Flyers Q&A: Danny Brière on the NHL draft and the progression of Jett Luchanko
The Flyers "expect a big summer out of" Luchanko, who has nine career NHL games, between the regular season and playoffs, under his belt.
BUFFALO — In the second installment of our interview with Danny Brière at the NHL’s scouting combine, we talked with the Flyers general manager about the upcoming draft, his fourth with the team, and who has impressed him in the organization the most.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. It was conducted on June 3, before it was revealed that Dylan Larkin wanted a trade out of Detroit.
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Q: Does how the year went, especially because of the postseason, change your strategy or impact your outlook at the draft?
A: It does not, no. It’s a different animal. We know that what happened was great — the stretch, and then the playoffs were awesome. Expectations are going to grow; we’re aware of that, but we want to try to be careful with the expectations, too. A lot of time it’s not a straight line up. We see it individually with the players, and we see it with teams as well. There’s going to be ups and downs along the way. So we’re trying to be careful with managing the expectations going forward. It’s not going to change our approach. We still feel that we’re in a growth stage of our rebuild, and we don’t want to deviate from that too much, unless it really makes too much sense.
Q: It is a slightly different setup for you this year compared to your previous drafts. By picking at No. 21, does that change your mindset?
It doesn’t change the mindset, as far as the approach, where we’re still looking to pick the best player, especially at the higher-end level. You want to make sure that you have someone who can be a difference-maker, not just a filler, hopefully; never have a guarantee, but that’s the goal. But, yeah, obviously we have to dig in a little bit more on more players, because the range or the amount of players changes a little bit. When you’re picking [at] six, usually you know who’s going one and two, and even when we were at 13, it’s a small group of players who are going to be there. At 21, it can start to go sideways usually after pick 10 or 11; it can go in many different directions, so we have to be prepared that way and try to know more players this year.
Q: Since assistant general manager Brent Flahr was hired, the Flyers have drafted nine centers — eight of those since you became GM. Is there still a need to draft a center?
A: Absolutely. You can never have enough centers, and it’s a lot easier to move a center to the wing than the other way around. When I talk to other GMs, nine out of 10 GMs are looking for centers. It’s a position that is tough to fill, and part of it is because when a player is usually not able to make it down the middle or doesn’t fulfill what they’re looking for down the middle, they move them to the wing. So wingers are a lot easier to find. Every team is looking for centers, so that’s not a problem to have a surplus of centers. We have one in Cole Knuble who played a lot of the center position, and then last year played mostly on the wing. Well, we know that he can play both, and he played both in Lehigh Valley. So it’s a nice luxury to have too many centers.
Before I arrived, there were some centers who didn’t hit, like Nolan Patrick, German Rubtsov, and Jay O’Brien. So there have been a few that they just didn’t pan out. I think the organization was trying to draft centers, the players didn’t pan out or didn’t develop the way the organization expected, and that’s why all of a sudden we came up and we didn’t have very many centers.
So hopefully now the players that are in place will keep developing. We believe in Jett Luchanko. We believe in Jack Nesbitt, the way he’s developed. Jack Berglund has really stepped up. We think Heikki Ruohonen is trending in the right direction, and hopefully the guys we signed, Riley Thompson and Knuble, at the end of the year could really help us there. Matthew Gard is also in there. So it’s a nice luxury to have, and if we have the chance to jump on a center, we won’t hesitate to get.
Q: It feels like it’s either defensemen or centers in this draft.
A: It seems to be a lot, but you look at last year, there were all these centers. There was one winger in the top 10, I think; who drafted the winger? We did — which we don’t regret, by the way. Porter Martone has been amazing. But we went with what we felt was the best player on the board, not considering the position at that time. So it’s going to be the same approach. But, yeah, there seem to be a lot of defensemen and centers in this draft.
Q: Is there any update on the first-round pick from Toronto, acquired in the Scott Laughton trade, in regards to which year?
