In Part 1 of our two-part Prospect Directory series, we looked at where the players the Flyers selected in the 2023 and and 2024 Drafts are slated to play in the 2024-25 season.
In Part 2, in reverse chronology, we'll look at players from the 2019 to 2022 Draft classes. Players who are already regular starters at the NHL level -- such as 2019 first-round pick Cam York and 2020 first-round pick Tyson Foerster -- are not included. Likewise, draftees whose NHL rights are no longer held by the Flyers are not listed.
2022 Draft
Devin Kaplan (RW): Selected by the Flyers out of the USNTDP in the third round (69th overall) of the 2022 Draft, the big-framed power forward recently attended the Flyers 2024 Development Camp. As with all active collegiate players, NCAA rules prevent him from attending Rookie Camp in September. Kaplan will be a junior at Boston University during the 2024-25 season. He played a straightforward north-south style, and posted 23 points apiece in 2022-23 (40 games) and 2023-24 (37 games). The Flyers hold his NHL rights until August 15, 2026.
Alex Bump (LW): Bump was selected by the Flyers in the 5th round (133rd overall) of the 2022 Draft. He's developed at a promising rate of progress over the last two seasons in the USHL and NCAA. Always an offensively talented player, Bump has worked on his overall game and improved his skating. Last season, as a freshman at Western Michigan, Bump posted 36 points (14g, 22a) in 38 games. Bump, who will turn 21 on Nov. 20, will play his sophomore collegiate season in 2024-25. He recently attended Development Camp with other Flyers prospects.
Hunter McDonald (D): The 22-year-old defenseman is expected be at Rookie Camp and NHL Camp with the Flyers in September. McDonald turned pro after his sophomore season at Northeastern, getting into 11 regular season games and six Calder Cup playoff games with the Phantoms. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound blueliner is now on an entry-level NHL contract. McDonald's game has been likened to veteran Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler: a hard-checking shot blocker who is able and willing to stand up for teammates. He keeps good gaps and is also good at stick-on-puck plays.
Santeri Sulku (LW/C): The 20-year-old Sulku, drafted in the seventh round (197th overall), lost an entire season of development to an off-ice issue. He got back out on the ice this past season in Finland with Mestis (Finnish minor league) team Hermes Kokkola, for whom he posted 17 goals, nine assists, 26 points and a traditional +13 rating in 35 regular season games. He added nine points (4g, 5a) in 11 playoff games. The big-framed (6-foot-4, 205 pounds) Helsinki native spent a number of years living and playing in Sweden. He is the son of former pro defenseman Sebastian Sulku. In 2024-25, the younger Sulku is slated to play for another Mestis team, IPK Iisalmi.
Alexis Gendron (LW): Gendron turned 20 on December 30, 2023, making him eligible (just barely within the age cutoff) to play in the American Hockey League last season. The seventh round pick, 220th overall, tore up junior hockey at the QMJHL level in 2022-23. As such, the Flyers tested him out at the AHL level with the Phantoms to start last season. He was up to the task from an offensive standpoint -- five goals and seven points in 17 games, excluding a very questionable disallowed goal -- but neither his overall game nor his physical strength were quite up to the task of a full pro season.
Loaned to the QMJHL to play for the Drummondville Voltigeurs, Gendron had some injury issues that limited him to 16 regular season games. When he felt better, he resumed his accustomed dominance at the junior level. Drummondville won the QMJHL championship and a spot in the Memorial Cup tournament. Gendron racked up 11 goals and 19 points in 15 postseason games.
Come September, Gendron will be in rookie and NHL camp with the Flyers. He's slated to play his first full AHL season in 2024-25. Gendron is the son of former NHL player and current Flyers Quebec-based amateur scout Martin Gendron.
2021 Draft
Samu Tuomaala (RW): Chosen by the Flyers in the second round (46th overal) in the 2021 Draft, Tuomaala was Philadelphia's first pick in that year's Draft. He had a bumpy road, including a very brief early season AHL stint with the Phantoms at the start of 2021-22, in his first post-Draft seasons. Eventually he started to get on track. He was much more ready for the AHL when he returned in 2023-24.
As a rookie with the Phantoms last season, Tuomaala earned a spot in the AHL All-Star Game. The speedy and hard-shooting Finn posted 43 points (15g, 28a) in 69 games for Ian Laperriere's team. He also became fully comfortable doing interviews in English without falling back on a translator. Tuomaala maintains a close relationship with Flyers alum player and current Flyers European development coach and scout Sami Kapanen.
