July 02, 2025
Connor Hamilton/Imagn Images
Alex Bump skates with the puck for Western Michigan against Denver back during the NCAA Frozen Four in April. Bump joined the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL soon after and might not be far off from making the Flyers.
Alex Bump won the National Championship as a star at Western Michigan, then jumped right to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for their run in the AHL's Calder Cup Playoffs.
The only place further up is to the Flyers and the NHL, and that opportunity might be much closer now than initially expected.
Tyson Foerster is hurt. He had an infection in his elbow, general manager Danny Brière confirmed on Tuesday, and the Flyers are waiting on further results to see if it's been completely cleared, along with whether he'll miss any time, and if so, how much.
When it comes to the latter two points, Brière suggested that filling any potential Foerster absence could be a chance for a notable wing prospect to get an early season look. Specifically, he mentioned the new sixth overall pick Porter Martone, Boston University signing Devin Kaplan, and Bump, who made the college-to-AHL jump with unshakable confidence a couple of months back, as theoretical candidates.
Bump said during Flyers development camp on Wednesday in Voorhees, N.J., that he hasn't heard anything from Brière about a possible shot to crack the NHL roster, but...
"I'm just trying to stay in my lane," Bump said. "I'll let him decide whether or not he wants me, but I'll try to put my best foot forward and make him choose me."
The argument is already there that the 21-year-old winger could be knocking on the door.
Bump, a fifth-round pick to the Flyers out of high school and the junior USHL in the 2022 draft, has seen his stock soar substantially since arriving to Western Michigan as a freshman.
He was a 14-goal, 36-point scorer through 38 games in Year 1, then went well above a point-per-game pace in Year 2 with 23 goals and 47 points through 42 games, all as he was helping to push the Broncos to a title.
Just a few days after the celebration, Bump signed his entry-level contract with the Flyers, with a game left in the NHL schedule that he could've squeezed in. He went a different route, though. Bump reported to the Phantoms on an amateur tryout as they were getting set for the playoffs, and settled in quickly with a goal and two assists over their last two regular-season games before jumpstarting the postseason run with a two-goal performance against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the first round.
They ended up pushing into Round 2 against Hershey, where they eventually lost, but he never flinched.
"Just playing more meaningful games in the playoffs," Bump said of why he chose to go to the Phantoms and the AHL first. "Definitely more higher intensity. Guys care, I think, a little bit more. So it's just that level of intensity that I need to know I'm walking into, and actually, I got to play eight more games or something like that...
"I didn't think it was really worth it to waste one year of my contract for one game [in the NHL], so just trying to go down there and learn as much as I could."
Which might have him better prepared to try and make the Flyers now if an opening does end up being there in camp.
Bump said he leaned on the Phantoms' vets for advice and guidance down the stretch of last season, particularly Olle Lycksell, who was teetering in between as a Flyers call-up for the past couple of years before signing on with the Ottawa Senators this week.
He also said his work for the summer is focused on "all the clichés: faster, stronger."
At the root of why for the 6'0" forward who was last listed at 194 pounds...
"When he jumped up to the American League, he noticed the difference in the way that guys compete at the pro game in the corners," said Riley Armstrong, the Flyers' director of player development, in his turn with the local media on Tuesday. "They're a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger, and he was getting knocked off pucks in the Hershey series. That's something that we talked about, we addressed with him, and I think a lot of that's just the gym work, getting a little bit stronger.
"You look at his frame, he gets up to about 200-205 pounds, I don't think too many guys are gonna be knocking him off the puck."
It's just a matter of whether that will be in Lehigh Valley or Philadelphia.
"I do think he's gonna have a great shot at making it out of camp here if he brings his game," Armstrong said.
"That's my goal since I signed, trying to make the opening night roster," Bump said. "I think I'm fully capable of doing that."
"Expect my best foot forward at camp."
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