PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Wolf Pack, Game 1
Opening Night!
TONIGHT – It’s Opening Night for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as they host the Hartford Wolf Pack in the first contest of the 72-game schedule. Arriving fans will receive rally towels and schedule posters on an electric night at PPL Center.
Lehigh Valley is 8-4-0 all-time in season openers after last season’s 5-2 triumph over the Belleville Senators. The Phantoms franchise is 20-8-2 in 30 home openers.
The Philadelphia Phantoms won the first game in franchise history on October 4, 1996 with a 6-3 victory at the Springfield Falcons. Peter White scored the team’s first-ever goal.
Lehigh Valley won its inaugural Opening Night on October 17, 2014. Scott Laughton scored the first-ever official goal at PPL Center and Brandon Manning rifled home the overtime winner against the Adirondack Flames.
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/
THE TEAM – John Snowden enters his second season as head coach with a roster comprised of 27 total players. Nine rookies enter their first full professional season, with newcomers Spencer Gill and Ilya Pautov slated to make their North American pro debuts tonight. Many of the other rookies had limited stints with the Phantoms late last season or the season before but are still considered rookies. 15 players are returning Phantoms having played at least one game for the Orange and Black previously. There are 12 players with NHL experience led by 32-year-old veteran Zach Aston-Reese, who has played 416 games beginning with Pittsburgh and more recently with Florida last year.
CAPTAIN GETS THE CALL…AGAIN! – Congrats to Lehigh Valley Phantoms captain Garrett Wilson, who has made the Opening Night roster for the Flyers after a strong training camp. It is the FIRST time in 16 years that Wilson has made an Opening Night roster. A lifelong bubble player who has appeared in 87 career NHL games, Wilson had not been in the NHL for almost seven years when he made his historic and incredibly surprising return last season.
The rugged 35-year-old veteran winger completed his 15th season of professional hockey in 2025-26, playing 54 games with the Phantoms before spending the rest of the season with the Flyers where he played in three games. Wilson has served as captain or alternate captain for the Phantoms for six seasons and holds the Lehigh Valley records for most games (341) and penalty minutes (789). His unlikely, fairy-tale return to the NHL after a nearly seven-year absence garnered national attention.
On March 19, 2026, in Los Angeles, Wilson suited up for the Flyers in what was his first NHL action since the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The forward played three total games for Philadelphia. Wilson was nominated by the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) for the 2025-26 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which recognizes a player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
FAMILIAR FACES – Among those returning to the Phantoms from last season’s team are Oliver Bonk, Carson Bjarnason, Jacob Gaucher, Aleksei Kolosov, Hunter McDonald, Ty Murchison, and Zayde Wisdom. Jackson Edward, Yaniv Perets, Noah Powell, Riley Thompson, and Vincent Sevigny also had short stints with the Phantoms last season as well.
ROOKIE ENERGY – Here come the prospects!
9 Riley Thompson is a big center from Ohio State who played nine games for the Phantoms last season after signing as a free agent.
13 Alex Ciernik is a 21-year-old fourth-round selection from 2023 who played three games for the Phantoms two seasons ago and is the son of former NHL and AHL defenseman Ivan Ciernik.
15 Noah Powell played 16 games at the end of last season after arriving from college. The Round 5 choice in 2024 played a physical game with big hits and two fights during the Rookie Series and two more in the preseason.
22 Cole Knuble impressed in his seven games with the Phantoms last season. The son of former Flyer Mike Knuble also scored a pair of goals for Philadelphia during the preseason after also tallying for the Flyers in the Rookie Series.
42 Spencer Gill is a 6’4″ defenseman on the cusp of his pro debut. The 20-year-old righty shot and Flyers’ second-rounder missed most of his QMJHL season with an injury.
77 Jett Luchanko is back with the Phantoms after an end-of-season stint two years ago. The speedy, play-making center is set to stay in the pros full-time. He made the Flyers Opening Night roster the last two years but was slide-ruled back to Major Juniors both seasons to continue his development.
90 Ilya Pautov is a speedy forward who was a sixth-rounder in 2024.
MORE PROSPECTS – Several exciting, young talents are entering their second or third professional seasons.
