Why Flyers Sent Jett Luchanko Back to the OHL

In a slight surprise to some fans, the Philadelphia Flyers re-assigned rookie center Jett Luchanko to his junior hockey team in the OHL, the Guelph Storm.

Luchanko, 18, made the Flyers’ opening night roster this season and appeared in four games, recording zero points.

The London, Ont., native played 14:36 and 17:00 in his first two NHL games against Vancouver and Edmonton, respectively, before his ice time dropped to 12:14 and 12:23 in his last two games against Seattle and Vancouver. Luchanko also failed to record a shot on goal in each of his last two games.

So, why did the Flyers decide now to send Luchanko back to the OHL?

“We think it’s the best thing for his development. We 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,” Flyers GM Danny Briere said during a pregame press conference on Saturday. “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’. I think he has a real good chance at playing for Team Canada at the World Juniors; that’s another amazing experience for him.

“It’s important for him to play heavy minutes, be ‘the guy’, learn how to drive the offense, be a leader on his team. We’re not trying to create a fourth-line center, we think he has more upside than that.”

Briere’s assessment aligns closely with what draftniks thought about Luchanko prior to the 2024 NHL Draft. Luchanko is already a world-class skater with good hockey sense, a knack for playmaking, and strong defensive capabilities.

The question, though, has been about whether he has more offense in him or not.

“We’ve told Jett, we want him to push the limit and not just settle into trying to play safe,” Briere continued. “We want him to push his limits and find out how far he can get away with his offense without being a liability.”

The Guelph Storm’s head coach, Cory Stillman, will be coaching Luchanko for the first time this season after replacing Chad Wiseman.

The good news for the Flyers is that Stillman played for head coach John Tortorella during Tortorella’s time with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In his first year with Tampa Bay in 2003-04, Stillman recorded a number of career-highs, with 25 goals, 55 assists, and 80 points, as he and Tortorella won the Stanley Cup together.

“Talked to his coach today, his junior coach, Stiller, who I coached back in Tampa. Had a great conversation about what we’re looking for from him,” Tortorella said of Luchanko and Stillman after the Flyers’ 7-5 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon. “He should feel so good about what’s happened, as far as the time he spent with us.

“He should be proud of himself. EJ told me, because he was living with EJ, he brought clothes for 10 days. He didn’t think he was going to be here for this long. He should be proud of him. His parents should be proud of him. He was taken out of the lineup not because of his play. We had discussions and we were pretty much in favor of, he was going to go back before those nine games.”