time to question<\/a> that decision, too, considering Luchanko didn\u2019t exactly make a huge statistical leap in the OHL when he returned.<\/p>\nThat was always an odd decision by a club that has steadfastly proclaimed it won\u2019t rush any of its young talent, which they identified as a problem under previous regimes. You have to wonder where the 19-year-old Luchanko is mentally at the moment, and how playing a minor NHL role for a few weeks before another potential OHL reassignment is going to affect his overall growth.<\/p>\n
Another player who was thought to have potential now looks like an organizational afterthought. Samu Tuomaala, a second-round pick in 2021, was one of the first forwards reassigned to the Phantoms back on Sept. 25. A pending restricted free agent at the end of the season, this camp felt like Tuomaala\u2019s last chance. That he was removed from the main roster so quickly may suggest the Flyers will try to find him a new home.<\/p>\n
The competition for the final two spots on the blue line was even more worrying.<\/p>\n
Probably by design, head coach Rick Tocchet gave Egor Zamula and Adam Ginning \u2014 both 25 years old \u2014 ample minutes on Thursday against the Islanders. It did not go well. Zamula continued his distressing camp, including turning the puck over four times in the first 15 minutes of the first period, resulting in a blunt \u201che\u2019s got to pick it up\u201d assessment from Tocchet after the game. Zamula was removed from the lineup for Saturday\u2019s game, with Ginning and the equally underwhelming Noah Juulsen as the third defense pair.<\/p>\n
Ginning, meanwhile, was one of two players \u2014 including Matvei Michkov \u2014 who erred on Emil Heineman\u2019s game-winning goal with less than three minutes left in the third period Thursday. According to Tocchet, Ginning \u201cwas caught in between\u201d Heineman and Anthony Duclair, who set Heineman up for the easy score.<\/p>\n
Younger defensemen such as Helge Grans, 23, and Hunter McDonald, 23, didn\u2019t do enough to get long looks from the coaching staff. Grans seemed to be in a prime position to make the roster, as a right shot with size who could have potentially filled the void left by an injured Rasmus Ristolainen. But his back-to-back poor showings in the preseason extinguished his chances.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s Emil Andrae, who seemed to be settling into an NHL role midway through last season, but never got a long look in camp with a veteran partner. That guys such as Andrae, Grans and McDonald never really pressured any of the players above them on the depth chart was disappointing.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t been all bad. Roster lock Nikita Grebenkin is just 22 and does seem to have potential, even as Tocchet has cautioned a few times that the winger still has work to do when it comes to game management and not turning the puck over. That deal with the Maple Leafs for Scott Laughton last March, which included a first-round pick in 2027, is looking better by the day.<\/p>\n
Further, some absences didn\u2019t help the competition. The sixth pick in the 2025 draft, Porter Martone, didn\u2019t attend camp after committing to Michigan State University. Oliver Bonk, the 22nd pick in the 2023 draft, has been out for the entirety of camp with an upper-body injury that will take at least another week and a half to heal, per the club. Had those two been participants, perhaps they could have pushed some of the veterans at wing and on defense, respectively.<\/p>\n
This is a Flyers team that expects to improve this season. Perhaps the new additions such as Christian Dvorak, Trevor Zegras and Dan Vladar are enough to help achieve that. But the Flyers won\u2019t enjoy real growth \u2014 now or in the future \u2014 until they get meaningful contributions from their draft picks and prospects. If the past two and a half weeks were any indication, that may not happen in the immediate future.<\/p>\n
(Photo: Eric Canha \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n