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Hockey Canada will (very belatedly) announce its 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase roster on Saturday for the Canada Red and Canada White squads. I have no idea why they waited until the last minute. The tournament gets underway on Sunday. The Team USA (USA White and USA Blue), Sweden and Finland rosters are set.
Thus far, six Flyers-affiliated prospects have received invitations: Porter Martone (Canada, unofficual), Jack Murtagh (USA), Shane Vansaghi (USA), Jack Berglund Sweden), Heikki Ruohonen (Finland) and Max Westergard (Finland). According to Flyers general manager Danny Briere, 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko (Canada) remains banged up and will not play at the WJSS. Luchanko missed the on-ice activities at the recent Flyers Development Camp due to a minor but nagging groin issue.
However, there still could be as many as six or seven Flyers prospects participating at the Summer Showcase. 2025 first-round pick Jack Nesbitt and 2024 second-round selection Spencer Gill await Hockey Canada’s final decision on it WJSS roster.
How many games will Noah Juulsen play in 2025-26?
Back on July 1, the Flyers signed defenseman Noah Juulsen to a one-year contract for $900,000. The right-handed shooting blueliner played for Rick Tocchet in Vancouver for two-plus season before signing with the Flyers as an unrestricted free agent.
The Montreal Canadiens originally selected Juulsen in the first round (26th overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Despite his first-round status, he’s primarily been a sixth or seventh defenseman at the NHL level. He’s been set back several times by injuries but gained Tocchet’s trust as a third-pair or depth defender.
Last season, Juulsen dressed in 35 games for the Canucks before he underwent season-ending sports hernia surgery. He last played (briefly) on February 2. The defensive defenseman averaged 16:17 of ice time in his 35 games. He did not record a point. Juulsen dressed in a career-high 54 games for Tocchet’s former team in 2023-24. Overall, he has appeared in 157 NHL games (three goals, 14 assists). He also dressed in two playoff matches for the Canucks in 2024.
Juulsen plays a no-frills brand of hockey. His combination of size (6-foot-2, 201 pounds), decent mobility and being a right-shot blueliner enabled him to be a first-round pick a decade ago. He brings shot blocking (60 last year) and an aggressive hitting presence (101 credited hits in 2024-25) when he’s in the lineup. He takes a high concentration of defensive zone starts.
Less is more with Juulsen. He gets in trouble sometimes with his decision-making when he doesn’t keep thing simple. He was charged with 40 giveaways in his 35 games last season: too many for someone in his role. Overall, Juulsen had a significantly better season in 2023-24 than he did this past year. However, Toccchet still had sufficient trust to bank on a healthier and more effective season in 2025-26.
With Rasmus Ristolainen (triceps surgery) likely to miss the start of the 2025-26 regular season, Juulsen could be in the opening night lineup if he has a decent camp. His roster spot competition, unless the Flyers plan to carry eight defensemen, consists of players such as fellow 2025 free agent signing Dennis Gilbert, rookie hopeful Helge Grans. Gilbert is a left-handed shooter while Grans is a fellow right-shot option.
Chirping Pucks to announce Myrtetus fundraiser total
This coming Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. EDT, I will be the guest on my friend Frankie James’ Chirping Pucks podcast. We will discuss a wide array of hockey topics including the Flyers’ outlook with training camp about six weeks away. However, most importantly, Frankie will announced the total funds raised from the recent Cancer Warriors tournament with all proceeds going to Flyers Daily host Jason Myrtetus to defray out-of-pocket costs during his cancer battle.
