Flyers Farm Stars: Nikita Grebenkin gets rolling, Denver Barkey back in action

1 week ago  /  Broad Street Hockey  /  Read Time: 5 minutes 30 seconds

It’s the regular season wrap-up! For just about all of the Flyers’ prospects (those playing outside of the AHL), their regular seasons have just about wrapped up, and their postseasons are right around the corner (if not having begun already). So, while the dust settles, it’s time to check in with everyone before things start picking up again. Let’s get into it.



The News of the Week



It’s been a busy week in the news department folks, but stick with us through all of these updates. Firstly, Nikita Grebenkin made his debut with the team last weekend after a bit of a delay for visa related reasons, and he’s been off to a very good start with his new team. Also, Wednesday’s game against Milwaukee saw Massimo Rizzo getting back into the lineup, after being out a little over two weeks with an upper-body injury. 



Speaking of returns from injury, Denver Barkey got back into the lineup with London over the weekend after missing the last nine games. It was the regular season finale, his one game played, so him getting in for at least one game’s worth of runway bodes well for his situation heading into the playoffs.



Elsewhere in the world, more postseason action, in this case the NCAA tournament is about to get underway. The Flyers’ representation will be a little light, with just Devin Kaplan and Alex Bump (who was also named the NCHC Forward of the Year this week, we should add) making appearances, but we expect both BU and Western Michigan to be competitive, so hopefully those appearances are long ones.



And finally, Jett Luchanko and Alex Ciernik look to be on their way to join the Phantoms. Also Aleksei Kolosov hasn’t officially been called back up to the Flyers just yet, but he is kicking around at their practice up in Toronto. What this means, who knows. We’ll be keeping an eye on it.



Three Stars



Alex Bump



If there’s one prospect who had himself an absolutely massive week (and change) this time out, it’s Alex Bump. This marked the most important stretch of his season to date, with Western Michigan’s conference championship on deck, and Bump stepped up for them in a huge way when the stakes were the highest. He put up three goals and two assists across the Broncos’ two-game sweep of St. Cloud State in the quarterfinals, then followed that win with a goal in their semifinal matchup against North Dakota, and then stepped up further still in the final against  Denver — with two goals, including the one to seal the championship win for the Broncos in double overtime. He’s been as clutch as can be, and he’s getting hot just at the right time, as they head into this week’s NCCA tournament regionals. 



Jett Luchanko



While Bump is looking to close the whole of his season out on a high note over these next few weeks, Jett Luchanko has already done just that. His struggling Guelph team isn’t going to be making a postseason appearance, so last weekend marked the end of their season — and likely Luchanko’s tenure in Guelph — and he certainly did well to go out with a bang. In his final five fames played, he was held off the board in the first two, but rallied in the back half of the stretch, putting up two goals and three assists across the last three games. He’s found a bit of momentum, that much is for certain, and the hope is that he can carry that with him into his next stretch of games up with the Phantoms, whenever he officially joins them. 



Zayde Wisdom



Speaking of the Phantoms, it’s been kind of an up and down last week and half for them, but they’ve still gotten some nice flashes of production from a handful of prospects down there. Leading the charge this week was Zayde Wisdom, who’s again stepping up for the team in a big way. He has three goals and an assist over his last five games played, and has stepped into something of the same “straw that stirs the drink” role that Olle Lycksell had settled into for them. He found some immediate chemistry playing alongside Grebenkin in his debut, but then was the one moved around in the lineup later in the week in order to spark some offense outside of that top line (and to some real success). It’s all a real positive to see — Wisdom hasn’t been without his struggles in his tenure with the Phantoms, but he’s finally earned back the trust of his coaching staff, and is beginning to carve out a real role for himself again. 



Honorable Mentions



We’ll stick with the Phantoms for a little while longer here, because Wisdom certainly wasn’t the only one to find a nice bit of production on the week. Their top producer for the week, after Wisdom, was Ethan Samson, who’s seen his offense picking up in a big way after the production had slowed down for him a bit for a stretch. Over his last five games, he has a tidy two goals and two assists, and has helped to spread the offense out a bit to the back end for them. 



Up front, they’ve found some success on the scoring front as well (though it’s been a little up and down on the whole). Alexis Gendron had two goals and an assist on the week and has climbed back up into that second place spot in the scoring ranking on the team, while Grebenkin was able to match that output over his first four games played (and notably, both of his goals came on the power play). Elliot Desnoyers has gotten rolling pretty nicely recently as well, as he’s finding his footing again, moved back over to the center position, and getting involved with the scoring again, to boot — he has a goal and two assists on the week. 



And finally, Aleksei Kolosov has been rolling quite nicely for the Phantoms. It hasn’t been absolutely perfect for him, he’s shown a bit of rust at times, but he’s been settling back in really nicely at the AHL level. He’s gotten starts in four of the last five games, and has had one game where he’s given up four goals against, one where he’s given up three, and two where he’s given up just two, and all of that’s come together for a respectable .899 save percentage. All in all, it’s been a good bit of work he’s putting in — especially in games where the defense in front of him has been a bit dodgy — and it’s not hugely surprising if it’s earned him another look up with the big club. 



Elsewhere in the world, Jack Berglund is finding his scoring touch again and contributing nicely in the Allsvenskan playoffs — he’s played four games since we last spoke, and he has a goal and two assists over that span (though all of those points were concentrated in his first two games). 



And then up in the OHL, the rest of the prospect group kicking around in that league’s found a way to finish out their regular season on high notes as well (we love that continuity). Barkey may have only gotten in for the one game, but he made sure it was a good one — he put up two goals and two assists, and reclaimed the Knights’ record for shorthanded goals which had slipped away from him while he was out. Oliver Bonk also had a productive longer span for them, with two goals and an assist over his last three games, as his offense seems to be coming back to him after a bit of a down period. Two goals and an assist seems to be a real running theme around here, and we’ll circle back to it one more time — Noah Powell managed that as his output over his last four games, to close out his regular season in Oshawa. ...

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