Welcome to Broad Street Hockey’s Summer 2025 Top Under 25! The series is back and with the Philadelphia Flyers focusing so much on the future, it’s more important than ever. Join us as we rank the 25 best players under the age of 25 for the next few weeks.
No. 11: Alex Bump
2024-25 Primary League/Team: Western Michigan (NCAA) / Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL)
2024-25 Statistics: 23 G, 24 A in 42 GP (NCAA) / 3 G, 2 A in 9 GP (AHL)
Age as of 9/15/2025: 21 (11/20/2003)
Acquired Via: 2022 NHL Draft – Round 5, Pick 133
If there’s one prospect whose star is on the rise in the Flyers’ system, it’s Alex Bump. After a sneaky very positive sophomore season on a Western Michigan team which was still flying a little under the radar (relative to some of the more powerhouse programs in college hockey) Bump came into his final collegiate season as an intriguing player to watch, and managed to turn himself into a player you couldn’t look away from.
How did Bump’s 2024-25 season go? Is his stock trending up or down from where it was entering the year?
As we sort of alluded to above, Bump came into this past season with a bit of hype surrounding him already — after all, he finished that second season at Western Michigan producing just shy of a point per game in the most difficult conference in college hockey, and made such an impression on the Flyers’ staff that already at that 2024 Development Camp, Flyers AGM Brent Flahr stated plainly that they view him as an NHL player. It was high praise indeed that he earned, and it certainly put some extra eyes on him heading into this season, and he made sure not to disappoint.
Playing in a top line role for the Broncos, Bump not only managed to increase his production from the level hit in the previous season, but he hit a really notable level of consistency in doing it. Across their regular season, Bump was something of a go-to guy when the team needed offense, and more often than not, he delivered for them, going no longer than three games without registering a point (a cold streak he only hit once back in November, and after that, there were only five games through the rest of the season where he was held off the board entirely). But the postseason is when things cooled off for him, to a degree — when the Broncos hit the NCAA tournament, Bump was shut down (kept off the board but certainly not prevented from creating shots, which he did at a high volume) but all of the extra defensive effort drawn to him opened up some of his teammates nicely, and still allowed them to march their way to their first National Championship win in program history.
From here, Bump opted to go the more strenuous route, declining to sign his entry level contract for the end of the 2024-25 season but for the next, which allowed him to join the Phantoms for the last weekend of their regular season, as well as for their playoff run. And while that postseason time was in some ways a rude awakening for him (more on that later), Bump brought some real flash to his professional hockey debut, and made it clear that he’s ready to at the very least push for a role at the next level with the Flyers. It’s about as successful of a season as he could have hoped to string together, all things considered.
What are we expecting from Bump this season? What should we be looking for from him?
This season, then, is going to be a big one for Bump, and this upcoming training camp is going to be even bigger. The numbers game as far as spots on the NHL squad go make things a little more complicated — particularly as it looks like Tyson Foerster is going to be good to go to start the season after all — but Bump is in a prime position to get a long look through the preseason, and potentially still earn himself a spot on the opening night roster.
But even if this does pan out, we’re still being mindful and measured about our expectations for Bump this season. There’s still some work that needs to go into maturing Bump’s game further, and whether that means a demotion to the AHL at some point to work on it, or some extra grace given while he adjusts on the fly at the NHL level, we’re not expecting the transition to a full time NHL role to be a seamless one. After all, what became most apparent in Bump’s stint with the Phantoms in the spring was that he wasn’t going to be able to get away with the same slippery cuts to the middle for those high danger shots, and he was going to have to work to both get stronger to get around being defended more tightly, and also work to keep from getting frustrated when defenders are hanging on him. He’s not going to have as much time and space to work with, and it’s going to be a process while he figures out how to continue growing and playing a little smarter.
How does Bump fit in the Flyers’ rebuild? Is it likely he’s going to be a part of the next good Flyers team?
As is stands, Bump is in a fight for a spot playing somewhere in the Flyers’ top-6, and while he certainly has a leg up on some of the other prospects in that same tier, it’s a crowded group vying for those spots, between the prospect pool and those already established as contributors at the NHL level. Given the momentum he’s bringing in with him, this isn’t a situation where Bump is at the risk of getting boxed out of a lineup spot for the rest of the foreseeable future if he doesn’t make an impression fast, but it’s also not as though the Flyers are starved for talent and he’ll be able to waltz in and grab a spot with ease. But all of that taken into consideration, while his spot in the organization’s long term plan isn’t a certainty, there’s a lot of value that he can bring with a high-effort, sharpshooting, well-paced game to the whole of what the Flyers are looking to build. This year will be a big one for him as far as carving out a role with the NHL team and their future focused plan, but if he buys in and continues building his game in the right direction, he could well prove that he has some staying power.
What do we think Bump’s ultimate NHL upside is, and how likely is it that he gets to something approaching that?
The good news is that while Bump still has some work to do on his game, it isn’t any major overhauling or targeted growth that needs to be done, it’s more about tinkering with some of the finer points while continuing to build into a more pro-ready frame. Bump is already coming into this camp likely vying for a spot in the Flyers’ middle-6, and that’s about the longer-term role that the Flyers could hope to get from him. This also isn’t a situation where they’ll be looking to introduce him to the NHL game with consistent fourth line minutes and hoping that he can work his way up in the lineup from there, the role that he’ll be introduced into is more or less where they’ll be hoping he can stick. The tools are all there for him to be a useful middle of the lineup winger for the Flyers, and he’s knocking on the door for a spot right there as soon as this season.
Previously in Philadelphia Flyers Summer 2025 Top 25 Under 25:
