The Philadelphia Flyers officially announced their first 14 cuts from the training camp roster on Wednesday morning, headlined by 2023 second-round pick Carson Bjarnason and 2024 second-round pick Spencer Gill.

Bjarnason, Gill, Sam Hillebrandt, Carter Sotheran, and Josh Zakreski were all returned to their respective junior hockey clubs in the roster cutdown. Hillebrandt and Zakreski, who were attending the Flyers’ training camp on amateur tryout offers, have not signed entry-level contracts with the team.

Hillebrandt performed well in rookie camp and training camp, though it was unlikely the 19-year-old appeared in a preseason game without a contract. He’ll head back to the Barrie Colts after an impressive 2024 postseason run, but since Bjarnason is the only non-AWOL goalie prospect under contract, it was a slight shock to see Hillebrandt leave without putting pen to paper on an ELC.

Among the other cuts were players who are AHL-bound and penciled in for roles with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. That group includes Zayde Wisdom, Alexis Gendron, Matt Miller, Ethan Samson, Emile Chouinard, Sam Sedley, Sawyer Boulton, and Nick Capone.

I was a little surprised to see Wisdom cut before appearing in a preseason game (there are five more to go), but that is only further evidence that this experiment is over. Wisdom, a 2020 fourth-round pick, opened some eyes when he scored seven goals, 11 assists, and 18 points in 28 games in his D+1 season in 2020-21.

Wisdom has played in 94 AHL regular season games since then, scoring only five goals, eight assists, and 13 points. As a smaller energy winger, the scoring touch made Wisdom an intriguing long-term NHL prospect.

Wherever that scoring touch went in the last three years, it’s gone.

Flyers Keep Luchanko and Bonk

Most notably, top Flyers prospects Jett Luchanko and Oliver Bonk both survived the first set of cuts and continue their push to make the NHL roster to start the 2024-25 season, even if it’s only for the nine-game tryout period allotted to avoid burning a year of the ELC.

Luchanko, in particular, has opened some eyes with how mature and steady his game has been, even if the offense hasn’t been there consistently in training camp and his lone preseason appearance.

The fact that the two first-round picks were kept around by the Flyers likely means that they will get in the lineup for one more preseason game, at the very least. That could happen as soon as Thursday when the Flyers host the visiting New York Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center at 7 p.m. for their first preseason home game of 2024.

One would also assume that the Flyers put Matvei Michkov in the lineup for his first game at the Wells Fargo Center, too, though he doesn’t have any junior camps to attend to. Luchanko and Bonk’s teams are currently in the OHL preseason, so if the Flyers choose to send them back, the sooner would be better.