Grading the Flyers’ selection of Jett Luchanko: Was it a bit of a reach?

LAS VEGAS — As the draft got underway, the Flyers felt they were playing with house money.

Names ticked off and the guy they wanted kept getting passed by. So, knowing they could get Jett Luchanko one spot down at No. 13, they swapped with the Minnesota Wild — adding a third-rounder in next year’s draft.

The Flyers also traded the No. 32 pick — sending it to the Edmonton Oilers for a conditional first-round pick next season. Seeing as how the pick next year is top-12 protected — and the Stanley Cup finalists should not be anywhere near the top 12 — it’s a good move with the draft class in 2025 expected to be very good. It also gives the Flyers three first-rounders next year.

But did the Flyers hit the jackpot with the kid from London, Ontario? It’s too early to tell, but there is no time like the present to hand out some grades.

Luchanko entered the night not rated by draft gurus as high as the Flyers picked him — only TSN’s Bob McKenzie (19th) and Craig Button (18) had him in their top 20 — so it was a bit of a shock that they went with the 17-year-old.

“The way he plays, the way he works, the way he is a complete player, first of all,” general manager Danny Brière said. “Very young still ... he got better and better as the season went on. We feel that, yes, he’s a center, absolutely. And we feel he’s just starting to tap his potential. So we’re really excited about that. ... There were other good players in that area also that we were considering. But there wasn’t a big enough difference to go in a different direction, and taking a center was an important piece for us there.”

The Flyers need center depth. It’s no secret. But the highly rated pivot Konsta Helenius was there for the taking. While Luchanko was playing for Guelph in the Ontario Hockey League, Helenius was competing against men in Finland’s top professional league.

Two seasons ago, Luchanko registered 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 46 regular-season games. This past season, he exploded for 74 points (20 goals, 54 assists) in 68 games before adding another seven points in seven games for the golden Canadian squad at the U18 world championship. And he’s played against Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk quite a bit and is excited to be their teammate.

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While he says he likens his game to that of Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki, he tries to model his game after Travis Konecny, who also grew up in London. When asked if he likes to get under people’s skin, as Konecny is known to do, Luchanko said, “A little bit. I try not to get involved a lot, but I like to play a hard game and really just try and win every puck and try and be tough to play against.”

Luchanko considers his speed “probably my strongest asset” and uses it to create space for himself and his teammates. The Flyers certainly need speed down the middle to complement guys like Owen Tippett. But while everyone thought this pick in the draft, especially if it was a center, was to be a guy to complement Matvei Michkov in a few short years — think again. Brière said Luchanko has at least two more years of junior hockey, and where he fits is still undetermined.

“Probably not, because I think then you’d be pretty small in that line unless you have some behemoth that can go with them,” said FloHockey draft and prospects analyst Chris Peters. “But I think the thing that Luchanko does that would help Michkov is he kind of clears the road a little bit, because he’s going to go dig pucks out. He’s going to be the guy that’s first on the forecheck if you need him to be. You’re going to want somebody who’s defensively responsible with Michkov. I just think that it’d be hard — you wouldn’t have a very heavy offensive pairing if it’s just those two guys together. So it’s something they’d have to think about. But it’s very, very interesting.”

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Peters was also a bit surprised by the move with Helenius on the board but also said the Flyers probably were hoping Berkly Catton would still be available; he went to the Seattle Kraken at No. 8.

Luchanko is on the smaller side for a center at 5-foot-11 and 187 pounds. But Brière said there is an upside to the centerman who already has elevated his game in just the last few months.

“First of all his work ethic,” the GM said when asked to explain why. “If you watch him play, he’s always one of the hardest workers on both sides of the ice. His vision and his hockey sense are high-end. There are obviously some things that we’ll work with them to develop and increase, but to have a guy who already understands both sides of the ice the way he does. And you look the way he played, it was a team that just barely made the playoffs in Guelph. He was the motor for that team. If you watched him play, he drove the play. He was a play driver.”

He also has something that coach John Tortorella wanted from the guys the Flyers drafted: a high-compete level.

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“He’s got speed,” Peters said. “He is tenacious off the puck, and then, when he has the puck, he’s got skill, and he can really finish. So he’s kind of that unique combination where there’s work ethic and high skill. Obviously, he’s not a bigger player, but I think he plays winning hockey. He just does a lot of the little things right.

“I think at the under-18 World Championship, he was really able to showcase what kind of value he could bring to an NHL team because he was just as good defensively as he was offensively; maybe even better defensively at times. And so I think you’ve got a guy with some jam and some grit, and that makes up for the lack of size. And then he also can fly, so I think that you get skill and you get speed and you get that work ethic.

“It’s all good.”