May 22, 2026
Kirby Lee/Imagn Images
Flyers center prospect Jack Nesbitt (left) committed to Michigan earlier this week.
The youth is taking hold for the Flyers, whether you realized it or not, and for however long it might've taken you to.
Porter Martone arrived late into the playoff push and immediately looked like every bit of the future star he was supposed to be, Alex Bump and Denver Barkey have begun earning their keeps in the regular lineup, and though the sophomore slump did get him, there's still plenty of belief yet that Matvei Michkov will rebound, while an increasing number of other prospects are beginning to knock on the NHL door.
General manager Danny Brière signaled this at the end of last season, that the Flyers would keep on drafting, that the prospects would continue developing, and that soon enough, spots would open up, along with an internal competition after them because there would only be so many, which would push the younger names to reach for another level.
It was the future that the Flyers have been hoping for, and slowly working toward, over the past several years. Now it's starting to take hold, with a grip that's only expected to get stronger.
This will be Part 1 of a two-part year-end prospect check. Today will focus on the Flyers' highest-profile prospects, who are essentially the closest to finding their way up to the NHL full-time. Part 2, early next week, will highlight the prospects further down the pipeline, who still have a ways to go in either the minors, college, or junior hockey – the goalies will be included there, too.
The Flyers' newest college prospect will get things started...
Nesbitt announced his commitment to Michigan for next season on his Instagram account earlier this week.
The Flyers' 12th overall pick, and the second of their first-rounders in last summer's draft, scored 25 goals and 58 points for Windsor in his plus-1 OHL season.
It was good, but for a higher first-round prospect, those weren't exactly numbers that jumped off the page.
That said, the Flyers were big fans of the 19-year-old's size at a listed 6'5" and 185 pounds, and the way he skates with it to protect the puck. With that in mind, a jump to college on an NCAA schedule could very well be the best thing for Nesbitt to better tap into that kind of play.
Just look at Porter Martone for proof.
The Flyers' star rookie, and sixth overall pick, arrived to Philadelphia with a lot more muscle packed on after a freshman season at Michigan State, and frequently cited the fewer games and much more gym time in between as a major reason for why he was able to have success in the NHL right away. He was able to get physically strong enough to last in the league before he made the jump.
Nesbitt might be on a longer timeline by comparison, which might include time in the AHL with the Phantoms, too, but now he's going to be in a spot where he can also focus on getting strong enough for the pros.
If he can, that would be a big revelation for the Flyers' center outlook, as they still need a whole lot of help there.
Martone isn't a prospect anymore.
He signed and arrived late into the season to help with the Flyers' playoff push, and after scoring 4 goals and 10 points through the last nine games, and then two more goals in the playoffs with a plus-3 rating and a ton of other generated chances, the 19-year-old isn't going anywhere.
He's a full-time NHLer now, and a crucial one to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Martone is still listed here, though, because after the season was over, he was eager to announce that he was going to the IIHF World Championship to play for Team Canada.
He still wanted to get ice time in, and upon getting to Worlds, Canada threw him on the top line with San Jose Sharks star Macklin Celebrini and Pittsburgh Penguins legend Sidney Crosby, and immediately started turning in plays like this:
ROCKET from Captain Celebrini! 😤🚀🇨🇦 #MensWorlds #IIHF @hockeycanada pic.twitter.com/2KRX9i3xR1
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 16, 2026
There's probably no prospect in the system, who hasn't played for the Flyers yet, that has had a greater rise in stock than Berglund.
The 20-year-old had a fantastic World Juniors, captaining Sweden to the gold medal over the holidays, then joined the Phantoms by season's end after skating well as a pro for Färjestad in the Swedish SHL (he scored seven goals and 12 points through 40 games).
Berglund is also playing at Worlds right now for Sweden, and so far, has made himself a terror in front of the opposing net with the screens he's been setting at the top of the crease.
