Photo Credit: The Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Today is the Lehigh Valley Phantoms opening day. What a day it will be for Phantoms fans that have been clamoring for the season to begin. A new season dons as the 2023-24 season gets underway.
Danny Briere wasted no time saying that the Flyers are currently enduring a “Rebuild”, and that this is not a short-term fix. He stated it could take several years to get back into to get back on the right track. The word “Rebuild” became a word that the prior regime, to include Dave Scott refused to use, “That’s my belief. It needs to be done the right way. At this point, I think that’s what’s needed,” Briere said. “That’s what’s going to be important moving forward and not rushing to things. We’re going to keep evaluating players. We’ll have a lot of discussions in which direction we’re going to move, but there’s no doubt that this is not a quick fix in my mind. I believe it’s going to take a little while, but at the same time, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to do a full fire sale and have a complete new team next year. There’s a lot of good players. There’s a lot of good young players on this team. We’ve definitely gone on the younger side and I think it shows at times. It showed this year and it’s going to show until the end of the year. We’re a younger team. We maybe lack a little bit of experience. I think it’s the right way to go at this time.”
“I believe it’s needed. We have to be careful, and I want to make sure that rebuild doesn’t mean fire sale,” Briere said. “There’s a big difference between the two. I want to make that clear. We’re not going to get rid of everybody. We have some good players here. Some players that are in certain roles that we’re going to keep as well. We’re going to look at every possible option out there to improve the team. I don’t think this is a quick fix. That’s my belief and that’s why I’m not afraid to use the word rebuild. As long as you all understand, those little asterix, that it’s not a fire sale.”
I add these quotes by Briere in this piece as the Phantoms have players on the roster that could play with the big club, such as, Wade Allison, Samu Tuomaala, and Tanner Laczynski to name a few. Garrett Wilson was named team Captain yesterday, Adam Brooks and Louie Belpedio will lead the charge defensively, as will returnee Adam Ginning. Ethan Samson is a new addition on the backend as he beat out Mason Millman for a spot, as did Helge Grans who was acquired in a trade with Ivan Provorov.
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store
Cool Matvei Michkov merchandise
Some other regulars from last season that have returned are Olle Lycksell, Cooper Marody, Elliot Desnoyers, Jordy Bellerive, Ronnie Attard, and Zayde Wisdom. Adam Karashik also returns for another season, while there is a new Goaltending tandem comprised of Cal Petersen and Parker Gahagen.
It will be a good interesting season and it kicks off today against the Cleveland Monsters at 7:05pm.
