Flyers Prospects
Why Jett Luchanko Didn’t Play in Flyers vs. Flames
Head coach John Tortorella and the Philadelphia Flyers threw fans for a loop on Saturday prior to the 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames, omitting Jett Luchanko from the lineup after his NHL debut in favor of veteran Noah Cates.
Luchanko, 18, played 14:36 in his Flyers debut against the Vancouver Canucks, producing one shot on goal and winning three of nine faceoffs.
Notably, Luchanko’s ice time narrowly trailed Sean Couturier’s (15:36) and was ahead of Joel Farabee (14:15), Ryan Poehling (13:38), and Scott Laughton (11:19).
Though the Guelph Storm forward featured prominently, especially on the power play, he also had some down moments, too.
One that sticks out was his blown coverage that allowed Teddy Blueger to give Vancouver a 2-1 lead midway through the second period, though defenseman Egor Zamula did Luchanko no favors, either.
As it turns out, Tortorella’s decision to hold Luchanko out against the Flames was more straightforward and didn’t have much to do with Luchanko’s debut performance.
“I don’t want to overthink it,” Tortorella said. “We talked as a coaching staff. Young kid, lot of travel, time changes, all the things that come with this first trip with us. We thought it was best we just give him the one game. And I wanted to get Catesy in anyway.
“I don’t need to babysit him. He understands what he has to do to get ready for his next game.”
And, although Tortorella mentioned “one game” in regards to Luchanko, no decision is imminent there.
In fact, it’s more likely that Luchanko plays more than just one game for the Flyers as he eats further into his nine-game “trial” period.
“I just don’t want to play him back-to-back early in the year,” Tortorella explained further. “I thought he made some really good plays last night. Had a breakdown on one of the goals, we talked last night. It was one of the mistakes on the goal; there were two others prior to that. But no, we met after the game, talked with Danny, and just wanted to sit him out tonight.”
Unless the wheels fall off of him, the Flyers need to keep Luchanko beyond the nine games.
He’s got speed and the Flyers need it. He plays all situations and opens up the ice. The Flyers were noticeably better in the opener than they were in the game against the Flames.
The Flyers are weak at the center position , and Luchanko is legitimately (at least) the third best center we’ve got. Sending him down would be a downgrade the team can’t afford.
We need him to be an offensive force 3 years from now. Not just a 3rd line center today.
Honestly, he got a good amount of minutes in his first game, and can develop just fine up here. He’s good enough to play the PP and PK, so it’s not like he’s languishing on the bench. I don’t see what he gains by going back to an average OHL team, other than wasting a year where he could be getting used to the NHL game.
Your article last week said the whole point of keeping him up was to work on his offense. So he goes out and gets a point in his first ever game. And his reward? Go sit in the press box, kid. Who could possibly predict Tortorella doing that??? If they’re going to jerk the kid around like this just send him back to juniors. Let him play on the first line and lead the OHL in scoring. He’ll learn a lot more about offense by putting the puck in the net in Canada than he will sitting in a press box because Torts threw a hissy fit over a back check.
You’re delusional if you think he was benched in the Flames game because of a mistake in the Canucks game on their second goal.
He just turned 18 in August, is traveling two times zones west and not playing him in a B2B allows the Flyers to slowly get the kid acclimated to the NHL game rather than cramming it down his throat. Once he gets his 9 games in, then the brass can make a decision as to whether he stays with the big club or not. If he only plays a single game in each of the B2B’s later this month, his ninth game should be against the Blues on Halloween.
In the back of my mind…I think the management is thinking not to burn one of his ELC years….so he goes back to Guelph after his 9th game..