VOORHEES, N.J. – He’s done it again.
For the second straight season, rookie center Jett Luchanko has beaten the odds and made the Flyers’ opening night roster.
Last year, as an 18-year-old, he raised a few eyebrows by playing on opening night. He stuck around for four games before he was returned to his junior team at Guelph.
This time around, he has the potential of another fresh new nine-game trial before the Flyers have to decide to send him back or keep him for the rest of the season.
Flyers general manager Daniel Briere, speaking on Monday at a press briefing at the Flyers Training Center, said he wasn’t sure what Luchanko’s status would be for opening night at Florida on Thursday.
In addition, Briere announced that veteran wing Rodrigo Abols has also made the roster.
One other item of note: Defenseman Cam York is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury and his availability for the Florida game remains uncertain.
It looks like Luchanko’s appearances will be based on circumstances.
“Nothing is set in stone,” Briere said. “He has to keep earning it, he has to keep playing well. I know we make a big deal of the opening roster but that doesn’t mean you’re on the team forever. Every day you have to keep earning your ice time. That’s the message to him and every other player on the team.”
Briere said Luchanko’s time with the Flyers will come, whether it’s now or in the future.
“Jett’s a big part of our future,” Briere said. “We’re trying to give him some experience, protect him at the same time. Trying to help him out along the way.
“Part of it will be how he plays, part of it will be how the team is going.”
There’s a possibility Luchanko could center a fourth line. That would limit his ice time to about 10 minutes per game. Recently he said he’s fine with that. Briere sounds like he is, too.
“That’s part of what we’re going to discuss everyday,” Briere said. “To be honest, I wouldn’t want him to play fourth line for the whole season. When we talk about Jett, the whole time it’s about his development. He’s a big part of the future. We’re always keeping that in the back of our mind.”
Abols is both versatile and an experienced presence in the locker room. He played in six of the seven preseason games.
“He earned it,” Briere said. “He’s been a big physical presence. We’re really impressed. After game one, (coach Rick) Tocchet said, ‘I want to see him again.’ He played in game two, three, four, five. . .at the end we were looking to give him a break. Had a great camp.”
>Defense outlook
York’s injury tends to cloud up a defense picture which was already a bit out of focus.
There’s the unsteady play of Egor Zamula in preseason, the unexpected good play of Adam Ginning and even the status of fill-in Dennis Gilbert.
“A guy like Ginning, we didn’t even think he was in the mix,” Briere said. “But he played so well that he earned his way onto the team.
“I thought York and (Jamie) Drysdale took a step (in camp), they looked way better than last year.”
The York injury could be days or weeks. He did complete the Saturday afternoon final preseason game against New Jersey.
“We’re going to keep (Dennis) Gilbert around at least for today, maybe more,” Briere said. “Until we find out a little bit more on Cam.”
If York goes on IR, he will not be available for the Panthers game.
The Zamula question mark lingers.
“He’s still in our top six,” Briere remarked. “I thought he had a really strong game in Long Island. We were real excited and all of a sudden his play tailed off. Not too sure what happened.”
>Explaining the Ellis trade
Briere discussed the Sunday trade which sent injured defenseman Ryan Ellis to the San Jose Sharks.
The Flyers were able to get the final two years of Ellis’ contract (at $6.2 million per year) off the books.
“It’s not like it was critical, we were fine to get under the (salary) cap,” Briere said. “Obviously it gives us flexibility. It’s one of those deals where we helped San Jose with some of their issues and they helped us with some of ours.”
>Andrae status
Defenseman Emil Andrae was returned to the Phantoms the other day. Briere still has hopes for the young prospect. “He had some struggles in camp but we still believe in him,” Briere said. “He’s still a very good prospect for us.”
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