The Philadelphia Flyers are starting off the 2024-25 season with a four-game West Coast road trip, including recent back-to-back games against the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames.
It’s a grueling schedule to start the season, especially if you’re a freshly 18-year-old player who’s getting his first taste of the NHL like Jett Luchanko.
Make no mistake—Luchanko has proven that he can keep up with the demands of NHL games. His skating ability speaks for itself, and head coach John Tortorella spoke several times of the young center’s “elite conditioning” throughout his infamously enervating training camp drills.
Related: Jett Luchanko Is Still Taking It All In As He Flourishes In Flyers Rookie Camp
He held his own in his debut against the Canucks, where he became the youngest player to ever debut for the Flyers, and left audiences generally pretty satisfied with his performance.
It was perplexing for some, then, when the team confirmed that Luchanko would come out of the lineup against the Flames, being replaced by Noah Cates. In many people’s minds, Luchanko still deserved to be on the roster—so why wasn’t he?
The answer that Tortorella gave makes a lot of sense: “Young kid, a lot of travel, time changes, all the things that come with this first trip with us. We thought it was best to give him the one game.”
Megan DeRuchie-The Hockey News
He’s correct. Luchanko’s contract allows him to play up to nine games in the NHL (an audition of sorts) before the Flyers have to decide to keep him in the pros or send him back down to juniors. The 18-year-old earned his spot right out of camp (whether it was the right move for his development is subjective), but now that he’s here, the Flyers have to be incredibly careful with how they distribute his game time.
GM Danny Briere has stressed that the organization is making every decision with Luchanko’s long-term development in mind. It’s clear that they have a very high opinion of him and are just as excited as the fans are that he’s looked as good as he has, but it’s an incredibly delicate situation to have a player as young as Luchanko show so much promise this early on.
Briere referenced how, when it comes to young teenagers in the NHL, it can go either way—some guys thrive under the expectations, and some guys crumble. There’s really no telling who will be able to handle the heat, so they’re taking the time to be incredibly strategic with how they use their young star.
Danny Briere says that there’s arguments on both sides when it comes to whether or not putting Luchanko in the NHL roster is a good idea—some teenagers thrive, some don’t. Said there’s “no clear path” and that they’re just doing what they can to help him succeed. #LetsGoFlyers
— Siobhan Nolan (@SGNolan) October 7, 2024
Scratching Luchanko against the Flames wasn’t a knock on how he played against the Canucks. It’s most likely just that the Flyers don’t want to blow through his nine games in one go, and not give themselves enough time to fully analyze how he looks as an NHL player before making a decision.
The Flyers were locked on Luchanko during this year’s draft for a reason, and now that they’ve got their man, they’re not going to take any chances when it comes to developing him into the player they believe he can be. He already has the character of a professional (Tortorella is a huge fan of his “approach, leadership, [and] quiet confidence”), and now it’s just a matter of making sure they don’t rush him into the pros, but at the same time, don’t let him languish in an environment that he’s outgrown in juniors.
It’s a positive sign that the Flyers are going to such lengths to protect Luchanko as he navigates his stratospheric ascension from a draft pick fans weren’t keen on to a bona fide star in the making. When Luchanko lifts the Cup within the next decade, we’ll be thankful he was scratched against the Flames last night.
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