A: No, I haven’t heard from the NHL on that yet.
Q: Hunter McDonald is a restricted free agent. Where do things stand in his contract negotiations? Where do you see him projecting long-term, and is he ready for the NHL?
A: Hunter took a big step last year in his development, and that’s why he played that game late in the season. I think our coaching staff was really impressed on how he took a step forward this year. He put in the work and really elevated his game, earned that NHL game at the end, and he was around the team when we played in the playoffs as well.
Really exciting to see him have growth to his development. It’s a big summer for him, but we’re excited about him. A big, physical defenseman like that is not easy to find, and we hope he’s going to be one of those guys, eventually. But he’s going to have to beat someone at some point to earn those minutes.
Q: Do you foresee Emil Andrae, also an RFA, having long-term success in Philadelphia?
A: What we love about Emil is his compete level. I was really impressed with him after training camp when we sent him down to go work on his game — he wasn’t happy about it — but he went down and didn’t pout and decided to show everybody that he didn’t belong in the American [Hockey] League anymore. So that part is what you love about him. He’s going to compete; he’s going to give you everything he has. But, again, now you’ve got to beat someone in the top six to play on a regular basis. That’s not easy to do. We do have some good defensemen, and that’s going to be the same challenge for him moving forward.
When you’re at that stature, and I lived it myself, you almost have to be perfect, and that’s the tough part. We’re asking a lot out of him for him to be able to be in the lineup, and I think he’s getting better at it. Making fewer big mistakes, he has gotten better, but that’s the reality that he’s dealing with, and he knows that, and he’s good with it, and he’s really working hard on his game to become a very, very efficient and effective defender.
Q: Do you like that there might be all this internal competition now?
A: Absolutely. I think it’s great. I think it’s great that we have an internal rivalry to beat each other out for minutes. That’s the great part too, with our veterans. They understand, they respect it, because they did it at one point, they beat someone out. So I think our guys realize, and that’s great, that it also pushes our veterans to stay on top of their game and keep getting better.
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Q: Is there anyone in the system who impressed you?
A: Ty Murchison had a great [year], and that’s why he got some games early, before his injury; that was an impressive year. I think Oliver Bonk, after dealing with some injuries early in the season, built up his game and got better as the season went on. David Jiříček will be a very interesting one because he had a really good, strong finish to the season in Lehigh Valley. So that’s just been in the [AHL]. Up front, you saw Porter Martone, Alex Bump, and Denver Barkey; they earned it. Nothing was given for free; they earned their minutes, they earned playing more and more because they were competitive, they were ready to go. So that’s really exciting.
Q: Who is the player who needs to take the biggest step next year?
A: I can’t really pinpoint one. I think we expect that from every player. There are expectations. It’s not just hoping if you want to make it. And that’s a little bit of the tough part with our guys — we do have a lot of players and a lot of good, young players, so you have to earn your way. You have to push yourself, and you have to be willing to commit to a regimen to get ready for next season that is probably out of your comfort zone. That’s just the reality. You want to be an NHL player, you’re going to have to do that.
Q: Jett Luchanko had a little bit of an up-and-down year. Where do you see him fitting in as his career progresses? And what do you need to see from him next season?
A: We’re excited to see him turn [fully] pro. I think that’s great. For Jett, it’s been tough, and he’s been on so many teams. Just last year alone, from Flyers to Guelph [of the Ontario Hockey League] to Brantford to World Juniors, back to Brantford, to the Flyers. There’s been bouncing around, and that’s two years in a row that he’s kind of done that. Stability will probably be a good thing for him.
We expect a big summer out of him, and he’s got to get ready. The big thing with Jett is, he has an elite skill in skating that is almost unmatched from anyone in the organization, other than maybe Owen Tippett. So that’s always going to have a lot of value for anybody to have a player like that. Now it’s our job to try to help him and round out his game to make it in the NHL. But what I would expect, I would say, is probably for him to play a year in Lehigh Valley.