After a bit of a sabbatical, our weekly prospect report is back and better than ever! Stick with us as we ease ourselves back into action, and catch up with some of the top performers in the prospect pool from the past week.
The News of the Week
At long last, we have a bit of positive injury related news to report: after dealing with a couple of extended absences, both Spencer Gill and Alex Bump were able to get back to action with their respective teams last week, and are beginning to ramp themselves up for the stretch runs.
Also, in case you missed it, all of Carson Bjarnason, Oliver Bonk, and Hunter McDonald got some work in with the Flyers this week in practice. These weren’t overly meaningful recalls — in that they were only just quick stints up with the big club for a couple of practice sessions, and then they were sent right back down yesterday — but they were nice nods to the good work they’ve been putting in this season, and they’ll still have picked up a few lessons which they can take back down with them from this bit of good experience.
Three Stars
Jett Luckanko
This year has seen no shortage of weird seasons unfolding around this prospect pool, but Luchanko’s is certainly at the top of the list. With all of the bouncing between teams and some of the struggles to find his footing, it’s taken a while for his game to really begin to take off again, but this week saw things really look like they’re breaking open for him again. It was four games on the schedule for him and his production was a real standout across them. He put up a goal and seven assists over that span, and at the risk of sounding too snarky, it’s worth acknowledging that this makes for a very impressive two goals over the last six games for him. Even more notably, though, he’s also taken a bit step forward in his rate of shot generation — he had 13 shots on goal in the last four games as well — and it’s nice to see him pretty immediately having gotten rewarded for that improvement in his process. Hopefully he can keep that rolling over the longer term, here.
Tucker Robertson
It’s been a tough last few weeks for the Phantoms, and this past weekend saw their offensive game going cold again in a pretty major way, but with one notable exception. The Phantoms managed to score just three goals across their last two games, and two of them were put up by Robertson. And he’s continuing to establish himself as a hugely valuable piece of the team — he’s been able to find success playing just about anywhere in that lineup, and his motor and relentless game has helped him to continue to create chances seemingly out of nothing. He’s been really clutch for them, and he’s stepped up as a prime example to follow as they look to get more of their forwards going again.
Nathan Quinn
Would you look at that, it’s been another hugely productive week for Quinn. It was also quite a busy one, with four games on the schedule for him as well, and he was largely quite consistent in his impacts across this week. Quebec kicked off the week with a huge 8-3 win over Rimouski in which Quinn contributed a goal and two assists, and while he had a quieter game on Saturday in the loss to Drummondville (he was held to just one assist), he got rolling again in the rematch on Tuesday with a goal and an assist, though this wasn’t enough to will his team to a win.
He was, however, held off the board in yesterday’s game, but this is the first time that’s happened for him in close to a month, so we think we can find a way to forgive him for that.
Honorable Mentions
Over in the NCAA, Cole Knuble’s been picking up steam again well, too. He put up a goal and two assists across Notre Dame’s two games against Minnesota, and was a pretty major factor for them in one of their most successful weekends of the season — the first of those two games ended in a tie, but they came away with the win in the rematch, their first since January 24.
He’s also getting nicely involved in a bit of prospect bowl action this week against Michigan State, which did kick off last night, but we’ll get into all of that action in full this time next week.
Back east, it was a nice little week for the Terriers at Boston University, all things considered. It’s been a tough stretch for them lately, but they picked up a split with UNH over the weekend, and the Flyers prospects in their mix got nicely involved — Jack Murtagh was held off the board in the loss on Friday, but chipped in a goal and an assist in the win on Saturday (and did that with only about 13 minutes of ice time, which is still a bit more than he’s used to getting), while Owen McLaughlin got a bit more ice time to work with (eight minutes and change each night) and came away with an assist in the Friday game.
Away from the Terriers, Carter Amico is really beginning to find his footing in the USHL, getting some good and more consistent usage, and even beginning to unlock a bit of offense. This past weekend saw Muskegon playing a three-in-three series against Youngstown, and they came away with the sweep, while Amico picked up an assist in the Friday game, and then added a goal on Saturday, his first with his new team.
Getting back to Spencer Gill, after mentioning him off the top, he’s been working well to get himself back up to speed after being out since October with his injury. While his first two games back were, understandably, a bit quieter for him, he was able to get himself on the board in this third game, picking up an assist (his first point of the season), in their 6-1 win over Rimouski.
Elsewhere in the CHL, Matthew Gard is continuing to show well with his new team, and he added two assists over his three-game week, bringing him up to 15 points in his first game in Seattle. And speaking of players closing in on the point per game mark for their production, Jack Nesbitt has also been producing really well, of late. He picked up a goal in each of his last two games, extending his scoring streak to three games, and bringing him up to 42 points in 43 games, to date.
And finally, on the other side of the pond, Max Westergard is continuing his tour of all of the levels of play over in Sweden. After a one-game stint up with Frolunda in the SHL, he’s back down with the U20 squad, and continuing to produce at a high level for them. This week wasn’t an absolute scorcher for him, but three assists in his last two games is a tidy bit of business, as he continues to make clear that he’s pretty well mastered that level of play.
