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 rumble on Saturday.

Ninety-minutes before their matinee against the Minnesota Wild at the Wells Fargo Center (1 p.m., NBCSP), the Flyers announced Jett Luchanko is heading back to the Ontario Hockey League.

“The decision to send Jett back is something we strongly believe is the right path for him and his development,” said general manager Danny Brière in the team’s press release. “His work ethic, preparedness, and play during training camp and preseason was something we were extremely impressed with and felt he earned the right to make our roster and start the season with us.

“Ultimately, we feel it is more valuable for Jett to be put in the best possible position to prepare himself for an NHL career, and right now that is with his team in Guelph.”

Speaking to the media on Friday after the team’s practice that saw Luchanko rotate into lines, but not have a set grouping, coach John Tortorella hinted the move was coming.

“We’ve kind of been force-fed here with how our season has started,” Tortorella said.

“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.”

Of the Flyers’ seven games, Luchanko played in four. He laced up his skates for the first game of the season, centering Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink, becoming the youngest player in Flyers history to make their NHL debut in the Flyers shootout win against the Vancouver Canucks. Across his four games, he did not register a point but averaged just over 14 minutes of ice time and skated a high of 17 minutes against the Edmonton Oilers.

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

Luchanko played against the Kraken in Seattle and the Canucks again in the home opener but has not played since.

“Yeah, 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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Luchanko opened a lot of eyes and quieted the naysayers the past few months.

Listed as a late first-rounder, the Flyers drafted the Guelph Storm center at No. 13 in the 2024 NHL Draft. A few days later, he turned on the jets at development camp — all while still 17 — before bringing his 200-foot game to rookie camp, and while skating with Matvei Michkov in the Rookie Series.

He‘ll now suit up for the Storm and coach Cory Stillman — a former NHLer who knows a thing or two about being a 200-foot center. And Luchanko will take the experience of playing under the big lights with him.

“Obviously, being around guys you’ve watched on TV your whole life, and being amongst 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.”