The Flyers’ annual Rookie Series is set to get underway this weekend, and just as it marks the (finally) true heating up of the push into the regular season for everybody, it’s an opportunity for some key prospects to hit the ground running well. It’s a big weekend in front of us, and there’s no shortage of interesting individuals and storylines to watch unfold as we get going.
Alex Bump
Though he’s also a part of the slightly more experienced group taking part in this series, the situation for Bump is a little different than it is for Martone and Barkey. That is, while he’s put in some good work at the NHL level, he still ended last season in a rotation for a spot in the lineup on a roster which was a bit crowded — and remains crowded — and heads into this season in the same position on the bubble. His chances of still making the Flyers out of camp are good — AGM Brent Flahralluded
to as much in his conversation with PHLY — but there are still shades of a less positive familiarity in this situation.
That is, Bump entered last year’s training camp with some real momentum after showing well in the playoffs for the Phantoms, but after delivering a middling performance through training camp, he effectively played himself out of a longer look with the big club. He’s in an even more favorable position this time around, to be sure, but it will be important for him to hit the ground running, using this series as a springboard into a shortened main camp, and not let this get away from him again.
Jett Luchanko
The road through these last couple of seasons has been a rough one at many points for Jett Luchanko. This isn’t the time or place to rehash and hammer on all of the struggles that have unfolded, it’s all just to say that the page is finally being turned, he’s back to full health after an offseason surgery, and he’s looking to shift to a more positive trajectory as he stares down this full-time transition to the professional game. This season is going to ask a lot of Luchanko, in terms of reclaiming his game and rebuilding his stock, and while we certainly don’t expect all of that to snap into place completely overnight, it’s important that he finds a way to get himself going quickly, to get that process moving. This weekend’s game action will be a good test of just where he’s at on the other side of that injury recovery, but also just like everyone else, an opportunity to use them as a springboard into a productive start to the season, if he’s able to seize it.
Ty Murchison
Speaking of players returning from injury, this series will also see defenseman Ty Murchison get back into game action for the first time since he took an upper-body injury back in January with the Phantoms. Last season was a good one for him, as he was able to make a positive impression in the beginning of his rookie season in the AHL, carving out a role with the Phantoms and delivering on a much-needed defensive steadiness, and indeed impressing so much that he played himself into an NHL recall early in December. He’s building up quite a striking resume already, but the big thing in these showings is less about outright advancing that and more about just taking the first real opportunity to test things out, getting comfortable taking (and delivering) some contact, and getting comfortable to set himself up to be ready to deliver his complete game when main camp opens up.
Maksim Sokolovskii
Of course, one of the more exciting headlines to follow in this series will be the appearance of the shiny new toy, in the Flyers’ most recent first-round pick in defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii, who, while being something of a divisive pick at the time, has a chance to make a good first impression after delivering some standout flashes at this summer’s development camp.
While the rest of this group will move on from this series and focus their efforts on the next step in their professional careers, Sokolovskii is a ways away from that point, and he will ultimately head back to the OHL to continue building his game with London. Still, there are lessons to be learned from what he shows in these true game settings, and lessons to be taken by him into his continued development process. There’s no question that his game is still a bit on the raw side, but getting even a bit of playing time in against some older, professional players, will be informative on all sides.
Spencer Gill
The question of where Spencer Gill is at in his development right now is, well, it’s a good question. Having missed significant time with injury in his last two seasons (in which he played just 51 and 16 games), he’s fallen a little out of sequence with some of the other players from his draft class, but he’s set to enter this next key season with a chance to get things back on track, and prove that he hasn’t fallen behind the curve outright. We’re keeping our expectations for him tempered, to a degree, but while we’re not expecting him to come into this rookie camp and pair of games and dominate in the same way that we are others, this stretch will be more productive as a learning opportunity. That is, he’ll get a taste of playing with and against some older professional players, while all of us watching can begin to get a gauge of where his game is starting out, and where he can continue to build up as he gets more reps under his belt. The equation is a little different for him, as he’s not working to make his case early to push himself into the conversation for an NHL job, but a strong first impression could inform his place to start the season with the Phantoms, and that’s valuable as well.
Oliver Bonk
On the flip side, Bonk is coming into this series (and the rest of the Flyers’ training camp) in an interesting position. Though his last season was also shortened by injury, he did well to find his game and play at a high level after he returned in December, and help steadily building up from there. Indeed, he was able to bring his stock up to such a high as to not only get in for his NHL debut at the end of the regular season, but to be called upon in an elimination situation in the playoffs. Bonk’s standing in the organization is in a good place, and while he might not have as much to prove as others in these games, there’s still a chance to move the needle with a strong impression.
Whether he’ll ultimately be able to make a run at a Flyers roster spot out of main camp — and the numbers game in terms of all of the NHL defensemen in front of him on the depth chart does make this aspiration complicated — is yet to be seen, but showing that he can be dominant against this level of competition will help him make his case that much more.
