Luchanko makes Flyers, set to become youngest player in team history
Nineteen-year-old Matvei Michkov won't be the only teenager on the Philadelphia Flyers to start the season.
Jett Luchanko, the No. 13 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, made the Flyers out of training camp, the team announced Monday. No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini is the only other player from the 2024 draft to open the campaign in the NHL.
Assuming he suits up for Philadelphia's season opener Friday against the Vancouver Canucks, Luchanko, who turned 18 on Aug. 21, will become the youngest player in franchise history, per The Athletic's Kevin Kurz.
"It's been my end goal since I remember, making the NHL," Luchanko said. "No matter what I was doing in my life, it was (working) toward that."
General manager Daniel Briere admitted Luchanko wasn't on his opening-night radar entering training camp but added the young center played his way onto the team.
"He's blown us away from Day 1," Briere said. "The speed is one that really jumped out. Top-end NHL speed already at such a young age. Then you start watching him play, and it's all the little details in his game. The way he supports everybody. The way he makes everyone around him better."
Luchanko will burn off the first year of his entry-level contract if he plays more than nine NHL games this season. Briere said the club could send Luchanko back to junior before the 10-game mark, but his play will dictate how long he stays.
"There's nothing guaranteed," Briere said. "He might be here for one day, or he could be here for the whole season. We're taking it day by day. But he's been really impressive, and he's earned a right to start with us."
Luchanko isn't being eased into action, either. While many teenage forwards begin their careers on the wing, Luchanko projects to center the third line between Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink. He's also expected to see time on the power play and penalty kill.
"I watched him today when we were working on the power play; he was one of our best power-play guys out there today, as far as the way he was moving the puck," said head coach John Tortorella, who also raved about Luchanko's maturity.
The 5-foot-11, 191-pound Luchanko spent last season with the OHL's Guelph Storm, registering 20 goals and 54 assists.