Philadelphia Flyers 2024 Top 25 Under 25, No. 7: Jett Luchanko

No. 7: Jett Luchanko

The draft pick that stunned the fandom: after trading back from 12 to 13 with the Minnesota Wild (picking up a 3rd-round pick in the process, later traded to draft Spencer Gill )--and effectively passing on highly-touted defense prospect Zeev Buium--the Flyers selected Jett Luchanko over the remaining consensus choice, Konsta Helenius.

Reactions were--and still are--mixed. For what it\'s worth, in the moment, I was quite upset at the choice; I\'ve since come around on the thought process and believe we should give this Flyers front office a bit more leeway in their draft decisions. Others are still experiencing feelings of disappointment, shock, and rage (if it\'s that last one: take a deep breath, y\'all!). In the aftermath, we all dug into who this player was, and while Luchanko was a bit of a reach at 13th overall, it wasn\'t as dramatic as, say, Jay O\'Brien or German Rubstov: Luchanko was ranked as high as 18 by Craig Button and ISS Hockey, and as low as 34 by Elite Prospects going into draft day. Fair to say, then, that consensus was split, too. If you take a softer stance to the Flyers\' approach, then taking a prospect projected in the late-teens at 13 isn\'t too bad; if you rated Luchanko as a late-first/early-second round prospect, then this was an egregious overreach.

Here we are, though: Jett Luchanko is on an ELC (that will almost certainly slide at least a year), and will be a part of this organization for--hopefully--the long haul. What made the Flyers select him at 13, higher than any consensus ranking? Let\'s get into it.

2023-24 Primary League/Team: Guelph (OHL) 2023-24 Statistics: 20 G, 54 A in 68 GP Age as of 9/15/2024: 18 (8/21/2006) Acquired Via: 2024 NHL Draft - Round 1, Pick 13

How did Luchanko\'s 2023-24 season go? Is his stock trending up or down from where it was entering the year?

Pretty good, honestly--good enough to get selected in the first half of the first round of the 2024 draft. Luchanko led a bad (very bad) Guelph Storm team in scoring, with 20 goals and 74 points in 68 games as a 17-year old. His age is important here: Luchanko\'s late-August birthday put him less than a month away from being a 2025 draft eligible, which made him one of the youngest prospects in the 2024 draft class. With that in mind, he has nearly an entire extra year of developmental runway compared to his peers that were drafted in June. Given the tools he\'s already exhibiting, it\'s clear the Flyers are betting on some massive steps--and they might be on to something.

What are those tools? During the draft combine, Jett Luchanko obliterated other prospects at grip strength (both hands!), and hung around the top of other physical trials , which is all the more impressive considering he\'s \"undersized\" at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds and on the younger side. He\'s already a plus skater (it really popped at rookie camp), he\'s got an excellent motor and competitiveness, and there\'s enough feel for the game that he\'s likely to stick at center in the NHL--one that leans towards playmaking, too, which is something the Flyers desperately need to go along with their shoot-first wingers.

That combine performance is likely what put NHL teams on notice--add in that Luchanko carried a bad OHL team, has the skating makeup of a high-end player, and appears likely to stick at a position of dire need within the Flyers organization? That stock\'s trending way up.

What are we expecting from Luchanko this season? What should we be looking for from him?

Dominance. Or, at least, as much as can be done on a bad team. We want to see Luchanko solidify himself as a center more than anything, but developing his offense is a major long term goal. For all his tools, Luchanko isn\'t the best shooter--he\'s average, at best--and his playmaking ability isn\'t all that useful if the players around him can\'t finish on the chances he creates (which will likely be the case in Guelph again this year). Once again leading the Storm in points and improving his goal scoring ability would be a great year for Luchanko.

As a fun thought experiment: compare Luchanko\'s performance this coming season alongside other 2025 draft eligible prospects, since he just missed the cut off to be in their cohort. If he were to be drafted next summer instead, how might he stack up against those players?

How does Luchanko fit in the Flyers’ rebuild? Is it likely he’s going to be a part of the next good Flyers team?

He better be! The Flyers are, most likely, not going to have too many more premium draft selections--namely top-five or even top-ten picks. Luchanko, for his part, fits a dire organizational need down the middle, and he has the physical tools and hockey sense where it\'s easy to project him as an NHL player. Where in the lineup? Well, that\'s up for debate.

What do we think Luchanko\'s ultimate NHL upside is, and how likely is it that he gets to something approaching that?

Could Luchanko develop into a solid two-way 1C? Sure--he\'s got the hockey sense of a defensive forward, the playmaking potential, and the skating to do it. The question is, just how high end are all those aspects of his game, and will they compensate for the fact that he\'s a bit \"undersized?\" Right now, a more projectable outcome is a good 2C; at worst, he\'s a damn fine 3C. You see all the physical tools, skill, and skating though, and it\'s easy to envision that Jett Luchanko surprises us all and surpasses his draft position, justifying the Flyers making the reach, but it\'ll be some years before we have our answer...or, maybe sooner than we expect . (And you can watch/listen to BSH\'s own Thomas Williams interviewing the producer of that video. )

Previously in Philadelphia Flyers Summer 2024 Top 25 Under 25:

Intro / Honorable Mentions

No. T-24: Spencer Gill

No. T-24: Jack Berglund

No. 23: Elliot Desnoyers

No. 22: Carson Bjarnason

No. T-20: Alex Bump

No. T-20: Alex Ciernik

No. 19: Adam Ginning

No. 18: Devin Kaplan

No. 17: Yegor Zavragin

No. 16: Hunter McDonald

No. 15: Massimo Rizzo

No. 14: Alexei Kolosov

No. 13: Samu Tuomaala

No. 12: Egor Zamula

No. 11: Denver Barkey

No. 10: Emil Andrae

No. 9: Bobby Brink

No. 8: Samuel Ersson

Talking Points