January 23, 2026
It's been a brutal couple of weeks for the Philadelphia Flyers, with only a hard-earned win against Vegas breaking up a six-game losing streak and then an all-time meltdown against Utah on Wednesday night.
They're not about to catch any breaks either, with the NHL-best Colorado Avalanche up next for them on Friday night.
Times like these make it hard to see the light, but the organization still has a lot of hope that it will find it on the horizon, with some key names in the pipeline eventually leading the charge.
Here's a check-in on a handful of the Flyers' notable prospects...
• Porter Martone took off at Michigan State, captained Canada at the World Junior Championship over the holidays, and has a serious Hobey Baker Award case building as the Spartans' leading goal-scorer – as a freshman.
The Flyers' sixth overall pick from last summer's NHL Draft, Martone is at 14 goals and 27 points through 20 games in the collegiate season, and also netted six goals for Canada at World Juniors, even though that effort ended with a bronze medal.
The 19-year-old returned to East Lansing after the international tournament, though, to immediately post a four-point night for the Spartans against Ohio State (two goals, two assists).
He's been skating strong, with just as powerful a shot, and if everything stays on track, Martone just might be in an orange and black uniform before the NHL season's end.
Just seven seconds of clock time later Porter Martone makes it 2-0! pic.twitter.com/6q32LzIZJC
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 10, 2026
• Shane Vansaghi, "the Truck" as dubbed by Riley Armstrong and the other of the Flyers' two Spartan prospects, the sophomore is producing at a slower pace with just two goals and six assists, but he's still plenty a physical presence already at 6'2" and 216 pounds, and so far in college, seems to know how to use his size advantage and strength to drive to the net.
Shane Vansaghi puts No. 4 @MSU_Hockey on the board EARLY 😤
— Big Ten Hockey (@B1GHockey) January 17, 2026
Subscribe/watch on B1G+ https://t.co/lstOG2kcdj pic.twitter.com/MqQRCAJjsu
• Cole Knuble took a major leap in his development last year at Notre Dame, and showed well during development camp back in the summer with the way he was able to move the puck through the middle of the ice. The 21-year-old is a bit short of his 39-point pace from last year, but his 15 points right now also still have him up there as one of Notre Dame's better scorers, for an overall Fighting Irish team that isn't doing so hot at 4-17-1.
Cole Knuble evens the score for @NDHockey 👀
— Big Ten Hockey (@B1GHockey) January 18, 2026
📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/SDFohY8ipL
• Jett Luchanko feels like he's becoming an increasingly polarizing prospect. He has good skating, he has good vision, and he made the Flyers again out of camp, but he didn't do much when he was here (nor was he really afforded a chance to), got sent back to Guelph, and still had a heavy hesitance to shoot.
The 19-year-old has since been traded to Brantford, a more competitive team in the junior Ontario Hockey League, but the results have been fine, if not a bit underwhelming. He has three goals and eight assists (11 points) through 12 games with the Bulldogs, which coupled with a pedestrian one-point showing at World Juniors for Team Canada, doesn't exactly point to great things about his progress.
• Jack Nesbitt has been keeping steady, though. The big 6'5" center, who the Flyers drafted 12th overall last summer, has 12 goals and 36 points across 35 games over in Windsor. His 24 assists rank third on the Spitfires, who are icing a pretty competitive team out of the OHL's Western Conference.
• Hunter McDonald is up with the Flyers right now as an emergency defenseman for Rasmus Ristolainen's stint on Injured Reserve. He just hasn't played yet. That first NHL look, though, could be a major opportunity for the 23-year-old. The Flyers have been bullish about the 6'4", 236-pound defenseman's crushing game for a long time now, and if and when he gets a game, that could be his opening to carve out a bruising, stay-at-home defenseman type role similar to Ristolainen, who at this point just can't be counted on to stay on the ice with repeated injuries.
• Ty Murchison can be counted on, too, if the Flyers ever need an extra blueliner again. He held up well in his first, short stint with the Flyers, and while he may not blow anyone away, he at least showed he can skate some dependable bottom-pairing minutes in a pinch. He's also holding steady down in Lehigh Valley, with six points and a plus-12 rating through 49 games.
• Oliver Bonk finally began skating with the Phantoms in December after an injury suffered late into the summer kept him sidelined through training camp and well into the season. That was a lot of time down, and not a lot of time to catch back up, but so far, the 21-year-old has a couple of goals and three assists through his first 16 AHL games, including a short-hander for his first as a pro.
Oliver Bonk's first professional goal is a shorthanded one👏@LVPhantoms | @NHLFlyers | #LVvsTOR pic.twitter.com/KcFuUDgr93
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) January 4, 2026
• Alex Bump was a favorite to earn a roster spot coming into training camp, but didn't have a good preseason and has had a tough break over in Lehigh Valley. He's been out with injury since Jan. 3, and even then, that was his lone game since Dec. 19 before that. All the while, other forward prospects have seemed to jump in front of him on the call-up list, including Denver Barkey, who got his call and hasn't looked back.
• Carson Bjarnason showed up to Voorhees this summer with his Flyers-painted mask, and if the team stays as unsteady in goal as it has of late, he may just be wearing it in the NHL sometime soon. The 20-year-old goalie prospect is 9-5-3 with the Phantoms so far, with a .902 save percentage and a 2.72 goals against average. He still needs a ton of reps and minutes, to be sure, but depending on where the season is at down the stretch, maybe the Flyers can at least afford him a game or two as a measuring stick.
• Jack Berglund came back from World Juniors on top of the world...like actually. The 2024 second-rounder captained the Swedish junior team to the gold medal, then went back home and to the pro SHL to cut right through it:
Dazzling stuff from @NHLFlyers prospect Jack Berglund in @farjestad_bk weekend win over @Brynas , fun to be along for the ride 🎙️! #SHL #worldfeed #streaming pic.twitter.com/QCi87Fvfec
— Mitch Peacock (@MitchPeacock1) January 19, 2026
• Yegor Zavragin is every Flyers fan's favorite mystery goalie prospect, popping up in social media feeds with sometimes absurd-seeming numbers over in Russia. And the 20-year-old does have a pretty impressive line in the pro KHL, with a .919 save percentage for SKA St. Petersburg despite a 5-7-0 record.
His game log says that he hasn't played since Dec. 28, though. SKA's game before that on Dec. 26, he was on the bench when a check went spilling over the boards and a body crashing straight into him...so yeah...that looked like it hurt.
OH MY! WHAT A HIT 💥#hcSKA defenseman @mphillips_18 sends #DMN Vitali Pinchuk in to the bench area and he takes out #LetsGoFlyers prospect goaltender Yegor Zavragin. 😱 pic.twitter.com/dLUYnGWWk1
— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) December 26, 2025
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