Jett setting: Flyers about to face tough call on Luchanko’s future

VOORHEES, N.J. — Jett Luchanko will skate in his third straight game for the Flyers on Thursday night.

And with each passing game, the Flyers are getting closer and closer to having to make a decision on their teenage prospect. 

The Flyers have nine games to play Luchanko without triggering the first year of his entry level contract. Once he plays in a 10th game for the team, the clock starts ticking. 

In an ideal world, Luchanko would be cutting his professional teeth with the Phantoms in the AHL. But, for the time being, that's not allowed. 

For now, players who came from the CHL (Canadian Juniors) under the age of 20 who are not on an NHL roster have to be returned to their junior team. They are not allowed to go to the AHL. 

This is how it's been for decades. It's stupid, and it's about time it's changing. But likely not until next year.

That doesn't help the Flyers when it comes to Luchanko. 

He would have to go back to Guelph of the OHL if the Flyers didn't think he could play at the NHL level all season. 

 Sometimes, it's not bad to go back to juniors, but in this case, Guelph is not a strong OHL team. There's not a lot of talent there for Luchanko to play alongside. Sending him back there might stunt his development. 

But so would keeping him in the NHL all year in a fourth line role playing seven minutes a night - which is the role he's been in for his first two games this season.

"I don't think it's going to hurt him for a week or two," said Flyers coach Rick Tocchet, but if you start talking about months, then yeah, it can hurt a player's development, 100%. We're conscientious of that with him."

Luchanko was a healthy scratch for the opener in Florida last week, but then made his season debut in Carolina last Saturday. The Flyers liked what they saw enough that they decided to get Luchanko into a game against the Panthers in the home opener. 

The thought was it would be a good test for the 19-year-old. Florida plays a physical, heavy game and they bring it for 60 minutes. It's a game against the best of the NHL.

Again, he didn't look out of place. 

Beautiful zone entry from Jett Luchanko here. Swear he gets faster every time I watch him.#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/nau2pOZvBn

— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) September 23, 2025

So, Luchanko gets a third shot against another tough team - the Winnipeg Jets. 

What comes next?

They'll evaluate it on a game-by-game basis. 

One thing the Flyers are willing to do, according to a team source, is loan Luchanko to Team Canada for the World Junior Championships (U-20) if he's still on the roster in seven weeks. 

That Final Selection Camp for Canada usually begins the second week of December (It was on Dec. 10 last year) and carries through the end of the tournament, which is often the first week of January. 

It'll give Luchanko a chance to play against the best players in the world at his age group, which is an excellent litmus test. 

But before that? That's where things get interesting. 

The Flyers have roughly 22-23 games after Thursday and before Luchanko would have to leave the team to go to the camp.

Do the Flyers nurse him through that stretch of time and only play him in six games in the process? Then send him to World Juniors and ultimately wait until January to make a decision on whether to send him back to juniors?

Or, do they bite the bullet, get him his games and then send him back in the next couple weeks and not be able to bring him back to the NHL until after his season is over?

They may try and thread the needle a little bit. Maybe spread the games out a little bit, but not too much, and then reassess. 

Kicking the can part-way down the road allows the Flyers the opportunity to account for injuries, if they come up. 

It also affords Luchanko the time to be an NHL sponge - soaking up as much information and practicing as many good habits as possible. It's something his linemate, Garnet Hathaway, notices in him every day.

"Sometimes you lose perspective of the age of these young, highly touted players who, as an organization, you are going to lean on for a lot of future years," said Hathaway, who is 14 years Luchanko's senior. "The strides Jett is taking are unbelievable. The small things. The awareness that's learned day-in and day-out. 

"Even on a practice day, Jett comes up to me and he's talking strategy. He's like, 'I want to do this so you can have time there.' and I'm like, 'That's really good thinking.' When I was 19 I was freshman at Brown and I was afraid to even talk to a senior. Here he's bringing it up to a guy nearly twice his age. He's that aware."

The Flyers love his speed. They think his skillset has a high ceiling and that  he'll be a big part of their future core. But right now, he still has a lot to learn. Things he could figure out by trial and error in the AHL, that doesn't cut it in the NHL.

Rick Tocchet on Jett Luchanko, to @AntSanPhilly:

“The one thing with Jett, I think his speed is great, but he has to start shooting the puck. That’s one thing if he’s going to get more ice time.” pic.twitter.com/u4f55TM0kD

— On Pattison (@OnPattison) October 16, 2025

"He has to start to shooting the puck," Tocchet said. "That's the thing, if he's going to get more ice time. There's times when he has the puck in the middle of the ice and he is passing the puck. That's a mental block for him right now. 

"I don't know if it's because he's a young kid, but if he'd shoot the puck it'd actually make him look faster."

It's Tocchet's job to win games, not develop players. It's Danny Briere's responsibility to determine the best way for Luchanko to develop. 

As long as he's only playing a handful of minutes a game, it'll be an easy decision for Briere - send him back to Guelph. 

But, if he gets more of an opportunity and shows he deserves to stick, then maybe he does. 

Either way, the Flyers are running of time to evaluate and need to determine one way or another, soon, what to do with him. 

For his part, Luchanko is just taking it in and trying to make the decision a hard one for Briere. 

"It's bene good so far," Luchanko said. "It's nice to be here and be around these guys every day because every day is a chance to get better. So, that's the approach I've been taking every day."

 Don't miss Snow The Goalie, live at Chickie's and Pete's every Wednesday at 6PM. The show will broadcast from a different Chickie's and Pete's location every week throughout the Flyers season.  Next Wednesday will be at Chickie's and Pete's of Warrington, 500, Easton Rd., Warrington, PA.