Philadelphia Flyers defense prospect Oliver Bonk had a quiet start offensively to the 2024 World Junior Championships, but on Wednesday, the 18-year-old made his breakthrough for Team Canada in their game against Latvia.
Getting some time as the power play quarterback for Team Canada’s second unit, Bonk kept the puck movement sharp from low to high, right to left – setting up Nashville Predators prospect Matthew Wood for the one-timer at the left circle. The Flyers’ 2023 first-round pick earned an assist on the goal, which ended up being a deflection from Owen Allard in front of Latvia’s net.
Bonk did not get as much ice time as he did on Tuesday, but still caused quite a bit of damage in his limited role. In 16:05, Bonk recorded one assist and one shot, but also racked up an impressive plus-5 rating in Team Canada’s 10-0 rout of Latvia. Even Macklin Celebrini, who scored a goal and four assists, only managed a plus-4. By extension, this shows that Bonk was one of Team Canada’s more effective players at even strength.
After all is said and done, the Flyers will likely be very pleased to see their first-round pick getting some power play time. At the time of his selection, Bonk was generally viewed as a ‘what you see is what you get’ defenseman, who is steady defensively and just a guy offensively. Suffice to say, there has been tangible improvement in this category that the Flyers can already deduct from Game 2 of the World Juniors for Team Canada.
All of the little details from the clip above are important – positioning, receiving the pass cleanly, anticipating the play, and knowing where Wood was in order to keep the puck moving. The Flyers have a future gem in Bonk.
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