Unfortunately, Tuomaala hit a bit of a wall after the AHL All-Star break. His second half performance was not as strong as the first. He also sustained a late season injury that kept him out of the 2024 Calder Cup playoffs.
Tuomaala is expected to be at Rookie Camp and NHL Camp with the Flyers in September. His No. 1 goal for the 2024-25 season is to mount a challenge for his first NHL recall at some point over the next season. He turned 21 on January 8 of this year.
Alexei Kolosov (G): The Flyers' third round pick (78th overall), who turned 22 on January 4 of this year, signed an entry-level NHL contract with the Flyers last July. The first year of the entry-level season was primarily spent on loan to Dinamo Minsk in the NHL.
After his KHL season, Kolosov spent a few weeks with the Phantoms late in the regular season (two starts, backup goalie in a few other games) and the playoffs (dressing as the backup to veteran Cal Petersen). He is under an exclusive two-way contract to the Flyers/Phantoms for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
Brian Zanetti (D): Drafted by the Flyers in the fourth round (110th overall), Zanetti played the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Peterborough Petes. A teammate of fellow Flyers prospect J.R. Avon, Zanetti was part of an OHL championship winning squad the latter season. He also represented Switzerland at the World Junior Championships both seasons.
This past year, Zanetti returned home to Switzerland. In 2023-24, he dressed in 38 games in Switzerland's top pro league (National League) for the SCL Tigers, also known simply as Langnau Tigers. He is slated to play for the team again in 2024-25.
Because Zanetti was drafted out of Switzerland and not from a CHL team in 2021, the Flyers had a four-year (rather than two-year) window of exclusive NHL signing rights. His rights will expire on June 1, 2025, unless he's signed to an entry-level contract. Zanetti turned 21 on March 15 of this year.
Ty Murchison (D): The Flyers drafted the USNTPD product in the fifth round (158th overall). The physical and aggressive 6-foot-2 defenseman will play his second collegiate season at Arizona State in 2024-25. The California native turned 21 on February 2 of this year. Unless signed to an entry-level contract, the Flyers will relinquish his rights on August 15, 2025.
Ethan Samson (D): The 6th round pick was an AHL rookie with the Phantoms in 2023-24, dressing 63 games (3g, 9a, 12 points, 56 PIM) for Ian Laperriere's club. An offensive-minded defenseman and power play regular at the junior level, Samson has spent the last year adapting to a different role in the pro game. He will turn 21 on August 23.
Samson is expected to be in Rookie Camp and NHL camp with the Flyers in September. He's likely to return to the AHL for further seasoning with the Phantoms.
Owen McLaughlin (C): The Chester County native, who turned 21 on March 25 of this year, enjoyed an excellent USHL offensive season in 2021-22 (72 points in 62 games) for the championship winning Sioux City Musketeers. These past two seasons, he's played collegiate hockey at North Dakota.
McLaughlin saw an expanded role as a sophomore in 2023-24. A natural playmaker, he's worked on his shot as well. Correspondingly, his main production stats also jumped from 15 points (2g, 13a) in 37 games as a freshman to 39 points (13g, 26a) in 39 games in his second collegiate season.
A junior in 2024- 25, the Flyers hope to see McLaughin continue to add strength to his frame. That's a challenge for a player who was listed at just 158 pounds at the start of his Draft year. However, it's a task that McLaughlin has been working at each year. He will play his third season at North Dakota in 2024-25.
Jon-Randall (J.R.) Avon (W/C): The smooth-skating Avon was a victim of the Covid-19 pandemic as his 2019-20 season in the OHL ended early and his 2020-21 campaign was canceled entirely. Originally projected to be selected in the third-round range in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Avon went unselected.
However, things worked out well for the player. Invited to the Flyers Development and Rookie Camps, Avon earned an immediate NHL entry-level contract. Signing the player ensured the Flyers holding Avon's NHL rights. Otherwise, he'd have gone back in the Draft in 2022.
Avon's contract slid to the Ontario Hockey League for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, enjoying back-to-back productive seasons. His Peterborough Petes club won the OHL championship in the latter season and went on to advance to the semifinal game of the 2023 Memorial Cup tournament.
