Philadelphia Flyers prospects showed up and showed out at the World Junior Summer Showcase this past week, stealing the show at this year’s annual camp in Plymouth, Michigan, from July 26 all the way through Aug. 3.
The Summer Showcase generally serves as an audition for the World Junior Championship, which rolls around at the start of the winter on Dec. 26. While Oliver Bonk didn’t play, and Denver Barkey and 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko played one game each, there was a lot to take away from the shifts put in by the group of young Flyers as a whole.
As far as the box score goes, 2024 fourth-round pick Heikki Ruohonen led the way with three assists in four games, and the 18-year-old even found himself promoted to Finland’s top line center by the end of the Showcase.
Steven Ellis, Daily Faceoff’s prospect analyst and resident draft expert who was on-site in Plymouth, remarked that “Ruohonen is smart, has good size and drives play while still being a responsible two-way player. Between this tournament and a great showing at the U-18 World Championship, Ruohonen has put in the work to be a serious threat to make the main team in December,” at the end of Day 4.
And Jack Berglund, the Flyers’ second-round pick from last month’s draft, went ahead and potted two goals–one on the power play–and appears to have boosted his stock ahead of the real tournament.
“Berglund is a small ice fiend who loves to take space away whenever he can. He helped set up the third Swedish goal with a great feed and nearly had another of his own in the second period,” Ellis said at the conclusion of the camp. “He’s got the size and work ethic you want from players who project to be a top-six player, and I think he was one of Sweden’s better players this week.”
Barkey picked up two assists in his only game of the Summer Showcase, so it looks as though he’s all but stamped his place on Canada’s roster for the winter. Luchanko and 2023 fifth-round pick Carter Sotheran got into one game each, but they’re more likely to be injury replacements than roster locks for Canada at this stage.
And, speaking of Canada, Flyers fans might want to turn their attention to 2023 second-round pick Carson Bjarnason, a young goalie emerging in the wake of the enigmatic Alexei Kolosov and the outstanding but relatively unknown Egor Zavragin.
Said Ellis at the end of Day 5: “In all fairness to Bjarnason, not many people can stop a Cole Eiserman shot. But beyond that, Bjarnason was lights out, playing some of the best hockey we saw of any goaltender in this tournament. It’s not easy to come in cold midway through the game, and I think Joshua Ravensbergen did a good job. But when the going got tough, Bjarnason kept Canada in it with multiple big saves, helping them get back into the tight affair.”
Bjarnason has a tough road ahead of him to make Canada’s roster in December. He’ll have to battle Scott Ratzlaff, who was on the roster last year, Carter George, and Ravensbergen. But if Bjarnason can at least hold off Ravensbergen, he’s virtually guaranteed to be one of the three goalies representing Canada, and from there, he can make his run at staking claim to the crease for the big games ahead.
United States forward Noah Powell also managed to impress with his rare combination of tenacity, speed, physicality, puck skills, and hockey IQ. It’s a bit of mystery how he fell in the draft as far as he did and right into the Flyers‘ laps, but the Ohio State commit is well on his way to making USA’s roster if he continues in this vein.
Longtime prospect expert Chris Peters currently projects Powell to represent the U.S. as a bottom-six forward after a remarkable showing in Michigan this past week.
“Among the players that had a strong camp, Brandon Svoboda, Noah Powell, Max Plante, Brodie Ziemer and Beckett Hendrickson were guys I didn’t necessarily see on the final roster this year, but they put themselves on the map last week,” Peters wrote. “They’ll need to continue that level of play in the first half, but each of those players mentioned gave themselves a great chance with how they performed with the group.”
The 2025 World Junior Championship will take place from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.
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