Image: Flyers Stadium via Flickr (Photo by SCHIFF71)
On Monday, Oct. 7, the Philadelphia Flyers released their 2024–2025 23-man opening day roster. With notable and expected big club starters such as assistant captain Travis Konecny, team captain Sean Couturier, and Flyers starting goalie Samuel Ersson. However, the release of this roster came with a surprise, one that not many were expecting after the 2024 draft.
Flyers first-round pick of 2024, forward Jett Luchanko (#17), made the team out of camp as a rookie. Why is this important? Well, he’s only 18 years old. Luchanko is the youngest Flyer to make the opening roster, ever.
The Flyers have had quite the interesting offseason, with the early arrival from Russia of projected superstar, Matvei Michkov (#39), and the pressure to rebuild through the draft picks acquired by the team. Jett Luchanko, who was the 13th overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft, had a lot of pressure on his shoulders in terms of fan satisfaction.
Many fans were not happy about the pick when the draft happened — in fact, they preferred the Flyers to choose defenseman Ivan Demidov, who ended up falling to the Canadiens. Jett Luchanko certainly was not the player the fans had expected to be drafted by this rebuilding team. In fact, not many people had heard much about the young kid who played in the OHL for the Guelph Storm prior to this upcoming season. Countless fans wondered just why Danny Briere, Flyers General Manager (GM), had chosen him.
Jett Luchanko did not disappoint. As training camp began, he stood out even amongst those who had been in the NHL for years at that point. Flyers GM Danny Briere stated during his press conference on Oct. 9, “Yeah, going into training camp, I never thought he had much of a chance, more of an outside chance, to be honest, but he’s blown us away from day one. The speed is one thing that really jumped out, top-end NHL speed already at such a young age; that’s impressive.”
Luchanko’s 23-24 campaign with the Guelph Storm left him finishing with 20 goals and 54 assists, the most in his career in the OHL. There really is no telling whether he will return to the Storm after a 9-game NHL tryout or if he will remain on the team for the remainder of the season. Many have commented on whether keeping Luchanko up with the Flyers at such a young age may stunt his development as an NHL player. Flyers head coach John Tortorella spoke on the situation recently: “We start seeing him play and if we feel what’s happening is not good for his development, we’re going to have a constant conversation about it. But we’re not going to overthink it and say, ‘Oh, he made a bad play there, he’s going to go back.’ We’re going to let the kid play.”
There was certainly an uptick in fan interest in Luchanko following his impressive training camp with the team, where he saw minutes in preseason games against NHL teams and skated with the second line of the Flyers, making plays and showing off his speed. The confidence of the Flyers front office in Jett Luchanko seemed to make more sense as he was finally able to prove his skills and show them off to a wider audience. He is currently projected to start on a line with forwards Joel Farabee (#86) and Bobby Brink (#10).
The question remains: will Luchanko make an impact at the NHL level? None can say for sure; however, he has already made an impact on Flyers team history, becoming the youngest player to make the opening day roster. While many fans may still call the Flyers’ rebuild into question, one thing is for certain — the club has taken major strides by adding Luchanko and his rookie partner, Matvei Michkov, to the team this offseason. Now all we have left to do is wait and watch as the Flyers take on the Canucks for their season opener on Friday, Oct. 11.
Spencer Kerrigan is a second-year media and culture major with a minor in journalism.