Philadelphia Flyers preseason is over and done with and training camp is entering its final few days before the actual 2026-27 season starts on Wednesday. Throughout the last couple of days, the Flyers have had to make some difficult roster decisions and now we know their thought process going through them.
Ahead of Saturday night’s preseason finale (in which they lost 5-1 because Aleksei Kolosov proved to be not anything close to an NHL goaltender), the Flyers sent down prospects Cole Knuble and Jett Luchanko, despite both of them having terrific showings in camp and during their preseason appearances. The young forwards were like waterbugs on the ice, doing everything that was asked of them in all situations. But still, they were sent down to start their season with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms instead of making the NHL.
While we can chalk it up to just being a numbers game and there literally not being enough room to have either of them be a regular in the lineup, it goes a bit deeper than that, as Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet explains:
“You get to this point where you’re in a situation where there’s not many jobs open. But, that doesn’t mean they’re not pushing. It doesn’t happen something can happen in a week, a month. You have to be ready. They obviously had a good camp — I thought both had very good camps,” Tocchet said after practice on Friday.
“Cole is pushing people. It gives us a lot of options knowing, if things happen. All you’re doing is creating better options for the general manager. Those guys came in, took the information from this summer, came in shape, and they pushed our people. It’s really nice to see, the depth of the organization.”
Cole Knuble and Jett Luchanko will continue ‘pushing’ Flyers
Their efforts during training camp was certainly not wasted. Jett Luchanko showed exactly why the Flyers still rate him as a good center prospect — using his speed in the neutral zone to create entries and therefore scoring chances, make intelligent passing plays, and be dangerous on the cycle — and re-established himself as clearly someone we can still instill hope in. While Cole Knuble went from a good story and dark horse candidate to be good enough to get noticed, to outright the best Flyers player throughout all of the preseason.
That level we all saw them play at has now put them in a position to be basically threatening other forward’s job security in the NHL. As Tocchet mentioned, there’s not many jobs open. Nikita Grebenkin was on the Flyers’ roster all of last season and might end up being the 13th forward. Denver Barkey or Alex Bump will find themselves on the fourth line to start the season. There’s just no room for Luchanko or Knuble to get in, despite them both playing better than those names mentioned.
There is a world where Barkey or Bump or Grebenkin has a rough start to their season while Luchanko or Knuble are lighting the AHL on fire. And not for an injury reason, but purely to ice a better hockey team, we could see one of those two get called up and get a big opportunity to stick around.
What does Tocchet want to see from them while in the AHL? It comes down to one thing.
“I would say consistency, that’s the next level,” Tocchet said. “The hardest part for young guys, guys who are trying to make the NHL, it’s hard to stack consistency. I’m not saying these two guys, but just in my experience over the years, you call up a guy and he does well that game and after a while he see the drop off. Can you hold that consistency? That’s the stuff I want to see them working on.”
Tocchet also noted how Knuble himself has played just a handful of games of actual professional hockey, since he was with the Phantoms after his college season with Notre Dame finished last season. And, how Luchanko bounced around a whole lot and now he’s looking for consistency sticking with one team and how he does from now.
Flyers general manager Danny Briere echoed Tocchet’s sentiment but with a more specific angle, and added a name.
“The message to them was keep doing what you’re doing. You’ve done everything you could have done at training camp; keep developing your game,” Briere said via Siobhan Nolan. “Staying here, in the case, for example, of an Oliver Bonk, staying here as a seven or an eighth defenseman, does you no good. We’d rather have you play facing top players in the American League every night. Playing 22 minutes, playing some power play, playing some PK. I think it gives them the chance to be more successful when they’re needed for a bigger role at this level. And the same message was given to the other guys that were close as well.”
While it was hard to see any forward wedging themselves into the final group, just because there are so many bodies, there was an opportunity for Oliver Bonk to make the final roster. But, as Briere said, even if he was in a rotation with someone like David Jiricek and playing spare minutes on the bottom pair, it would not be as useful if he was playing every single game and a whole lot of minutes with the Phantoms.
Same goes for Knuble and Luchanko. They would have been healthy scratches from time to time in the NHL, and now that pair is likely to be on the first line in the AHL playing all situations together. They will be given ample opportunity to show if they are too good for the minors or not.
At least we have something to look forward to. Competition for spots might be even more heated during the season than they were during training camp.
