw it last year, it was the same thing,” Briere said regarding how things may play out with the just-turned 19-year-old forward. “Jett is a big part of our future. “We’re trying to give him some experience but protect him at the same time, trying to help him out along the way. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Part of it will be his play, part of it will be how the team is going. But him, like many other players, they have to bring it and keep earning their roster spot.”
Luchanko’s usage will be hashed out between both Briere and Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet, both who seem to be on the same wavelength when it comes to the forward. It’s a different situation from last year when then coach John Tortorella often tooted Luchanko’s horn far more than the player or his agent did in favor of keeping him up. At the time both Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones appeared to take a more conservative approach.
“That’s going to be up to Tocchet to decide,” Briere said regarding Luchanko’s usage to start the season. “Obviously we’re going to have some discussions and at the end of the day, the one thing that’s going to keep coming back when we discuss (Luchanko) is what’s the best plan for Jett. And that’s what we’re going to keep thinking about as we move forward here.”
If Luchanko was to return to the OHL, he’d be returning to the Guelph Storm for his fourth full season. Although the team hasn’t started playing, early indications are Guelph are going to have a long season that won’t be pretty to watch. So putting Luchanko back with a team that is going to struggle might not be the best option. That’s not to say the Flyers are going to walk away with a playoff spot or the Metropolitan Division title. Yet it could be a factor when deciding which road Philadelphia opts for concerning Luchanko.
“It’s something we look at,” Briere said regarding sending Luchanko back to a middling junior team. “I can’t control what happens whenever we send him back to junior. That’s part of the reason to keep him here is because we have control a little bit more over his development. I can’t look at where he’s going to go. I can’t control what the team (Guelph) does. I mean they could turn it around, they could make some trades to make the team good again. So I’m not worried about his junior team. This is more about at the moment when he’s with us we can control a little bit more how we develop him and how we work with him.”
One aspect Briere strongly noted was how the Flyers don’t want to see Luchanko make the roster only to be limited to playing fourth line minutes. Sure, the practice time and becoming accustomed to the life as a professional hockey player would be a plus. Seeing how guys prepare for games through practices or training in the gym wouldn’t be a detriment. But that 10 to 12 minutes of ice time isn’t what you want a promising teenager with potential reduced to in such critical early years of his career.
“That’s all part of what we’re going to discuss every day,” Briere said. “To be honest with you, I wouldn’t want him to play fourth line for the whole season. When we discuss Jett the whole time it’s about his development. He’s a big part of the future and we’re always keeping that in the back of our mind.”
Briere reflects on the blue line
Meanwhile, Briere touched on a few other items during the scrum, including the blue line. Briere said he felt Adam Ginning had a strong camp. “To be honest, we didn’t even think he was in the mix going into camp,” Briere said. “But he played so well that he earned his way onto the team.”
Briere cited the news about York’s injury but also touched on the group overall. He has some nice things to say about the core four (Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Nick Seeler and Jamie Drysdale) but was a bit lukewarm at best on some other defensemen he saw in camp, particularly Noah Juulsen and Egor Zamula.
“I thought a guy like Juulsen had it rough to start with but then came around and played better as the camp went on, so that’s good, that was good to see,” the general manager said. “Having a guy like that with a little bit more of a presence and experience is important because we’re still a young group that’s developing. I thought York and Drysdale took a step and looked way better than they did last year, so that’s really exciting. Sanheim is Sanheim, we’re not worried about him. We’re not worried about Seeler. Those guys are pros, they know how to handle themselves. We know they’re going to be ready when the puck drops.”
As for Zamula, Briere said he was still in the top three pairings but felt he wasn’t great following a strong showing in the first exhibition game he played against the host Islanders.
“We were really excited about his play and then all of a sudden it tailed off after that. I’m not too sure what happened. He’s still in the top six but we have guys who are pushing for ice time. The message is like it is with all these guys fighting for these last few spots. He’s got to perform, he’s got to step up his game. He’s going to be in a battle to stay in the lineup probably for most of the year unless he steps up his game and play the way he’s capable of. It wasn’t good enough, the second part of the camp for him.”
Another defenseman Briere mentioned was Emil Andrae. Andrae played well at times during camp and looked to make the club but was sent down perhaps bit earlier than some anticipated.
“Emil’s still young. Emil had some struggles in camp but we still believe in him. He’s still a very good prospect for us. I think the best thing for him is to play a lot of heavy minutes rather than sit on the sideline and watch at the moment at his age. It’s better for him to go down and play hopefully 22 to 24 minutes a night, find his game again and build off of that. Get the confidence to make plays, carry the puck and become an everyday serviceable defenseman.”
Other news and notes
Finally, in a lighter moment, Briere spoke about forward Rodrigo Abols making the team. “He earned it. He’s been a big physical presence. I think Rick Tocchet and his staff didn’t know much about him and we really impressed. I laugh because early in camp we had him playing in game one and we were looking at lineups for game two, three, and four. At first we didn’t have him in any of those games. After game one, Tocchet came back said, ‘I want to see him again.’ So we put him game two. After game two, Tocchet said, ‘I need to see him one more time.’ So we put him in game three, game four and game five. At the end we were finally trying to give him a bit of a break. But Rod has had a great camp and earned to start on the roster for game one. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts in game one either.”
Briere closed out the scrum saying he’s looking forward to seeing the younger talent the forward unit is amassing, citing Trevor Zegras, Matvei Michkov and the team’s steadying third line of Noah Cates, Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster. He also says he’s eager to see those in the pipeline like Jack Nesbitt and Porter Martone develop into Flyers down the road.
