Flyers prospect Carter Amico leaves Boston University, will play in the USHL
Due to a lack of playing time, the defenseman has left BU and will join the Muskegon Lumberjacks for the rest of the season. Amico was a second-round pick in this past June's draft.
It’s been a frustrating year-plus for Carter Amico.
In November 2024, the Flyers prospect suffered a broken kneecap while playing for the United States national team development program. The injury, subsequent surgery, and recovery cost him all but 17 games in his draft year, and contributed to him slipping out of the first round in June’s draft.
The Flyers ultimately selected the towering 6-foot-5, 225-pound defenseman with the 38th pick and hoped to watch him develop under the tutelage of coach Jay Pandolfo at Boston University. That was not to be, as Amico has left the program halfway through his freshman year to join the Muskegon of the United States Hockey League for the remainder of the season.
The Maine native had played in 18 of the Terriers’ 21 games this season but was not getting big minutes and did not register a point. Amico was a minus-seven on the season and did not play in any of BU’s three games last weekend.
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He will join the reigning USHL champion Lumberjacks, who are currently in fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Last week, Muskegon’s best player and projected top-5 2026 NHL draft pick, Tynan Lawrence, left the Lumberjacks to enroll early at Boston University. In essence, this became a one-for-one swap.
A source told The Inquirer that the move will allow Amico an opportunity to play more minutes as he continues to work back from his injury and added that the defenseman could enroll at another NCAA school next season.
The Flyers remain high on Amico, who is an agile skater for someone his size, brings physicality, and has shutdown potential. The 18-year-old, who missed the team’s offseason on-ice sessions while rehabbing his knee, will hope a fresh start in the USHL will get him back on track.
“He was high on our list,” amateur scout Shane Fukushima said at the draft last year. “He’s a massive body that missed the majority of the year; I think if that had not happened, he would have been selected higher in the draft. We feel that the upside is high and he’s just scratching the surface.”