It’s been another productive week up and down the Flyers’ prospect pool, stick with us as we break down some of the top performances of the week from around the globe.
The News of the Week
The dust has well and truly settled as the seasons are picking up everywhere, and as such, there’s no big news to report this time around. There might well be some on the horizon — as we monitor Jett Luchanko’s situation with the Flyers — but for the time being, we’re coasting.
Three Stars
Aleksei Kolosov
This week wasn’t an especially busy one for Kolosov, as the Phantoms had just two games on the schedule and Kolosov was tapped for the start in one of them, but he was pretty exceptional in that lone start of the weekend. The first of their pair of games out in Cleveland, the Phantoms were likely a little road weary, but desperately in need of a bounce-back effort after a flat showing in their last game against the Penguins. The Phantoms certainly got some jump delivered from their forwards (more on them soon), but keeping the rest of this strong showing locked down was Kolosov.
He was, in short, pretty close to perfect in his start. It wasn’t an easy situation for him, as he had 35 shots thrown at him and eight times shorthanded to bail his skaters out of, but he was able to step up for them when they needed it. Kolosov stopped all 35 shots he faced, and brought easily his sharpest performance of the season, as he well avoided making himself look small in his net, and looked much sharper in his puck tracking through traffic. Consistency is always the big question with him, so it will be interesting to see how he follows this up next time out, but for now, he really seems to have his game trending in the right direction.
Alex Bump
There was a lot to like across the board in the Phantoms’ performance in their two-game series in Cleveland against the Monsters, but Bump was able to deliver one of the true standout performances in this pair of games. Bump really broke out in the weekend opener, immediately coming out with extra jump and physical engagement, and he was reward for his efforts with his first goal of the season, as well as a very flashy assist on a goal by Karsen Dorwart, wherein he pulled the puck between his legs to find Dorwart trailing on the rush chance, and Dorwart completed the highlight reel play by shoveling his shot in off his backhand, skating backwards towards the crease. There was a lot of flash brought here, to be sure, and even though that wasn’t a level he was exactly able to carry into the Saturday rematch, he was still buzzing nicely, and it’s clear that things are starting to click for Bump, and he’s regaining his confidence at this level.
Karsen Dorwart
Dorwart brought a nice bit of flash in that first game of the weekend as well, picking up that aforementioned goal, which was a nice bit of payback for the great setup he made on Bump’s goal. The pair showed some clear and positive building chemistry throughout the weekend, and on top of his offensive contributions, he’s carving out a nice role for himself with the team. That is, coming into the mix on a team whose weakness was its lack of speed down the middle last season, Dorwart has added a nice bit of pace for them, and he’s doing a lot of good things to help support some of the more speedy wingers he’s been playing alongside. It’s a positive development for a player still so new to the league, and he’s settling nicely into a meaningful role already.
Honorable Mentions
Sticking with the Phantoms a little while longer, they got a handful of good contributions from up and down their forward group on the weekend, with Denver Barkey picking up his first goal of the season on a nice second-effort play in front of the net, while Devin Kaplan picked up two assists (the secondary on both Bump and Dorwart’s goals), while Jacob Gaucher and Alexis Gendron each chipped in one apiece. Emil Andrae also had himself a nice weekend, notably finding some success in a new top penalty killing role, while also getting involved on the offensive side, picking up a pair of assists. And then back between the pipes, while Kolosov picked up the particularly flashy showing on Friday, Carson Bjarnason looked solid in his start in the Saturday game, stopping 33 of the 35 shots he faced, and stepping up with a perfect performance in the shooting, helping to secure the Phantoms the sweep.
On the other side of the pond, it’s been a relatively quiet week for the European Flyers prospects. Max Westergard had another productive week, as he’s continuing to pile up the points at the U20 level — he added a goal and three assists to his season total over his last two games played, bringing him up to 15 points over his first seven games at that level. And over in the KHL, it wasn’t a terribly busy week for Yegor Zavragin, as he just got in for one start, but it was a good one, all in all. In a weird bit of continuity, he also faced 35 shots in his start, and he stopped 32 of them, so he performed reasonably well, but he still came away from that one with the loss.
And back in the CHL, both Nathan Quinn and Jack Nesbitt are continuing to make a nice bit of noise in their respective seasons. Quinn’s cooled down a little bit after a very hot start to the season, and while he was held without a point in Quebec’s first game against Chicoutimi on the week, he got himself back on track and had two assists in their rematch. It was a similar story, too, for Nesbitt back in Windsor, as Sarnia managed to keep him contained in their first matchup of the week, but he broke out in a big way in the second game of that series, putting up a goal and two assists, along with a whopping nine shots on goal.
And finally, the Flyers’ prospects were lighting it up nicely down in the NCAA this weekend. Their biggest prospect bowl of the season certainly garnered a lot of attention, with heavy hitters Michigan State and Boston University facing off for a pair of games up in Boston. And while BU came into this one with seemingly a bit more hype, the Spartans dispatched of them with relative ease, coming away with wins in both games. Porter Martone was a noticeable presence in these games, and while he was held off the board in the first game (though he certainly made himself noticeable with a physical presence which ultimately earned him an ejection late in the game), he broke out in the second game with a goal (his first of the season) and an assist, meanwhile Shane Vansaghi had a goal in the first game, and a truly massive assist in the second game — a play to prevent an overtime goal for BU, stopping the puck on his own goal line, then springing his teammates for a rush down-ice to win it for the Spartans. On the Terrier side, things were a little quieter, as Jack Murtagh picked up an assist in the first game of the weekend, while Owen McLaughlin and Carter Amico were held off the board.
And finally, after a moderately paced start to the season, Cole Knuble had one of his flashier efforts in the first of two games for Notre Dame against St. Lawrence on the weekend, chipping in two goals and an assist in Notre Dame’s eight-goal output in the first of their two wins on the weekend, so it would appear that he’s working nicely to kick back up into another gear.
