The 2024-25 AHL regular season is in the books, and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms clinched a playoff spot for a third consecutive season, overcoming some serious odds to make it happen. The roster was weak on prospects and the goaltending was once again a struggle, but the work ethic was never lacking and enough contributors stepped up to keep their heads above water.
So for the last time in 2024-25, let’s take a look back on the Phantoms’ prospect stock report!
Trending Up
Olle Lycksell
Lycksell finished his third season with the Phantoms with 44 points in 43 games. It was the second consecutive season he finished over a point-per-game and he’s up to 128 points in 134 AHL games sprinkled over the last three campaigns.
Unfortunately he never really got a proper look in the NHL at any point over his time in the organization to determine whether or not he could transition this success or whether he was a quad-A guy.
If this is the end of the road for Lycksell’s time in the organization as a pending Group-6 UFA, he’ll finish sixth all-time in Lehigh Valley Phantoms history in points, and will break the top 20 in all of Phantoms history in points as well.
Zayde Wisdom
The 22-year-old, four-year AHL vet Zayde Wisdom tallied what was easily the best season of his professional career with 13 goals and 32 points in 68 games. By the end of the season he was seeing time on both the powerplay and penalty kill. He spent most of the last two seasons in a fourth line role and frequent healthy scratch.
It may have been too little too late to get his tenure with the Flyers back on track, but he proved that he may still have an untapped ceiling when deployed in a meaningful way, and a fresh start with a new team this summer could be just what the doctor ordered for the long-time Phantom.
Alexis Gendron
Gendron’s first full AHL season was a strong one. He hit the 20-goal plateau, one of only two Phantoms to hit that mark. He did only have eight assists, which was lowest on the entire roster of players who suited up for more than 25 games.
Gendron’s raw skill in the speed and shot categories are some of the highest on the team and could very well be one of the players to benefit next season when some of their top prospects see AHL ice time. The music between the notes could still use some work, but for a rookie season in an organization that is desperate for someone to score goals regularly, Gendron is certainly piquing interest.
Ethan Samson
Sophomore right-handed defenseman Ethan Samson continues to age like a fine wine at the AHL level. He posted 24 points in 69 games, which doubled his point total and quadrupled his goal total from last season.
Especially late in the season Samson stepped up into the top offensive defenseman role when Andrae was recalled to the NHL. From where he was day one last year during his rookie campaign to today at the end of his sophomore season is night and day difference. Is he an NHLer? That still feels kinda unlikely, but if he still has more room to grow, it’s not off the table yet either.
Jacob Gaucher
Gaucher entered the season on an AHL deal and ends it with an NHL contract he signed in December. He scored 20 goals and 38 points with the Phantoms, which was easily his personal best and was tied for first in goals and had sole possession of second on the team in scoring.
He was slightly disappointing towards the end of the season in terms of production, a 13-game goalless drought where he only produced two assists, but overall the season was still a positive one.
It still doesn’t really feel like his ceiling is much higher than where it is right now, so don’t expect him to be an NHL regular next season, but Gaucher has defied all the odds so far, so never say never.
Best of the Rest
Emil Andrae
Andrae made the jump to the NHL this season through some tense circumstances as he and John Tortorella clearly didn’t see eye to eye during the early days of the campaign. But his 42 games in the big leagues was broken up by a 25-game stint with the Phantoms where he produced at a usual clip of 16 points in 25 games. Hopefully, the Phantoms have seen the last of Andrae and he can be a full-time NHLer next season.
Nikita Grebenkin
Grebenkin only ended up playing 11 games with the Phantoms after the trade deadline visa issues and before a minor injury put him on the shelf, but he certainly made an impression both on and off the ice in the short time he has been here.
His shift-by-shift may not have been anything to write home about, but he was a beast on the powerplay. Which, based on the on the wet fart that is the Flyers’ main roster power play, even being a special teams player could carve him out a nice little niche in the NHL sooner rather than later.
Parker Gahagen
At 31 years old, it’s hard to consider Gahagen a prospect, but for the second season in a row, the ECHL journeyman posted easily the best numbers of any Flyers goalie at the AHL level (or NHL level, for that matter) and deserves credit for standing on his head when the folks ahead of him on the depth chart fumbled big time.
Rodrigo Abols
Abols’ returned to North America for the 2024-25 season with one goal in mind- make his NHL debut. Well, he tore it up with the Phantoms all season, recording 32 points in 47 games and did indeed make his NHL debut at the age of 29. He dressed for 22 contests with the Flyers at the end of the season and scored two goals and tacked on three assists.