Last season, Avon debuted professionally for the Phantoms. Although his play dipped in the second half, Avon's overall rookie AHL season showed promise as a versatile bottom-six winger who could also play center if called upon to move back to the middle.
Not reflected in his stats (9g, 9a, 18 points in 65 regular season games and three playoff appearances): Avon was a shootout ace for the Phantoms as a rookie last season. The Peterborough native went 4-for-6 in shootouts, helping the Phantoms to claim the bonus point in several shootout wins.
Avon, whose stepfather is longtime former NHL star Steve Larmer, is expected to be at rookie and NHL camp with the Flyers in September. He's likely to spend the 2024-25 season in the AHL for additional seasoning with the Phantoms.
Elliot Desnoyers (W/C): Desnoyers had a very promising rookie season in 2022-23. The two-way forward led the Phantoms in goals (23, three more than Foerster), played in a variety of different game situations, and earned a four-game NHL recall to the Flyers.
Unfortunately, Desnoyers hit a severe "sophomore jinx" in his second pro season. He had an underwhelming training camp and it carried over into the 2023-24. Eventually, he was moved down from the top-six at five-on-five into the bottom six (including some fourth-line time). Desnoyers primarily played center for his first season-plus with the Phantoms but was eventually re-slotted as a winger. Desnoyers appeared in 63 regular season games (6g, 16a, 22 points) and four playoff games (zero points) for the Phantoms.
Desnoyers' top order of business entering camp this September: Bounce back from his down year last season and show the organization that the "real" version of his upside was seen in his rookie Phantoms season. From there, he can start working his way back into the mix for a Flyers recall.
Desnoyers, whose younger brother Caleb is among the top prospects for the 2025 NHL Draft, has always been projected more as a bottom-six forward at the NHL level. Even during his excellent AHL rookie season in 2022-23, that projection did not change (whether as a center, a winger or a swingman). Now the objective is to put last season in the rearview mirror and get Desnoyers back on track to eventually play in the NHL.
2019 Draft
Ronnie Attard (D): The 2019 third-round pick (72nd overall) is the lone Flyers draftee from the 2019 Draft who has played pro hockey but has not yet either graduated to the NHL roster on a full-time (York) basis, a nearly full-time basis (Bobby Brink), or is no longer in the Flyers system.
Attard has played in a combined 29 NHL games to date. The hard-shooting right-handed defenseman has mostly played in the AHL with Lehigh Valley the past two seasons. He was named to the 2023 AHL All-Star Game.
Locked in a numbers game, Attard faces a crucial training camp come September. The 2024-25 season will go a long way toward determining whether Attard graduates to regular NHL status in the Flyers' organization or stays on the NHL/AHL bubble. He turned 25 on March 20 of this year.
Bryce Brodinski (RW): Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Brodzinski was one of the players who was granted dispensation to play five collegiate seasons rather than four. Brodzinski, who will turn 24 on Aug. 9, completed his fifth and final collegiate season at the University of Minnesota in 2023-24.
Coming from a hockey family, Brodizinski's dad is a Philadelphia area native, brother Jonny has split time between the New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack, brother Easton plays in the ECHL, and older brother Michael previously played in the AHL and ECHL until 2023.
Other Notables
2018 second-round pick Adam Ginning will look to make the jump in 2024-25 from a bubble NHL/AHL defenseman to an NHLer if he can emerge victorious in the numbers game over the next season. Ginning turned 24 in January of this year.
The same thing goes for 2017 sixth-round pick Olle Lycksell. The Swedish winger has become an impact AHL offensive player for the Phantoms. He will turn 25 on August 24.
Formerly a second-round pick by the LA Kings, (2020, 35th overall), the Flyers acquired Helge Grans last summer in the three-team trade with LA and Columbus that sent Ivan Provorov to the Blue Jackets. He had a promising AHL rookie year in 2021-22, but dealt with inconsistency in 2022-23 and a combination of injury and inconsistency with the Phantoms (56 regular season games, four playoff matches) in 2023-24. Grans turned 22 on May 10.
Massimo Rizzo, acquired last summer from the Carolina Hurricanes organization, had an outstanding senior offensive season for NCAA champion Denver last season. Unfortunately, a high ankle sprain cost him the latter part of the campaign. He did return for the Frozen Four but was still at less than 100 percent. Rizzo traveled with the Phantoms during the Calder Cup playoffs. He'll be an AHL rookie in 2024-25. Rizzo turned 23 on June 13.
