Flyers have eye on their six prospects at IIHF World Junior Championships

A strong representation at this year’s IIHF World Junior Championship is just another indicator the Flyers have one of the NHL’s better development systems.
Six players from Philadelphia will be competing in the tournament, which will be held in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. starting Friday and finishing on Jan. 5.
Four of the Flyers brightest young prospects – Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, Porter Martone and Carson Bjarnason – will represent Team Canada.
Heikki Ruohonen is listed on Team Finland’s roster. Jack Berglund was selected to play for Team Sweden. There are no Flyers prospects on the Team USA roster.
Luchanko and Bonk are perhaps the two closest to joining the Flyers on a full-time basis at some point in the next year or so.
As for Luchanko, he already has become the youngest player ever to play for the Flyers when he started four games as an 18-year-old at the beginning of the 2024-25 season.
This year he has registered a total of 25 points in 17 games splitting Ontario Hockey League time between the Guelph Storm and the Brantford Bulldogs. The Flyers took him during the first round (13th overall) in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
Bonk, the son of former NHL star Radek Bonk, will be playing in his second straight WJC for Canada. A first-round draft pick in 2024, Bonk has been a part of two straight London Knights’ Memorial Cup championships and is now playing for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The Flyers also have high hopes for Bjarnason, who has excelled in goal the past few seasons. This year with the Phantoms, he’s 7-3-2 with a 2.58 goals-against average.
Martone, the Flyers’ first-round pick in the 2025 draft, has been having an outstanding season for Michigan State.
The 19-year-old Rhohonen has made the transition from the USHL (Dubuque Fighting Saints) to college hockey (Harvard) a smooth one. He’s produced one goal/five points in 11 games with the Crimson.
Berglund has impressed scouts with his skating speed and stickhandling. He’s split time between three different teams in Sweden this year. On a national league team he generated eight goals/15 points in 11 games.
The United States and Canada have split the last six gold medals at the tournament with Team USA having captured the last two.