The Flyers’ ‘rewiring’ of Jett Luchanko and a hot start for a couple of ‘The Jacks’ | Prospect Corner

The Flyers boast a prospect pool that is considered among the top 10 in the NHL. Each month, The Inquirer will take an in-depth look at the players who could one day don the orange and black on hockey’s biggest stage.

Through eight games, Jett Luchanko has one goal — and five assists — on 16 shots for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. That’s one shot fewer than he took combined in 16 American Hockey League regular-season and playoff games in 2024-25.

The Flyers have made shooting the puck a point of emphasis for the speedy young center. He doesn’t want to lose what has made him successful — like his high hockey IQ and passing ability — but knows it’s something he has to improve. For him, it’s a process, “rewiring the way you think,” he called it, to make it a natural reaction when he gets the puck.

» READ MORE: Flyers top 20 prospect rankings: Porter Martone is No. 1, but where do Jett Luchanko and Maksim Sokolovskii land?

“In a game, I think it’s just so automatic and so fast that you don’t have time to think about things like that, and I think it just comes from experience of playing the game,” he told The Inquirer recently. “Things you would do, automatically; you see the lane and it just kind of happens.

“I think it definitely happens from reps in practice. In practice, if you get in that situation, just shooting it no matter what, maybe, or passing it, no matter what, to be able to get yourself in a position where you shoot it instead of pass it. When maybe, even if you should have passed it, you still get the puck on net and [it] creates a rebound or something.”

Luchanko, 20, goes through phases, whether working on things on the ice or watching video. His goal is to give the opposition the element of surprise with his game.

“We know he can make plays, but how can you be that dual-threat?” Phantoms coach John Snowden said in early October. “How can you be a shooting option? How can you, if you’re in a space, not defer to someone else where you can deliver a puck? And then just work through those situations and continuously teaching him those things of, ‘hey, I see what you’re seeing on this.’

“We had a good instance from the last game against Hartford, where he had an opportunity to shoot. He was inside the house, and he deferred to pass. Well, that’s a good moment for us to learn: if you get this opportunity again, this cannot be a pass, it’s got to be a shot. You’re in the perfect position. You can’t pass it to someone through sticks on their backhand on the backside. I know what you’re trying to do, but you’re the one that needs to pull the trigger on this one. And then we just keep teaching those moments over and over and over again.”

Freshman Jack Nesbitt centered the third line alongside Adam Valentini and Garrett Schifsky in the most recent Michigan game. The school’s recap noted that, while he didn’t get on the score sheet, he set the tone with a big hit after the puck dropped to start the third period against Western Michigan. Nesbitt has three points in seven games.

Flyers president Keith Jones had this to say about Nesbitt’s start to college life:

“Really pleased with the way he’s played so far. Thought he had a big weekend against Denver [recently], great in the face-off circle, first over the boards with the penalty kill, on the power play as well. Those are really valuable minutes for him to get. And I liked his pace.

“I think that the college game is going to suit him well. He’s going to have to work hard in practice, lots of practice time, and just continue to work on the things he has to work on. But it’s been a really good start for him at Michigan.”

Stock up 📈: Jack Berglund has been on the rise for a while now, and the center continues to trend upward. The 20-year-old is already one point away from tying his 40-game total last season for Färjestad BK in just 12 games. Berglund, who is on loan from the Flyers for the season, has racked up four goals and 11 points for his hometown Swedish Hockey League team, which plays in the highest division in the country.

Stock down 📉: Maksim Sokolovskii isn’t necessarily struggling, but the 6-foot-7 defenseman has been out with a lower-body injury since the beginning of October. He played in one game for London of the Ontario Hockey League in late September and has yet to play again.

Meet Martin Psohlavec, one of the Flyers’ second-round picks this past June who currently plays for Saskatoon of the Western Hockey League. The Czech native, who is billeting with Flyers director of player development Riley Armstrong’s parents, already has six wins. That ties him for first among rookies and fourth among all WHL goalies. He is 6-3-1 with a 3.09 goals-against average and .896 save percentage across 10 games.

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