4 Ty Murchison begins his second season on the blueline after a strong but abbreviated rookie season that saw his NHL debut before a season-ending injury on January 10.
19 Hunter McDonald is back for his third season. The hard-nosed blueliner made his NHL debut last year in the season finale.
59 Oliver Bonk began his rookie season on the sidelines with an injury but the Flyers first-rounder and son of former NHL’er Radek Bonk progressed from there to eventually make his NHL debut with the Flyers in the regular-season finale
64 Carson Bjarnason was the youngest goaltender in the AHL and received valuable experience while adapting to the American Hockey League who now aims for even more in 2026-27
EXPERIENCE – Five veteran free agent signees on two-way NHL contracts will join our stalwart leadership group.
12 – Zach Aston-Reese – F – 32-year-old veteran of 416 NHL games with Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Toronto, Columbus. Split time between Columbus Blue Jackets and Cleveland Monsters last year.
18 – Danila Klimovich – F – 281 career AHL games and 70 goals in five pro seasons with Abbotsford Canucks including a Calder Cup Championship two seasons ago.
23 Jack Studnicka – F – Speedy forward has 126 career NHL games with Boston, Vancouver, San Jose, Florida. 75 goals in 392 pro games. Last year had 2 goals in 41 games with Charlotte and also 19 NHL games with Florida.
25 – Nolan Foote – F – Former New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers forward has 245 AHL games with Binghamton, Utica, Charlotte.
44 Cam Dineen – D – Tom’s River, NJ native comes back east! 383 AHL games with Tucson and Bakersfield plus 38 NHL games with Arizona and Edmonton
56 Jacob Gaucher – F – Popular and hard-working forward has received recalls to the Flyers in the last two seasons. Last year, he became just the third player in Lehigh Valley hsitroy to score 20 or more goals in back-to-back seasons (joining Danick Martel and Greg Carey).
74 Zayde Wisdom – F – From youngest player in franchise history to the most tenured player on the team having played 260 games for the Orange and Black as the energetic winger enters his sixth season with the team.
COACHING STAFF – John Snowden enters his second season as head coach of the Phantoms and his fourth season on the team’s coaching staff. NHL veteran defenseman Nick Schultz is back for his second season as an assistant coach as is Yardley, PA native Terrence Wallin. Brady Robinson enters his 11th season as goaltending development coach for the Phantoms.
SIGNED – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms announced this week they have signed Jonathan Gruden to an AHL contract for the 2026-27 season. The former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward for five seasons is a veteran of 335 career AHL games and is the son of Maple Leafs assistant coach John Gruden who won a Calder Cup last year as head coach of the Toronto Marlies.
TRADE – The Philadelphia Flyers have acquired forward David Goyette from the Seattle Kraken, in exchange for forward Devin Kaplan.
Goyette, 22, was selected by Seattle in the second round (61st overall) of the 2022 NHL Draft. He joins the Phantoms after appearing in 108 AHL games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds from 2024-26, recording 9-19-28. Prior to turning pro, the St-Jerome, Quebec native spent three seasons (2021-24) with the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves, where he totaled 114-168-282 points. During the 2023-24 season, Goyette led the OHL in points scoring 40-77-117.
Kaplan, 22, spent one full season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2025-26 and registered 5-8-13 in 49 games.
ON THE AIR – Catch the Phantoms, home and away, on the Phantoms 365 app and on Real Oldies 1470-AM, WSAN and also on FloHockey.TV.
Also available via the Listen Live link at the Phantoms website and on your Smart Speaker system at “Play Phantoms Radio 24-7.”
Bob Rotruck has the play-by-play action all season long.
Service Electric Network is the exclusive home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, providing extensive coverage of all home games. Steve Degler and Steven Swavely call the action from the booth, while Kristi Fulkerson and Dan Fremuth host pregame, intermissions, and postgame coverage, beginning with “Front and Center” live from Chickie’s and Pete’s at PPL Center.
LOOKING AHEAD – The homestand continues next weekend with Saturday Night Hockey Live against the Cleveland Monsters on October 10 and then Bluey Day on Sunday, October 11 at 1:05 also against Cleveland.
Hartford Wolf Pack
Springfield Thunderbirds