Alex Bump
Fresh off a national championship, Alex Bump made his AHL debut and posted three points in two games, including scoring his first professional goal. Ideally, he won’t see AHL ice time next season as he jumps directly to the NHL, but for a guy who has quite a bit of expectations on his shoulders, his first taste of action kept that hype train rolling.
Sideways Trending
Massimo Rizzo
Rizzo’s rookie campaign in the AHL is in the books, and it tells a tale of highs and lows. He missed the first six weeks of the season after undergoing surgery for appendicitis during training camp. When he returned in late November he opened with an 11-game pointless drought. From mid-December to mid-February he was one of the hottest scorers on the team, before another injury in late February stalled his production, recording just one goal and one assist in his final 14 games of the season and even found himself as a healthy scratch on a few occasions.
If you kept up with the weekly reports, you know that even when he was scoring, he wasn’t really doing it in any kind of world-beating fashion, he was just racking up a ton of points under the radar, typically spending most of his ice time in a bottom six role.
Rizzo showed enough potential to be intrigued about what his future can hold, but he doesn’t exactly feel like a top prospect either.
Hunter McDonald
McDonald wraps up his first full AHL season with less hype than he started with, but still had enough flashes of potential that keep him in the race as one of their notable defense prospects. He registered four goals and 18 points in 71 games along with 99 penalty minutes and a +12 rating. He led the team in both blocked shots and hits as well. He played most of the season in the top left-handed defenseman role, something that was definitely more true when Andrae wasn’t around, albeit they were still smart with his deployment to mask some flaws.
Sometimes he plays it too safe and just isn’t good enough to be that smart top defenseman, He’s best when he’s just out there using his 6’4 frame to bash bodies, but then his defense suffers anyway. He’s gotta figure out a way to mesh the best of both worlds, which he did show glimpses of this season but it wasn’t on a regular basis.
Helge Grans
Grans entered the 2024-25 season with some low expectations after a pretty bland first season in Lehigh Valley in 2023-24, but he started the season hot and ended the season on a roll. He made his NHL debut back in November and did not look out of place, and that high carried his AHL season for quite awhile. There was a portion of the season right after the halfway point where he went from visually spectacular to just a guy again. He did get back in the scoresheet regularly towards the end of the season (he finished with eight goals and 23 points) however.
Grans is a pending RFA this summer, so it’ll be interesting to see whether or not he returns. Chances are he’s not an everyday NHLer and with guys like Oliver Bonk making the pro jump next season and Ethan Samson the overall better player, they may just not have any need for Grans anymore.
Trending Down
Samu Tuomaala
The first six weeks or so of the season was a huge step for sophomore forward Samu Tuomaala. He was scoring regularly and was easily their most dominant forward. But a six-game pointless streak in early December grew to a 21-game goalless drought over the span of two months. He only posted three goals and 10 points in 19 games after Christmas. And he’s been out of the lineup since March 1 with a lower body injury.
His final stat line of 11 goals and 32 points in 46 games will make the year look better than it actually was on paper, but it was a mixed bag at absolute best.
Adam Ginning
Ginning re-signed with the Flyers at the end of last season with the assumption that he’d fight for main roster minutes never came. He played one NHL game this season in late January. He was fine at the AHL level. He posted two goals and 17 points in 69 games, which is right around the mark he usually does, but as a defensive defenseman his play seemed visually disappointing compared to where it was last season. He may not be a full-time NHLer, but you can imagine being foever stuck in the AHL with zero opportunity wasn’t exactly what he had in mind when he inked his new deal.
Aleksei Kolosov
The Flyers’ organization’s handling of Kolosov was an unmitigated disaster, but he certainly wasn’t helping himself when he was playing in the Valley. He suited up for only 12 games, going 5-6-1 with a 3.11 goals against average and an .884 save percentage. He had one phenomenal showing against the Penguins on March 14 and that was pretty much it. The rest of the time his play ranged from sub-par to questioning whether or not he was even trying most nights. A year ago he seemed to have the potential to be the Flyers’ next top goalie, but now he may not even return to North America (again) and it really wouldn’t even matter that he was gone.
Elliot Desnoyers
Desnoyers set the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ rookie goal scoring record back in 2022-23 with 23 goals, and he more or less hasn’t done a single notable thing since. He’ll finish the season with five goals and 19 points in 59 games, which would fail to surpass the low bar of 22 points in 63 games he set last season when he was marred in a 22-game goalless drought.
Since the Flyers have blown their draft positioning to kingdom come in the last few weeks of the season, it means they could very well end up drafting his brother Caleb in the first round, in which case it would be interesting to see if they’d keep Elliot around a few more years, but as far as his own status as a prospect with an NHL ceiling, that ship has sailed.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyerFan)
brotherlypuck.com 