Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
This is what the Lehigh Valley Phantoms can look like when the gang (mostly) gets back together.
The Phantoms knocked off the Belleville Senators, 3-1, on Saturday and then rolled to a 6-1 win in Toronto on Sunday. Tied at 1-1 in the second period against the Marlies, Oliver Bonk scored shorthanded – his first goal as a professional – to put the Phantoms ahead before they unloaded for four more goals in the third.
Carl Grundström, who had posted 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 19 games with the Phantoms, went up to the Philadelphia Flyers and has produced seven goals in 14 games there. Rookie Denver Barkey, who had given the Phantoms 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 26 games, also remains with the Flyers and has fit in well.
Those are two major losses for Lehigh Valley, but they are getting back to a much more reasonable version of themselves. Forward Alex Bump rejoined the lineup Saturday after missing four games. Anthony Richard returned from competing for Canada at the Spengler Cup. And on New Year’s Eve, the Flyers made their fourth trade this season with direct implications for the Phantoms, shipping out defenseman Egor Zamula to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Phil Tomasino, who brings 218 games of NHL experience to Allentown.
There is also goaltender Aleksei Kolosov, who was named the Howies Hockey Tape/AHL Player of the Week after turning aside 60 of 61 shots in a pair of starts last week.
First-year head coach John Snowden has his club sitting third in the Atlantic Division thanks to a current streak of earning points in six straight games (5-0-1-0). That run includes shootout wins over Hartford and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and a shutout of Hershey on Dec. 31.
The Phantoms are also benefiting from a more stable situation in Philadelphia, where the parent club is 22-12-7 at the halfway point of its schedule. With the Flyers in a good place, the hits to the Lehigh Valley roster have been far less disruptive than in the past.
But that is not to say that Philadelphia assistant general manager Alyn McCauley has not been aggressive about reshaping the Phantoms.
Earlier this season they acquired defensemen Max Guenette, Christian Kyrou and Roman Schmidt to remake the Lehigh Valley back end. And the acquisition of Tomasino, a 2019 first-round pick by the Nashville Predators, also gives removes a point-per-game performer from the roster of the rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The 24-year-old Tomasino fits a clear plan of attack for the Flyers, long an organization that has been willing to act aggressively via both trades and free agency. It’s the classic low-risk, buy-for-potential strategy for a player who recorded 24 points in 61 NHL games last season.
Kolosov, who turned 24 on Sunday, had a rocky debut season between Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley in 2024-25. This season, Philadelphia has a clear top tandem after signing Dan Vladar as a free agent to complement Samuel Ersson. That lack of ambiguity in Kolosov’s role has provided him with an opportunity to focus on his development with the Phantoms, and he has responded with a 9-8-1 record, a 2.51 GAA and a .910 save percentage in a rotation with rookie Carson Bjarnason.
Now comes the portion of the season that really tests development and shows what prospects really have to offer. Just seven points removed from the Atlantic Division lead, the Phantoms are back on the road this weekend for a two-game jaunt to New England, where they will face Springfield and Providence. Right now they look like a solid pick to join the Calder Cup Playoff field come April, but they haven’t made a significant postseason run since a 2018 charge to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Philadelphia has made development and winning at the AHL level a key part of its overall organizational rebuild. These next three-plus months in Lehigh Valley will be one step toward those objectives.
