Danny Briere Gives More Insight On Flyers Choosing Jett Luchanko
The Philadelphia Flyers caused quite the stir during the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, making an 11th hour trade with the Minnesota Wild that saw the Wild acquire the Flyers' No. 12 pick, while the Flyers took Minnesota's No. 13 selection and a third-round pick in 2025, selecting center Jett Luchanko once they were on the clock.
Dean Tait-Hockey Shots - Danny Briere Gives More Insight On Flyers Choosing Jett LuchankoThe Philadelphia Flyers caused quite the stir during the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, making an 11th hour trade with the Minnesota Wild that saw the Wild acquire the Flyers' No. 12 pick, while the Flyers took Minnesota's No. 13 selection and a third-round pick in 2025, selecting center Jett Luchanko once they were on the clock.
While not a completely out-of-left-field selection, Luchanko's name was not one that came up too often when discussing who the Flyers could have serious interest in.
A versatile, lightning-fast center who is dynamic on both the powerplay and the penalty kill, Luchanko can help combat the lack of center depth in the Flyers organization, and has an excellent two-way game that will make his development exciting to watch.
Still, the decision to draft Luchanko was met with some question marks from fans, who believed that there was still defensive talent on the board that Flyers GM Danny Briere should have taken instead. Briere, however, made it clear that picking Luchanko was no panic selection—the Flyers were locked in on him.
"What happens is there's a lot of information that you're gathering. We didn't want to move too far back because Jett was our guy that we wanted," Briere explained. "We had a feeling when we saw the board, the way it was coming down, that we could move back a little bit. We explored different options, but [the trade with Minnesota] was the only one that was safe enough and gave us the chance to acquire more draft capital. We were very careful to not move too far back because we really wanted Jett."
Briere also highlighted that while there were other players being considered, Luchanko being a center who was already showing promising amounts of skill was the standout factor that made him the chosen one.
"He's a center in the way he works, the way he plays," Briere said. "He's a complete player. He's very young still...and got better and better as the season went on. We feel that, yes, he's a center, absolutely, and that he's just starting to tap his potential. We're really excited about having a chance to get him. There were other good players in that area we were considering, but there wasn't a big enough difference to go in a different direction. Taking a center was an important piece for us."
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