Retooled blue line brings new faces to Phantoms

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Options Author

The Philadelphia Flyers have been aggressive about retooling the group’s NHL roster after lacking the Stanley Cup Playoffs 5 years in a row. There’s a starvation to place a halt to that slide.

That philosophy has prolonged to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, who’re off to a 12-8-1-2 begin within the always-demanding Atlantic Division. The staff has already used 13 defensemen by means of the primary two months of the season, together with one first-round decide who made his professional debut final weekend. Flyers assistant common supervisor Alyn McCauley, whose file includes operating Lehigh Valley’s day-to-day affairs, has been busy.

Begin with that first-rounder, Oliver Bonk. The 20-year-old, who got here to the Flyers because the twenty second total decide within the 2023 NHL Draft, spent three seasons within the Ontario Hockey League with the London Knights and received the Memorial Cup final season. However an upper-body harm put a halt to his coaching camp and delayed the beginning of his professional profession till Saturday, when he drew into first-year head coach John Snowden’s lineup for the primary time.

On Oct. 30, the Flyers acquired Christian Kyrou from the Dallas Stars for ahead Samu Tuomaala, a deal that enabled a recent begin for the second-round picks. Kyrou is a right-handed shot who had proven some potential with the Texas Stars throughout elements of three seasons, and he has emerged with 14 factors and a plus-7 score in his first 15 video games with the Phantoms.

Clearly the Flyers are searching for gamers like Kyrou, prospects they assume they will draw extra from inside their group. They acquired 24-year-old puck-moving blueliner Maxence Guenette from Ottawa on Nov. 17 in trade for Dennis Gilbert; if Guenette’s growth arc had maybe run its course with the Senators, perhaps a brand new setting can unlock one thing in his sport. His Phantoms debut got here on Sunday at Hershey.

Then earlier this week, Philadelphia picked up 22-year-old Roman Schmidt from Tampa Bay, sending Ethan Samson to the Lightning. As with Kyrou and Guenette, the Flyers are focusing on potential; Schmidt, chosen by Tampa Bay within the third spherical of the 2021 NHL Draft, is a second-year professional who, at 6-foot-5 and 225 kilos, brings ample measurement to the Phantoms as effectively.

Mix these newcomers with Lehigh Valley’s current assortment of defensemen, and the Phantoms have themselves a bunch creating robust inner competitors for ice time on the again finish. Helge Grans, who’s 23 and who acquired a two-year contract extension final spring, is the one Phantom defender to seem in all 23 video games up to now. Emil Andrae, Adam Ginning and rookie Ty Murchison – who made his NHL debut this week – have all seen time with the Flyers. Sixth-round decide Hunter McDonald is again after a stable 2024-25 rookie marketing campaign.

Snowden and his teaching workers have a good upcoming schedule for integrating Bonk and Schmidt additional into their lineup. Meaning minimal journey and plenty of follow time. After a visit to Syracuse and Rochester this weekend, the Phantoms are residence till after New 12 months’s. Time will inform what number of of those prospects pan out as NHL choices in Philadelphia. Improvement is an unpredictable, typically inexplicable course of. However the mixture of president of hockey operations Keith Jones and common supervisor Daniel Briere – each of whom minimize their enamel as gamers within the AHL earlier than occurring to NHL careers – has put appreciable funding into Philadelphia’s growth program. They’ve drafted, however in addition they have been aggressive working the telephones to import expertise as effectively through trades.

The Flyers are proper within the Jap Convention playoff battle. Within the AHL, the Phantoms have themselves third within the Atlantic Division and searching each bit a playoff staff come April. The subsequent four-plus months will reveal whether or not the Phantoms make the playoff minimize. It can present what Philadelphia’s future might seem like as effectively.

On the American Hockey League beat for 20 years, TheAHL.com options author Patrick Williams additionally presently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a daily contributor on SiriusXM NHL Community Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his excellent protection of the league in 2016.