{"id":414959,"date":"2026-01-18T22:31:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T22:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/414959\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T22:31:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T22:31:36","slug":"philadelphia-flyers-still-so-far-away-according-to-prospect-expert-the-hockey-writers-philadelphia-flyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/414959\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Flyers Still ‘So Far Away’ According to Prospect Expert – The Hockey Writers – Philadelphia Flyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025\u201326 season is far from over, but the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> find themselves in the mushy middle. It\u2019s an area of the standings that fans dread\u2014you\u2019re not contending, and you\u2019re also not getting high draft picks. With that in mind, one expert\u2019s worries about the team\u2019s prospect pool do not bode well for the future. Let\u2019s discuss.<\/p>\n

Scott Wheeler Voices Concerns over Flyers\u2019 Future<\/p>\n

On The Athletic Hockey Show<\/a>, the Flyers\u2019 rebuild became a discussion topic. Starting at 39:37 of the video below, prospect guru Scott Wheeler raised his concerns with how the team is approaching things.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Wheeler states, \u201cPorter Martone\u2019s awesome, Matvei (Michkov)<\/a>\u2018s still going to be awesome, they\u2019ve used two top-12 picks on two kids who might top out as third-line centers for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cIf neither of those guys (Jett Luchanko<\/a> and Jack Nesbitt) becomes an actually impactful move-the-needle type, they are still so, so, so far away. And I know they\u2019re getting better results at the NHL level this year, and frankly, last year they kind of hung around the playoff race longer than maybe people realized, but they feel almost as far away as any team in the league to me right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a recent piece, I broke down when I think the Flyers\u2019 window for a Stanley Cup will be, and how they can compete for one. Skipping to the \u201chow,\u201d I\u2019ve always been a big fan of Martone and Michkov. In my eyes, their ceilings are high enough that they can be \u201cthe guys\u201d on a championship team.<\/p>\n

Related: When Will the Flyers\u2019 Cup Window Begin and End?<\/a><\/p>\n

But Wheeler\u2019s concerns are legitimate. I can see Luchanko becoming a middle-six center rather than a true third-liner, but the basis of his claim is still totally valid. Two of the team\u2019s key draft picks don\u2019t seem like they\u2019re going to move the needle. If they don\u2019t, problems may arise.<\/p>\n

Even if you want to be a Dallas Stars-type team<\/a>, with none of your top-three players being centers, you need more help. After all, Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston are an impressive duo, and Jake Oettinger is representing the United States between the pipes at the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Given the Flyers\u2019 current six-game losing streak and the tightness of the league\u2019s standings, another top draft pick could find its way to Philadelphia<\/a> this June. Still, their work wouldn\u2019t be done, and that\u2019s the point Wheeler is making.<\/p>\n

Should Flyers Fans Worry?<\/p>\n

Personally, I disagree with Wheeler\u2019s assessment that the Flyers are \u201cas far away as any team in the league.\u201d The Vancouver Canucks, for example, have significantly less going for them<\/a>, in my opinion. I agree with his stance on the prospects themselves, however.<\/p>\n

Related: Flyers\u2019 Top 10 Prospects: Post-2026 World Junior Championship Edition<\/a><\/p>\n

So, should fans be worried? Well, that depends. If you think Martone and Michkov can be the lone superstars on a Cup winner, there\u2019s nothing to worry about. The Flyers need more talent down the middle and on the blue line, but overall, the hard work is out of the way.<\/p>\n

\"PorterPorter Martone and Jack Nesbitt, Philadelphia Flyers (Amy Irvin<\/a> \/ The Hockey Writers)<\/p>\n

If you think the Flyers need a superstar center and defenseman, then you\u2019ve probably been panicking for a while now. The truth is, there isn\u2019t a reasonable path for the team to acquire both of these pieces. They could get lucky and draft one in 2026, but getting the other won\u2019t be easy.<\/p>\n

All in all, Wheeler brings up some good points. The outcomes on players like Luchanko and Nesbitt are far from definitive, but it\u2019s an objective truth that they don\u2019t look like move-the-needle centermen. The Orange and Black need to draft well over the next few seasons.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025\u201326 season is far from over, but the Philadelphia Flyers find themselves in the mushy middle. It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,713,176,509,4,1467,56,5205,701],"class_list":{"0":"post-414959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-jack-nesbitt","11":"tag-jett-luchanko","12":"tag-matvei-michkov","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-philadelphia","15":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","16":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","17":"tag-porter-martone"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115918477042707599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}