Prospect Massimo Rizzo aims to show he can make the jump from NCAA champion to the Flyers

ALLENTOWN — Massimo Rizzo walked into the empty locker room just behind the Phantoms bench at the PPL Center in Allentown earlier this month.

He is not the most imposing figure at 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, with a big mop of brown hair. But when he sat down in one of the stalls, what stuck out most was the sizable smile splashed on his face.

Could it be because in April he signed a two-year, entry-level contract to begin in 2024-25 with the Flyers? Maybe it was because he hoisted his second NCAA national championship trophy at the University of Denver just four days before signing on the dotted line? Or how about that he was already at the pro level on an amateur tryout agreement with Lehigh Valley alongside his former Denver teammate, Bobby Brink?

» READ MORE: Is Brink part of the Flyers’ long-term plans? Danny Brière thinks so.

Whatever the reason, the kid from British Columbia aims to put that same smile on the faces of Flyers fans for years to come. But don’t expect him to be a throwback to the Bullies.

“I’m not too gritty,” Rizzo said with a grin. “My game’s not too physical, but … something I want to bring is just showing up every day and working hard and bringing that part of it. Maybe not so much the hitting and the goon kind of side of it but just like working [hard] and stuff like that.”

What he does have, and is oozing out of him, is offense.

“A playmaking centerman,” Rizzo said when asked to describe his game. “I like to say that I have a pretty good vision on the ice, like to use my teammates and set up plays. I try to be a two-way forward and usually a pass-first kind of guy, but I definitely love to score goals and try to shoot more as I’ve gotten older.”

As Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr told The Inquirer in late March, Rizzo “certainly has good offensive tools.” But good wasn’t necessarily how the season started; it began with a raging inferno. Named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference player of the month and the national co-player of the month for October, Rizzo had a point in each game Denver played, including five multi-pointers. His 14 points (five goals, nine assists) ranked first in the school’s conference and was tied for third nationally.

He played in the Spengler Cup for Canada in December but then got banged up in February and missed two months with a lower-body injury, finishing with 44 points and a career-high 34 assists in 30 games. Rizzo returned to help Denver beat Boston University and Boston College with Cutter Gauthier in the Frozen Four. (The Pioneers did not know about Gauthier’s pregame comment — “there’s going to be a lot of tears for that team” — until after they won and laughed about it.

“I know last year he wanted to turn pro,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière told The Inquirer, “but for him to go back and to prove to not [just] everybody else, but also to himself that he can be a difference maker every single game, sometimes we forget how important it is.

“If he turned pro, and I know he had a good year the year before, but you turn pro and you’re still wondering. Now he went back and had an amazing year, was leading the NCAA until he got his injury, so that’s really exciting. We hope he keeps developing and he brings that same approach now to Lehigh Valley and who knows what happens after that.”

Brière also loves the fact that Rizzo has a winning pedigree. Rizzo already had that when the Flyers acquired him in a minor deal with Carolina for the rights to David Kaše last summer. It may have been a small move at the time — some have said it looked like a “wink-wink” agreement because the Flyers had just saved Carolina some money by buying out defenseman Tony DeAngelo — but the future is bright for the 22-year-old center who plays a position where the Flyers can certainly use an upgrade.

Rizzo didn’t get a chance to suit up for the Phantoms as he was still banged up from his college days. His first time skating with the team was in practice a few days before their season ended against the Hershey Bears in the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs.

“Trust me, if I could play him, I’d play him,” Phantoms coach Ian Laperriere said. “He’s an offensive guy and everything, but he’s here just to see how we do things around here for next year, what is to become a pro. Great kid, smile on his face [and] goes to work every day, skated today. I watched him in the finals there and skilled player, everything as advertised. He makes plays and he’s good on the power play. But college is college and pro is pro and we’ll see what he can do next year.”

» READ MORE: With the Flyers locked in at No. 12, here are 8 players to know ahead of the 2024 NHL draft

Where Rizzo ends up next season is a question mark. Could he use a year at the AHL level? Sure. But the Flyers are thin down the middle and there are always rumors that they’ll move a few veteran centers in trades before training camp opens in September.

Although he is undecided about taking a class to work toward finishing his degree in psychology and kinesiology — Rizzo left after his junior season and is planning on graduating to “make my parents happy” — he will spend the summer at Flyers development camp in July before preparing for his first NHL camp and John Tortorella’s infamous skate test.

“I don’t think I’ll do anything too different. I definitely always train hard in the summer. I really work on my development and try to get better, but I think I’ll definitely add some more on-ice conditioning,” Rizzo said with a laugh, noting that he’s spoken to a few guys about the test and that it “[stinks].”

“Usually my fitness tests in the past have been like a bike test or something like that. So this year, I’ll definitely focus on doing a little bit more on-ice conditioning to get ready for that skate test.”

Regardless of how it goes, Rizzo is focused on making the jump and achieving his goal of playing in the NHL. His sights are set on showing his best version and proving what he can do to the Flyers coaching staff, brass, and fans.

“Unbelievably excited,” he said with that trademark smile. “This is such a great organization, so much history, so much culture and stuff. For me, it’s super special to get this opportunity to come here and be part of it and try to do something special.”