Checking in on Flyers prospects after the World Juniors

The 2026 World Juniors have come and gone and all six Flyers prospects who took part in the winter tournament up there in Minnesota, have now returned to their leagues around the world. Finishing off the second half of their seasons as they aim for brighter and bigger futures and potentially even moving up a division or maybe even signing an NHL contract to start that whole new journey.

There were a variety of outcomes at the World Juniors for the Flyers’ prospects. Some excelled on the biggest stage so far in their careers, while other shrunk in minor depth roles and were never truly an impact player while representing their country. We already had a look at just how all six of these lovely, super cool prospects fared at the tournament, but what has happened since then?

It’s been over two weeks since everyone went home and all six of them have at least played a couple games for their respective teams. So, let’s see if any mid-season tournament performances have really kickstarted these guys, or they’re in a bit of a rut.

Porter Martone

Martone had a productive but fairly quiet World Juniors — he racked up the points to be among the leading scorers but never truly looked the dominant part that some were expecting. Canada sheepishly took the bronze medal after being heralded as an instant favorite and Martone was a part of that. But, he took that momentum of being able to score some points and ran with it back to Michigan State.

In the very first game back for the Spartans, the Flyers 2025 first-round draft pick scored two goals and added two more assists to that total, setting a new season-high in points in a single game with his four. It was a great performance but the three games after that, Martone has managed to register just one goal and two assists. It is great to see him score in every single game he plays in (Martone has only ever left a game for Michigan State without a point four times) but it’s not the world-beating totals that some would expect.

The Spartans did face some tough competition in Wisconsin, the fifth-ranked school in the nation, and didn’t get to beat up on New Hampshire or Northern Michigan again, so the point totals in some close wins is somewhat explained. Still, he’s scoring at a great rate for someone who was just drafted several months ago and certainly didn’t let some mid-season tournament mess that up.

Jett Luchanko

While Martone enjoyed the heights of being at the top of the lineup for Canada, Jett Luchanko rounded out the roster as a regular member of the bottom six. This sort of defense-first role might have continued with Luchanko as he returned to his new OHL team in the Brantford Bulldogs after the tournament.

Since returning to the Bulldogs, Luchanko has scored just one goal and two assists in five games. Three points in five games as his team went on to win four of those games and the only loss came in an overtime bout. It doesn’t feel all that good. For any Draft+2 forward in the OHL who was a top-15 pick, the expectation is that they are leading the team in scoring, or at least dominant in all three zones. But for Luchanko, it’s a much more subtle role than most would want out of the 13th overall pick.

Maybe it is still getting used to his new environment in Brantford — he did just play six games for the Bulldogs before leaving to go participate in the world Juniors — but the recent performances really seem to fuel even more concern that fans had before the trade that sent him to the best team in the OHL.

We’ll have to keep an even closer eye on just how Luchanko is doing, but there is a desperate need for him to just go off one game and not make him look like just a point-per-game 19-year-old in the OHL, which rarely even become NHL players.

Heikki Ruohonen

Okay back to being positive and seeing Flyers prospects go off.

Heikki Ruohonen impressed a whole lot of people at the World Juniors. He scored three goals and nine points in seven games but beyond that was a transition machine for Finland and was the real second-line driver for that star-starved squad.

The 19-year-old center was having a fairly normal year as a freshman at Harvard, but after gaining some more scoring confidence while playing among his peers, Ruohonen went crazy. In his first game back they had to face a hard-nosed Boston University team, who promptly beat them 4-1. But since then, against St. Lawrence and Clarkson (yeah, not great schools), Ruohonen has managed to score two goals and five points in those two contests.

Those are some numbers against some lesser schools (Harvard isn’t that great, either) that make you feel confident that maybe Ruohonen could be ready for the next step. Is it crazy to think that a player that was just playing in the USHL last year could turn pro as soon as this spring? Maybe, but we’ll just have to see. Either way, there’s some good signs from the 2024 fourth-rounder.

Max Westergard

Max Westergard has a big opportunity after his World Juniors performance. The 18-year-old was a bottom-six winger for Finland for most of the tournament, but still managed to score four goals. And after that, his team back home decided that they should really think of developing him better.

The Flyers’ 2025 fifth-round pick was caught in a hard place — too good for the junior level back in Sweden, but not good enough to carve out an impact role in the SHL and never got more than a few minutes per game in the top division. So, he was loaned to the Allsvenskan (the Swedish second division) to go play for IF Bjorkloven.

Westergard did not score a point, or register any statistic at all, during his first two games in the Allsvenskan, but he is getting much more ice-time, registering 16:10 TOI in the first game and 14:25 TOI in the second. Now, it’s just seeing if he can add a scoring touch to his game in what should be a true test for his level.

Jack Berglund

The Flyers prospect that upped his stock the most at the World Juniors has to be Jack Berglund. Captain for the gold medal-winning Team Sweden, Berglund scored 10 points in seven games and just used some brute force to push aside some of his peers to play some winning hockey.

But, he has not been able to do too much of the same in the SHL currently. It is one of the best domestic leagues in Europe (maybe the best one), to be fair, but in the three games since returning, the Flyers’ 2024 second-rounder has scored one goal and it happened on his one shot on goal in those three games. He’s not really a offensive powerhouse over there.

Again, top league in Europe, but we at least hoped to see a little more oomph to his post-World Juniors games. We’ll just have to keep an eye on Berglund and see if he can finish the season out strong — he’s certainly being given the opportunities as he registered over 16 minutes of ice-time in two of those three games.

Shane Vansaghi

Shane Vansaghi didn’t have a great time at the World Juniors. He played in just three games and was a healthy scratch for the rest of them as Team USA got knocked out even before the medal round. But now he’s found a little bit of juice.

In the four games for Michigan State, Vansaghi has managed to score a goal and two points — it’s not some crazy number, but considering his season total now stands at eight points in 20 games, it’s certainly an improvement.

Vansaghi’s game is more about being a disruptor than a scorer anyways, so he has been effective in that sense as he’s been getting some solid minutes in some very big wins over Wisconsin last weekend. The expectations weren’t super high to begin with but it’s good to see his name on the score sheet.

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