Luca Sbisa was born in Sardinia. He doesn’t remember anything about that because he was barely a year old when his Italian mother and Austrian father moved the family to Switzerland.
“But my grandpa still lives in Italy,” says the 18-year-old defenseman, who is testing the odds to make the Flyers’ roster this season.
Luca grew up speaking Italian and German.
“My mom talks to me in Italian and I answer her in German,” he smiled.
The family lived in the small town of Oberageri, which is nestled between the Zug mountain range of central Switzerland. The town was so small, it’s population was less than 5,000. Activities in Lake Aegeri was the popular form of recreation for everyone.
“It was great growing up there,” Sbisa recalled. “We had the lake. Very nice. Warm summers, cold winters with a lot of snow. We had a hockey club [EV Zug] there. I used to swim in the lake during the summer. It was a great place to grow up.”
And very different from either Canada or the United States. Sbisa admits it was an eye-opener going to Lethbridge, Alberta last year.
“Lethbridge, is pretty flat; kinda like a desert,” Sbisa said. “Switzerland, you could not see five miles straight ahead because of a hill or mountain.”
Sbisa prefers British Columbia.
“British Columbia pretty much looks like my hometown,” he said. “I thought Kelowna looked a lot like my home town.”
Philadelphia? Nothing like it, anywhere.
From the first day the rookie camps began – even before training camp officially opened _ Sbisa has stood out. At least once every session, someone on the Flyers coaching staff has said something positive about the 6-foot-2, 190-pound defenseman.
Personally, I like what former Flyer assistant coach E.J. McGuire said about him at the draft.
“Luca is a poised and, sometimes, too poised a defenseman,” said the NHL’s director of Central Scouting. “One would say that a lot of times his calmness with the puck is misinterpreted as either slowness or laziness; that's not the case with Luca. He is a smart player who moves the puck at the right time and carries the puck correctly, supports the rush and is adjusting very well to the North American game.”
In the past decade, the Flyers have vacillated in the amount of talent they’ve carried on the blue line in their organization. They always seemed to have either too many “D” in the system or not enough. At the same time, they’ve really lacked for a top-notch prospect, homegrown product, who could carry the puck and make an impact offensively.
Truth is, Chris Therien was the last “homegrown” defenseman, who impacted the Flyers at the NHL level for a consistent period of time. That is inexcusable.
Sbisa, who was the Flyers’ first-round pick (19th overall) this past summer, thinks he can fill the skate boots as a homegrown player, who is going to wear a Flyer jersey for a long time _ and have an impact.
“I would say I am a two-way defenseman,” he said. “I can play in the offensive zone and I can make a good pass. I have a good shot and finding open spots. I try to use my skating as much as I can. My biggest strength is closing the gap.”
He’s caught the eye of Flyers’ coach John Stevens.
“It’s always exciting for me because I don’t know much about these young players until they get in camp,” Stevens said. “You get a first read on them.”
Sbisa said playing in Europe from age 4 to 16 [EV Zug] really helped his game because the rinks are larger, the game requires more skating.
“I thought the games were way more intense on the bigger rinks,” Sbisa said. “You have more space to skate the puck and make a decision. On a higher level, if you want to play in the NHL, you need to come over quick as possible to get used to the smaller rinks. That is what I did last year [at Lethbridge]. I think it really helped me coming over here last year.”
I asked Stevens if he could spot a European influence on a young player, as opposed to an older one, who played the bulk of his career overseas.
“His physical fitness level of where he is at, I don’t know if that’s part of the European influence or not, but he seems to be way ahead of the curve physically,” Stevens replied. “His strength test. He’s a good skater who really sees the ice very well. I’m not necessarily sure if that’s because he played in Europe, but he has a lot of fundamentals for a young player.”
Mats Sundin was Sbisa’s favorite player as a kid. Luca’s first NHL sweater was the Toronto Maple Leafs. Like most youngsters, because of the design colors, the Mighty Ducks’ jersey caught his eye, too.
“It had the best-looking logo and they had those TV shows,” Sbisa said.
Though he admits he knew of the Flyers, he didn’t care for their jersey. In fact, Sbisa asked me to explain the Flyer logo. I showed him how if you “clip” off the wings of the logo, it becomes a “P.” A “Flying P,” I told him.
“Ahh, now I see,” he said.
The Flyers aren’t going to rush this kid. It’s either make the NHL roster or go back to junior. I expect the latter.
BTW: I don’t think the Flyers have ever had an Italian defenseman, who played for them at the NHL level, and I went through the rosters. Also, I don’t count forward Tony Amonte, coming back up ice late as usual when he was here, then having to double back as a defenseman, to make a play.
“The coaches say, everyone has a chance no matter how old or how young you are,” Sbisa said. “They want to see battles for spots. I’m taking the chance and will do my best to make the team. It’s a pretty high goal I set for myself, yeah ... but if I go back, it will be for experience and I can work on my all-around game.”
EK's Note:
FlyersBuzz TV looking for Sponsors!
We are in line for 10 new episodes this season, and keeping in the spirit of the show HB is looking for NJ, PA, DE regional businesses who would like to get involved in sponsoring segments of the show...
If you are interested please hit the
Contact Us tab at the bottom of HB.com and choose 'advertising' in the pull down menu. Someone will contact you about how to get involved.
Last year's episodes were the highest rated show on the Saturday nights they ran on CN8* and On Demand and we can't wait for this year's season!
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»