March 17, 2025
Sam Navarro/Imagn Images
New Flyers prospect Nikita Grebenkin made his debut with the Phantoms on Sunday.
Nikita Grebenkin made his Phantoms debut on Sunday, getting put right on the top line, and wasting little time making his mark.
Midway through the third period and down one while on the power play, Grebenkin settled up right at the top of the crease and waited until Garrett Wilson could slip him a pass along the goal line that zipped straight to the newly acquired left winger's stick for him to tap in.
The debut goal tied Lehigh Valley up with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in front of the home crowd in Allentown, though the Phantoms ultimately went on to lose, 5-3.
In the Flyers' bigger picture, however, the first impression of the 21-year-old forward prospect they got in the return for the Scott Laughton deadline trade with Toronto kicked off with some immediate promise.
A BIG day for the new guys! #LVvsWBS | #LVPhantoms pic.twitter.com/tOLriL65GW
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) March 16, 2025
Flyers general manager Danny Brière said the organization's scouts thought highly of Grebenkin when the trade talks with the Maple Leafs for Laughton were coming together, and that he sees the Russian winger being a 'future Flyer' with the hope that they can get him a few games NHL games before the end of the season.
Sunday was the first step of hopefully many in the right direction.
A quick check-in on a few other notable Flyers prospects...
The 23-year-old Kolosov was assigned to – and did report to – Lehigh Valley at the trade deadline after an extended and bizarre stretch of sitting in limbo up on the NHL roster.
That being said, it was clear for a while that Kolosov was in need of minor-league reps and minutes.
The last appearance he made where the Flyers won was all the way back on New Year's Eve when he relieved an injured Sam Ersson for the third period to complete a 4-0 shutout of San Jose on the road.
The last game they won where Kolosov started, you have to go back to Dec. 12 and the 4-1 win over Detroit at home when Laughton scored all four goals.
As a Flyer so far this season, Kolosov was 4-8-1 with a 3.45 goals against average and a low .870 save percentage.
Down in the AHL, Kolosov has started Lehigh Valley's past three games – against Charlotte and then a back-to-back home series against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Here's how his stat line held up:
| Game | Result | GA | SA | SV% |
| 3/9 @CHA | W, 3-2 | 2 | 23 | .913 |
| 3/14 WBS | W, 3-1 | 1 | 28 | .964 |
| 3/16 WBS | L, 5-3 | 4 | 21 | .810 |
For right now, Kolosov is probably exactly at the level he should be, but that doesn't make his future within the organization necessarily so straightforward.
Remember back in the summer, the rumors and reports circulating around him were that he wasn't a fan of Lehigh Valley and that he was only interested in coming back over from Belarus if it meant he could play in the NHL.
Kolosov made his way over North America and the Flyers eventually, but he hasn't exactly produced the body of work to establish himself as a capable NHL goaltender so soon into his career since, and it has yet to be clarified if he has since come around to the idea of a longer-term stay in the minors.
Kolosov has the 2025-2026 season remaining on his entry-level contract, and what the Flyers choose to do with their current goaltending picture this summer – between Kolosov, Ivan Fedotov, and Sam Ersson – could prove a lot about their comfort with the situation in the crease as it stands.
There seems to be an ever-growing netminding hope on the horizon, though.
Zavragin continues to turn heads over in Russia, with the 19-year-old having just posted a 23-save shutout over HC Sochi on Friday.
The 2023 third-round pick is 3-0 in his last three KHL starts and has allowed no more than two goals while making at least 21 saves across each of them.
He also earned the KHL's Player of the Week honor in goal with a .981 save percentage across a 2-0 run.
KHL Best Players of Week 27:
— KHL (@khl_eng) March 17, 2025
– Yegor Zavragin (SKA)
– Alexei Maklyukov (MMG)
– Oleg Li (AMR)
– Daniil Davydov (SEV) pic.twitter.com/uW4qct8Taf
It's going to take Zavragin a while to come over from Russia, and generally, goaltenders are the very last in the prospect pipeline to fully develop, but it's definitely entertaining to see his progress while imagining what he might be like in the NHL in a few years under a scenario where the Flyers would be fully ready to compete.
The 21-year-old Bump has tallied up four more goals since our last prospect check-in to bring him up to 20 on the season, which between that and his 43 points through 36 games, continues to lead the Western Michigan Broncos as they push further into the NCHC Tournament as the conference's top seed and with sights set on an NCAA Tournament run.
Western Michigan blew right past St. Cloud State over the weekend with consecutive 6-2 victories in a best-of-three conference quarterfinal, and Bump produced three goals and two assists across both games combined, placing that shot wherever he needs to if an opponent makes the mistake of giving him space.
Bump doing Bump things#BroncosReign pic.twitter.com/Jmbyk64zuX
— WMU Hockey (@WMUHockey) March 15, 2025
The Flyers' 13th overall pick last summer is still well over a point-per-game pace with 19 goals and 51 points through 42 games, but the 18-year-old center has had a slow run through March so far among a Guelph team that has been struggling mightily across the board.
Luchanko has no goals and only three assists in seven games for the month right now, all while the Storm have fallen into a brutal stretch where they've lost seven straight and have gone 0-9-0-1 in their last 10, pitting them at the bottom of the OHL's Western Conference standings.
Luchanko's speed and maturity still impress, though, and there's nothing on the Flyers' end to get particularly concerned about so long as signs of promise and forward progress are still there.
Right now, he's one goal off from matching his junior career-high total of 20 from last season, and that's with four games left on Guelph's schedule and from having missed about a month to go play for Canada in World Juniors back in December and January.
He can also still slam it on the accelerator, using his skating to catch any flat-footed defense back on its heels.
Moves like Jett 🕺@NHLFlyers prospect and @Storm_City captain Jett Luchanko shows off his skills as he speeds down the ice and dangles the defender before powering his way to a goal to earn the #BestOfOHL clip of the night!#OHLxMilkUP | @MilkUPOntario pic.twitter.com/CKiWbypU0e
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) February 27, 2025
MORE: Bobby Brink's 'huge step in development' pays off with two-goal night
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