Flyers prospect Jett Luchanko traded to Ontario Hockey League favorite Brantford

Luchanko, 19, had 17 points in 11 games for middling Guelph but now will join a Bulldogs team coached by Jay McKee that has its eyes on the Memorial Cup.

Jett Luchanko, who played four games for the Flyers last month, is being traded within the Ontario Hockey League. That's likely good news for his development.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Jackie Spiegel

Published Nov. 24, 2025, 12:10 p.m. ET

The writing was on the wall and now it is in ink.

Jett Luchanko has been traded. Luchanko, the Flyers’ 2024 first-round pick and the co-captain for Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League, is on the move to the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs. In exchange for Luchanko, Guelph will receive center Layne Gallacher and four future draft picks.

The trade was expected after the Storm were awarded the 2027 Memorial Cup late last week. Guelph was willing to move Luchanko, one of its top players, to recoup assets that will help it build for next season, when the Storm will participate in the tournament as hosts.

The prestigious trophy, which was originally awarded by the Ontario Hockey Association in 1919, is awarded to the best team in Canadian junior hockey. The annual four-team tournament features the champions of the OHL, Western Hockey League, and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, as well as that season’s host city’s team.

Kelowna, British Columbia, will host this year’s tournament, which will conclude right before the start of the NHL’s Scouting Combine in early June. There’s a good chance the Bulldogs will be there. Coached by Flyers general manager Danny Brière’s former Buffalo Sabres teammate Jay McKee, Brantford sits atop the OHL’s Eastern Conference and has yet to lose in regulation in 23 games (18-0-4-1).

After breaking camp for the second straight season with the Flyers, Luchanko skated in four NHL games and did not register a point before being sent back to Guelph on Oct. 27. He has 17 points (two goals, 15 assists) in 11 games for the 11-11-2-0 Storm.

“He’s going to play in the NHL, there’s no doubt about that. Now, how high does he get? That’s really up to him, but it’s in there,” Brière said when Luchanko was sent down. “The speed alone is going to scare a lot of teams eventually — when he gets more comfortable, when he gets more assertive out there. The speed alone is probably his biggest asset. ... From our end, we need patience."

Luchanko, who turned 19 in August, was ineligible to play in the American Hockey League due to the longstanding NHL-CHL agreement, which prevents Canadian Hockey League players under 20 years old from going to the AHL. That rule will change next season when each team is expected to be granted at least one exemption.

With Luchanko unable to play in the AHL or the NCAA, a trade to Brantford will be viewed by many as the next best thing for his development, as he will play alongside better players and in more important games, including maybe the Memorial Cup.

The London, Ontario, native joins a stacked team led by Jake O’Brien, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 draft by the Seattle Kraken, and Adam Benák, a fourth-round selection by Minnesota this past summer. Those two rank first and second in the OHL in points, respectively. O’Brien, a playmaking center, was thought to be in consideration for the Flyers at No. 6 before the team landed on Porter Martone.

But how Luchanko will be deployed by McKee will be interesting. The focus for the center’s return to juniors was to get him ice time, and there’s only so much to go around.

“Very simple, we want him to play high minutes,” Brière said when Luchanko was sent down. “We liked what we’ve seen. He could have stayed here; he showed that he can play. But we want more than that for him in the long run.

“And we felt at this point it was time for him to start playing high minutes and more of an offensive role, get back to playing power play, killing penalties, facing the top opposition on the other team, on a nightly basis.”

With Guelph, he did have seven power-play assists, and one of his two goals was scored while shorthanded, but the Flyers want to see him shoot the puck more. He had 25 shots on goal across those 11 games with Guelph.

Skating with the Flyers, Luchanko averaged 8 minutes, 58 seconds of ice time, registering one shot on goal and a plus-minus of minus-3. He had just three shots on goal in five preseason games, and an NHL scout told The Inquirer in early October that Luchanko, who is listed at 6-foot, 190 pounds, doesn’t look NHL strong yet and needs to play a harder, more confident game.

“It’s a comfort thing. He just needs to feel comfortable,” Brière said. “I know how you feel as an 18- or 19-year-old. You’re coming in, you’re trying to please everybody around you. You’re on the ice with guys you’ve been watching on TV. You have a Travis Konecny beside you, obviously, you’re going to force a pass there. It’s human nature. That’s just how it is.

“It takes time, and hopefully he’s going to get out of that pretty soon. And we’ve seen him play in juniors. He can shoot the puck. He’s got a good shot. It’s just the confidence that he needs to do it here now.”

Luchanko is expected to also get a chance to work on his game at World Juniors. A Hockey Canada scout was at the game the day after he was sent down, hoping to see Luchanko; instead, he watched Ben Kindel of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who should be joining him in Minnesota when the tournament starts on Boxing Day.

When he is eventually named to the team, Luchanko will represent Canada for the second time at the tournament. He skated last year, averaging 12:22 of ice time across five games, scoring one goal, and while Brière thought “he performed great,” the Flyers were “disappointed” in the small role Canada gave Luchanko. This year, Dale Hunter, who just coached Flyers prospects Oliver Bonk and Denver Barkey to the Memorial Cup with London of the OHL, is the head coach for Canada.