The Philadelphia Flyers have made their decision. After a handful of games into the regular season and not a whole lot of minutes to hand out to a top prospect, the Flyers have sent Jett Luchanko back to the OHL where he will lace up for the Guelph Storm for the remainder of his season.
Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco was the first to report it, but as Flyers practice started Monday morning and Luchanko was not on the ice, it became obvious that he’s been sent back. It was then confirmed by the team shortly after.
Transaction: We have returned forward Jett Luchanko to his junior team, @Storm_City (OHL).
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 27, 2025
The 19-year-old center played a total of four games for the Flyers and earned a total of zero points during his time up in the NHL. As for how much he was actually used by head coach Rick Tocchet, Luchanko averaged 8:58 time-on-ice through those three games with no special team usage while stapled on the fourth line.
This all comes after the last time the Flyers started his season in a nearly identical way. After just four games played last season, after the then 18-year-old Luchanko surprised everyone and made the team out of training camp, he was sent back down to the OHL and back to Guelph. Last season he also was held without a point but under John Tortorella, was given so much more leash and opportunity to do anything, as he averaged over 14 minutes per game.
Coming into the season this time around, it wasn’t expected that Luchanko would make the team — there were some of his biggest fans willing him into the lineup and begging for his offensive potential to shine through in the best league on the planet, but it wasn’t guaranteed or anything. The London, Ont. native did make the cut and whether it is just because the team lacked center depth if they were to have Christian Dvorak on the wing in the top six, or they actually liked his game, Luchanko was able to start his season in the NHL.
Unfortunately, it has been touch-and-go ever since. The teenager was a healthy scratch alongside Nikita Grebenkin for the season opener, was back in the second game of the season against the Carolina Hurricanes where he played an entire seven minutes and 40 seconds of hockey. Luchanko then played for the next two games, against Florida and Winnipeg, and had the same exact role, and then was a healthy scratch once more against the Minnesota Wild. It was after that overtime win on Saturday where the writing on the wall became so much clearer, as Luchanko wasn’t in the regular lineup for practice on Sunday. To have two healthy scratches in a row while he could be developing in juniors, felt like a miscue and that gut feeling was correct as Luchanko was sent back to Guelph soon after.
Luchanko laced up for the feel-good win over the Seattle Kraken, but it felt pre-determined with such little opportunity he had during that game, that his future was going to be back in junior hockey eventually.
Luchanko heads back to OHL’s Guelph Storm
Now, he heads back to a Guelph Storm team that is doing slightly better than last year but is still missing some sort of firepower. They have earned a 6-5-2-0 record through the first 13 games of their season and their .538 points percentage is good for eighth in the Western Conference — still out of a playoff spot because some teams like Jack Nesbitt’s Windsor Spitfires are hogging up all the wins with their 12-2-1-1 start.
Last season, Luchanko managed to score 21 goals and 56 points in 46 games for the Storm, leading the team in points per game by a fair margin. He was clearly their best player on the ice almost every single night but the lack of high-level talent left the Storm out of the playoff picture very early.
Now, the Storm were able to add a couple interesting players like OHL overager Ethan Miedema from the Kingston Frontenacs in an offseason trade, and young 16-year-old Jaakko Wycisk who is one of the top OHL prospects for the 2027 NHL Draft. Both players are perfectly fine in their own right, but it’s not some star-studded roster just waiting for the final piece. Center Carter Stevens leads the team with seven goals and 14 points in 13 games — if you want to get a clear idea just how lacking the Storm are for offensive talent, he’s 17 years old.
Luchanko should come in and take the reins immediately. The 19-year-old will still be the top player on the roster, responsible to impact the game in all situations and it wouldn’t surprise us if he plays for almost half the game some nights.
It will be an interesting season no matter what as we keep a very close eye on Luchanko’s development in his final year of junior hockey.
