Flyers prospect Jett Luchanko is making his presence felt after being dealt to a team where he can finally contend. After joining the Bulldogs from Guelph in exchange for forward Layne Gallacher and four draft picks, it seemed like an opportunity for Luchanko to finally play for a dominant junior program with championship intentions.
Luchanko made his debut for Brantford on the 28th of November, joining a team that up until that point, had gone 24 games without a regulation loss and was perched firmly atop the OHL Eastern Conference. That made it extra unfortunate when the Bulldogs lost Luchanko’s debut to the Brampton Steelheads, by a score of 2-1.
In fact, the Bulldogs would lose two out of a three in the three day weekend set that Luchanko debuted in, sandwiched around a win against the Kitchener Rangers. In his first contest Luchanko was mostly absent from the score sheet, save for an interference penalty in the third period. He played alongside first round talents Jake O’Brien and Marek Vanacker on the Bulldogs power play, and also got some five-on-five time with projected 2026 first rounder Caleb Malhotra. Early on, the amount of talent surrounding Luchanko had noticeably skyrocketed, but he took a game to truly get acclimatized to his new team.
His second outing was essentially the quintessential Luchanko performance, he tallied two first period assists to help give the Bulldogs a two-goal lead just five minutes in. His first helper came after some deft cycle work in the offensive zone, where all three forwards touched the puck multiple times in a short time frame, before Cooper Denis slammed in a cross-ice feed to make it 1-0 Brantford. Luchanko then sauced a sweet backhand feed to cutting Vladimir Dravecky off a zone entry, who found the aforementioned Malhotra for an easy backdoor tap-in.
Luchanko would be on the ice for every Brantford goal, finish with a +4 rating, and be named the third star in a 4-3 victory that was a much more assertive second outing for the London native.
After an assist in two subsequent games, one being a 5-4 loss to Oshawa, and the other being a 4-2 win against Kingston, it was time for Luchanko’s coming out party.
In his fifth contest as a Bulldog, Luchanko took the game by the scruff of its neck right out of the gates, finishing another beautiful three man passing play off the rush to score the game’s opening goal just six minutes in. But he wasn’t done there, after being awarded a penalty shot early in the second, Luchanko did this:
A calm and sweet finish on the backhand worthy of Mr. Zegras himself. That turned out to be more than enough as the Bulldogs piled onto the North Bay Battalion, ultimately winning 7-2 in a game where Luchanko was named first star.
How has Luchanko’s offense looked?
Luchanko’s main area for development upon going back to the OHL was becoming more offensively engaged, mainly, increasing his shot and goal totals. Showing that there is another level of offensive production to be unlocked and ultimately raising his ceiling as a potential top-six center in the future was the ultimate goal.
Luchanko has looked good in Brantford, acclimatizing nicely to his new surroundings and already looking comfortable playing alongside his new linemates. The interplay with his teammates has carried over, and he has been right in the middle of some very intricate passing plays both off the rush and in the offensive zone. The combination of Dennis, Malhotra, and Luchanko, in particular had some great moments using their combined speed and decision making to really confuse opposing defenders. It would be nice to see Luchanko play 5-on-5 with some of the many already drafted prospects that the Bulldogs have, but with the lines shifting by the day as they try to get Luchanko acclimated, there’s a good chance that happens soon enough.
But it hasn’t been exactly perfect thus far for the 19-year-old. While Luchanko has scored at a point per game pace since joining the Bulldogs, he has only scored one goal from open play in his first five games, with the other tally being the slick penalty shot against North Bay. In the same vein, Luchanko only has seven shots on goal over five games as Bulldog, which isn’t a bad number, but he still lags behind teammates like O’Brien, Vanacker, and Adam Benak over the same span. There is a lot of time to get fully acclimatized and take his game to the next level, but Jett still seems a bit reluctant to take on the role of hired gun. He was acquired to help turn a contender into a juggernaut, and part of that is taking over games with his scoring and proving night in and night out that he is too good for this level with elite production.
Overall though, Luchanko is trending upwards. His play has continued to maintain its level even after the trade, and he hasn’t been lost in the shuffle of the drafted NHL prospects around him. The rest of the season will show just how dominant the Bulldogs and Luchanko can be, and if Luchanko can finally find that scoring streak that turns him from a potential NHLer, into a potential Star.
