Flyers send 2024 first-rounder Jett Luchanko back to junior after four NHL games

A 1-5-1 start sometimes calls for a shake-up, and the Flyers made a small but expected one on Saturday.

About an hour before warmups for their matinee against the Minnesota Wild at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers announced that Jett Luchanko is heading back to the Ontario Hockey League.

“We think it’s the best thing for his development,” said general manager Danny Brière, who added the team did not expect the 18-year-old to stick through camp and make the initial roster. “We’ve said it from Day 1, it’s not about how good Jett can be this year, it’s thinking three, five, seven years down the road.”

The road should be long for a kid who turned 18 in late August. Listed as a late first-rounder among the draft gurus, the Flyers surprised everyone when they selected the Guelph Storm center at No. 13 in the 2024 NHL draft.

But then, the why became apparent.

Within days, Luchanko was turning heads with his high-octane speed — as a 17-year-old — before bringing it and his 200-foot game to rookie camp and skating with Matvei Michkov in the Rookie Series. He then stayed with the big boys in training camp.

“He had a very good camp. He made us better, and that’s why he was in the lineup, but at the same time, we know where we are,” Brière said. “It’s tough at times to be patient, because you want to ice the best team possible right away, but we feel for his development, and to have the best Jett Luchanko, he needs to go play a lot of minutes. He needs to go learn to be the guy.”

Out of the Flyers‘ first seven games, Luchanko played in four, including the season opener against the Vancouver Canucks. Centering Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink, he became the youngest player in the organization’s history to don the orange and black and skated almost 15 minutes with time on the second power-play unit.

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Although he did not register a point, Luchanko averaged just over 14 minutes in the lineup. He skated a high of 17 minutes against the Edmonton Oilers, including shifts against Connor McDavid.

“I’m not giving Jett a long look, I’m giving Jett the ice time because I think he deserves it,” coach John Tortorella said in Alberta, referencing the nine-game audition afforded to teenage Canadian Hockey League players.

Luchanko also played against the Kraken in Seattle and the Canucks again in the home opener but has not played since. Tortorella said Friday that “with Jett, in the mess we’re in right now at the start of the year, I’m not looking for an 18-year-old to try to get us out of it,” for Brière, the team‘s record did not impact the move; he said some of it had to do with protecting him physically.

But Brière agreed that having the teenager watching from the press box was not ideal for his development. Luchanko took the viewpoint as a learning experience.

“I think watching is good,” Luchanko told The Inquirer on Friday regarding his time as a healthy scratch. “Obviously, it’s different watching when you’re behind the scenes a little bit more. You can kind of pick apart the game more and kind of understand what guys are doing out there.

“So I think just being able to kind of lock onto one guy and follow him, it’s been able to help me kind of see what they’re thinking out there.”

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Was it easy for Luchanko to hear the news? No, but the general manager said he “felt like I was talking to a 20-year veteran when we told him,” and added that he “totally understood.” And the veteran bench boss told him he should be proud of himself.

“[Erik Johnson] told me, because he was living with EJ, he brought clothes for 10 days, right? He didn’t think he was going to be here this long,” Tortorella said after the Flyers 7-5 win against the Wild. “He should be proud. His parents should be proud of him. He was taken out of the lineup, not because of his play. ... The mess that our team was in, I wanted to get to our team that I knew was going to be here to try to figure some stuff out.”

The Flyers are thin at center and Luchanko stayed on to help stabilize the position. He left a mark on the current Flyers group, including the veteran pivot, Sean Couturier.

“I think he’s definitely a mature kid for his age. He just turned 18. The way he handled himself and conducted himself as a pro definitely impressive for his age,” the Flyers captain said. “I’m sure he learned a lot, and I hope he keeps improving all year, pushes himself to get better, and he’s definitely going to be a big part of this future as well.”

Luchanko will head north and suit up for a Storm team that has struggled out of the gate. Entering the weekend they were last in the Western Conference’s Midwest Division with three wins in the first 10 games. Cory Stillman — a former NHLer who knows a thing or two about being a 200-foot center — is the head coach.

“Absolutely, that was a very exciting scenario going there. He played for Torts, so he also understands what Torts wants,” Brière said of Stillman, who won a Stanley Cup with Tortorella in Tampa Bay; the two spoke on Saturday. “And we’ve told Jett, we want him to push the limit and not just settle into trying to play safe. We want him to push his limits and find out how far he can get away with his offense without being a liability.”

Brière knows it won’t be an easy thing to slot back into the speed of juniors for Luchanko and noted that “he’s going to be ahead of the play.” But the hope for the organization is that Luchanko will find chemistry with his teammates before hitting the ice for Canada at the 2025 World Juniors that begin on Dec. 26 in Ottawa, Ontario. That is a big stage, especially with it being on home soil but Luchanko will be taking with him the experience of playing under the big lights of the NHL.

“Obviously, being around guys you’ve watched on TV your whole life and being among them and seeing what they do day to day is obviously great,” Luchanko said, “and something that I can learn from and hopefully take into my future.”