Maxim Sushko Inching Towards NHL Debut

One man’s tragedy, another man’s opportunity? It is a sad way to put it but its looking like that may be the case for Flyers prospect Maxim Sushko to make his way into the Flyers lineup. The Flyers are currently down some superior firepower as Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, Scott Laughton, and Jakub Voracek are all in the COVID protocol.

This leaves the door wide open for some of the Taxi-squad players to make their season debut, that being Andreoff, Kase, and Twarynski. There is another player that is eyeing his debut, but as an NHL debut, that player being Maxim Sushko.

Maxim Sushko, 21, is a Belarus native who was drafted by the Flyers in the 4th round of the 2017 NHL entry draft. Sushko started his professional back in Belarus playing in the U18 league they have there. Hey then played three season for Dinamo-Raubichi and Shakhter Soligirsk-2 in the Bel. 1, the primary development league for the Belarusion Extraleague. During that time in a combined 57 games, he racked up 34 goals and 54 assists for 83 points. Fun fact he was drafted 11th overall in the 2016 KHL entry draft.

He then came acorss the pond and played for the Owen Sound Attack in the Ontario Hockey League, where he played a combined 208 games for 73 goals and 91 assists. He most recently played 53 games for the Phantoms last season where he put up 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points before COVID cancelled the season. With the AHL and NHL season being delayed, Sushko returned home Belarus where he played 30 games for Dinamo Minsk where he recorded 2 goals and 3 assists.

We have seen the other players on the Tax-squad play for the Flyers or other NHL teams, so I am hoping they let Sushko take a crack at and NHL debut against an inferior, but talented Rangers team this Thursday. While he is streaky in his scoring, he has the ability to get the puck to and on the net. He would for sure be on the bottom two lines, so you wouldn’t have to worry about the offensive side as much.

The Flyers owe it to their prospects to give them a chance to compete, but in this situation, it may be ideal to have the best players available on the ice, but it looks like he will be making his NHL debut versus the Rangers.

Sushko said that playing at home in the KHL really helped him stay in shape, work on his game and feel ready for this opportunity. Said he's still overwhelmed by all the emotions but it will feel real tomorrow.

— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) February 17, 2021

-CFTP Mitch

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