2 Flyers Prospects On Final Chance to Make NHL Impact

For the first time in what feels like forever, the Philadelphia Flyers will be heading into training camp and a new season with a respectable amount of depth at both forward and defense.

Over the last year, forward prospects Alex Bump and Denver Barkey graduated to the NHL level after brief, impressive stints with the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

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Oliver Bonk, a 2023 first-round pick, came on strong in his first professional season, and ultimately made his Flyers debut and Stanley Cup playoff debut within weeks of each other to finish out the campaign.

But, as the aforementioned youngsters continue to surge, other prospects will have to play catch-up just to have a shot at an NHL future going forward, and some are approaching their last chance to secure such a role.

Helge Grans, RHD, Age 24

This time last year, Flyers defense prospect Helge Grans was the in-house favorite to take over as the team’s third-pair right-shot defenseman, but had a training camp and showing so poor that the Flyers cut him early and stuck with the likes of Egor Zamula and Noah Juulsen as their depth options.

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Grans, now 24 years old, is running out of time to show that he’s an NHL-caliber defenseman.

In his age-22 season in 2024-25, Grans played six games for the Flyers under former head coach John Tortorella, recording one assist in his November jaunt with the big club.

This year, however, Grans is heading into the last year of his two-year contract and will be 25 years old when free agency begins on July 1.

A future with the Flyers is not guaranteed, either, if for no reason other than Grans being a Group 6 unrestricted free agent, as he’ll be 25 years old with fewer than 80 NHL games played.

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This year, Grans will have to overtake the younger, more talented David Jiricek, whom the Flyers acquired for Bobby Brink at the recent NHL trade deadline, as well as Bonk, just to make the roster. Establishing himself as a regular at the NHL level will require another two or three gears up from what we have seen in the past.

Jacob Gaucher, C, Age 25

The Flyers thought highly enough of Jacob Gaucher, who came to the organization as an undrafted free agent, to award the swashbuckling center an NHL contract on Dec. 12, 2024.

Somewhat surprisingly, despite having not established himself, Gaucher returned to the Flyers on June 4 on a one-year deal, after which he’ll be an unrestricted free agent.

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The brolic 6-foot-4 center is an interesting prospect for the Flyers in that he has played eight NHL games for them over the last two seasons, but his underlying metrics in a sheltered role have been quite poor.

At the AHL level, though, Gaucher has scored no fewer than 20 goals and 36 points in each of the last two seasons, and scored three goals, three assists, and six points in seven Calder Cup playoff games in 2025.

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The Flyers spent much of last season searching for a right-shot center they could use for matchup purposes, and with top prospect Jett Luchanko still playing at the junior level in the OHL, there was nobody stopping Gaucher from coming up and filling that role.

Instead, the Flyers bypassed him and left him in the AHL with the Phantoms, and eventually claimed veteran Luke Glendening on waivers from the New Jersey Devils on March 6 instead.

Now that Nikita Grebenkin is healthy and Noel Acciari has been brought in as a veteran fourth-liner with versatility, the odds are really stacked against Gaucher sticking at the NHL level at some point.

Still, the Longueuil, Quebec, native offers some valuable size and scoring upside should the Flyers need it, and he’s proven that he can beat the odds to make it to this level in the past.

We can’t count Gaucher out just yet, but he, like Grans, is in a contract year having to play the numbers game.