Philadelphia Flyers prospect Oliver Bonk has impressed fans in development camps and with the London Knights in the OHL, leading many to believe that he has a real chance of making his NHL debut during the 2024-25 season.
Bonk is expected to return to the Knights this upcoming season, but his contract allows him to make up to nine NHL appearances for the Flyers if they call him up, and he can bring a lot to the table should they do so.
It's not difficult to see why the Flyers will want to seriously consider giving Bonk some minutes at the top level. At 19 years old, he already has an impressive physical presence, standing at 6'2" and 180 lbs. Even more impressively, he knows how to use it.
To have a sophisticated knowledge of how to use his size to be an effective defenseman is a seriously impressive skill to have at his age, and it's one that will only continue to develop as his career goes on.
Another valuable trait Bonk possesses is his powerplay prowess. (He didn't earn the nickname "Bumper Bonk" for nothing!)
While there's no telling whether Bonk would actually see any powerplay minutes in the NHL, it's a promising thing for the Flyers to keep in mind for the future. A powerplay unit containing Bonk, Matvei Michkov, and Jamie Drysdale could be what fans have been begging for after having to witness admittedly abysmal man-advantage play the past couple of seasons.
Not to mention that Bonk has no problems scoring during 5-on-5 play either—he joins Adam Boqvist, Evan Bouchard, Alec Regula, and Logan Mailloux has the only Knights defensemen to score 20 goals in a season.
While there are still developments that can be made in his game moving forward, there's no doubt that he's already proving himself to be an exciting young asset to this evolving Flyers team.