Lucas Raymond used Jack Berglund as a screen and Sweden has tied the game at 2-2. #MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/mSqGQHzfx0
— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) May 15, 2026
He plays a very mature, selfless, and fearless game, which might have him on the call-up radar sooner than most realize if he keeps trending upward.
Luchanko, the increasingly polarizing first-round pick from 2024, skated in the Flyers' last playoff game with Michkov benched, which head coach Rick Tocchet later citing that it was a move made for more speed and defense out of the forward lines.
It didn't prevent a sweep from the Hurricanes, and with just 12:31 of ice time, it's debatable whether Luchanko made any tangible difference or even deserved to play in that game to begin with.
Taking his entire body of work for the year into account, probably not.
Putting it bluntly: Luchanko had a bad season that sent his development backward.
He started the year with the Flyers, but left no reason to keep him, which brought on the call to send him back to Guelph in juniors.
He got traded to a much better Brantford team in the OHL, which initially figured to re-spark his development, but instead, he just kind of underwhelmed and hung around – granted, he still did produce five goals and 21 assists through 27 games.
The biggest and continually emerging concern with Luchanko, though, is a seemingly stubborn reluctance to shoot the puck. He has great skating, he has great vision and passing, but even when he's standing in the open with the puck on his stick and a look directly at the net, he's still looking to dish it somewhere else.
At a certain point, and in Philly of all places, you can't help but start to think of him as Ben Simmons on ice and potentially a clear miss on a first-rounder when the Flyers really didn't need one, unless he can turn things around quick.
Luchanko will turn 20 in August, and can finally go straight to Phantoms and get consistent AHL minutes now. He seems to have an awareness as well that he has to make them count.
All three defensemen are lumped together here because they played in that last regular-season game against Montreal, when the Canadiens were still going full-tilt for seeding purposes, and helped to notch one more Flyers win, 4-2.
Bonk looked comfortable as a smooth-skating, puck-controlling defenseman, notching his first career NHL assist and then goal on a beautiful shot.
McDonald brought the physicality expected of him as a big, more stay-at-home blueliner, pinching down along the offensive zone wall to crush the Canadiens' Jake Evans, which freed up the puck for Michkov to collect and create the sequence that led to Bonk's goal.
OLIVER BONK HAS HIS FIRST NHL GOAL! pic.twitter.com/NFmd7VHTpc
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 14, 2026
Jiříček skated shy of 20 minutes and broke even with a zero plus-minus rating, with a registered shot and two giveaways. He re-upped with the Flyers for two more years shortly after being traded in from Minnesota for Bobby Brink, but generally seems to have the most work to do out of all three as a former sixth overall pick from 2022.
But all three seem to be right there, and should each have a shot at earning an NHL roster spot in training camp in a few months.
It's just going to come down to how and who – the Flyers' blue line is pretty locked in as it stands right now, but heading toward the next draft and free agency, Rasmus Ristolainen and Emil Andrae could be trade chips to address needs elsewhere, which would open up a spot or two on the defensive pairings.
Bonk has an early edge right now as a more complete right-handed shot, which is hard to come by in today's NHL. Plus, he also played in that last playoff game against Carolina when Tocchet, at that point, was just looking for speed and any sort of jolt to stave off a sweep.
McDonald, at 6'4" and 238 pounds, brings the size and bruising physicality that would immediately point to him as a possible Ristolainen replacement should that need arise, but he is left-handed.
And Jiříček comes with notoriety as another righty shot with power play strength, which the Flyers desperately need to upgrade somehow, but he still generally needs improvement on his skating and reads of the ice, which his stint so far with the Phantoms made evident.
This summer is going to be an important one for all three.
Murchison was called up for three games in December and held up well in limited minutes on the bottom pairing.
The 23-year-old was doing pretty well for himself with the Phantoms, too, with a plus-12 rating through 29 games, before an upper-body injury that required surgery ended his year in January.
He may never be a headliner, but assuming Murchison recovers and rehabs well, the Flyers could look to him more next season to occupy some steady bottom-pairing minutes that, at the least, can buy time for someone else to come along without leaving the team with any kind of glaring defensive hole.
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