VOORHEES, N.J. — The Flyers' amateur scouts weren't the only ones in the organization who saw Jett Luchanko up close.
So did prospects Oliver Bonk and Denver Barkey. Their London Knights team faced the Flyers' 2024 first-round pick and the Guelph Storm six times during the OHL regular season. Luchanko, known as a burner, had a coined name on London's scouting report.
"A one-man power play break-in, that's what we called him in London because they'd just sling it back to him, it's one against four and he'd skate it every time," Bonk said Tuesday at Flyers development camp. "He's a special player."
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The 17-year-old center is a speed-driven playmaker who racked up 30 power play assists last season, tied for the second most in the OHL and four more than Barkey, who had a 102-point campaign.
"He's unreal, he came in this year and really worked his way up," Barkey said Wednesday. "I'd say he was a riser throughout the whole year, really impressive. Their break-in on the power play was legit just drop it to him and he would find a way to get it in.
"He's a really special player, he seems like a great kid, really hard-working and he has got a lot of talent, as well. He has got a bright future."
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Luchanko finished the season with 74 points (20 goals, 54 assists) over 68 games en route to being drafted by the Flyers at 13th overall last Friday.
"Actually when I went to watch Barkey and Bonk play, they were playing against Guelph," Flyers director of player development Riley Armstrong said Tuesday. "Going into the game, I'm not like, 'Oh, who's the next draft class coming up?' And I constantly was checking Elite Prospects, being like, 'Who's this No. 7 on the Guelph Storm?' And it was Jett.
"So it was pretty cool to see that experience of him playing, kind of catching my eye and obviously he caught a lot of others, too."
Down the road, the Flyers would welcome Luchanko's strengths on the man advantage. They've had the NHL's worst power play percentage in each of the last three seasons.
Based off his draft ranking by various public scouting services, Luchanko being taken at No. 13 by the Flyers was viewed as somewhat of a reach. But that won't do anything to his mindset.
"The draft doesn't change the way that I see things or go about my business," Luchanko said Tuesday. "For me, I'm always just trying to work hard every single day and I think good things come from that. I'm not really worried about where I went, I'm just kind of worried on getting to work and getting started here."
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