Laberge On The Verge? Flyers Forward Prospect More Than Ready For 2019-20 Season

ALLENTOWN, PA -- Through the course of a season - and especially so in a roller coaster of a season like the organization went through last year - some smaller, seemingly insignificant details tend to be far back in the memory bank or completely forgotten altogether.

Things like Pascal Laberge's late-season emergence in Lehigh Valley after missing all but the final two months of the 2018-19 regular season. While his final stat line in 2018-19 shows just six total points - and you'd have to scroll down the Phantoms' team stats to the 27th skater to find him - the end-of-season meetings revealed that both team and player left the Lehigh Valley last spring rather impressed.

"He's one of the big bright spots in my opinion," then-head coach Kerry Huffman said on exit day. "I wasn't sure because of how much time he had missed, and the two injuries he had gone through were pretty serious injuries. For a player to come back like he did, he asserted himself. He wasn't timid. He jumped in there."

Laberge had to wait until the end of February to get back into game action after recovering from hip surgery, but he certainly made the most of the tail end of the season. The highlight of his season was the March 27th game in Rochester, where after scoring two goals in the second period Laberge finished the hat trick in overtime to lift Lehigh Valley to a big 4-3 win on the road.

"Scored some big goals, but his willingness to go to the tough areas around the net was something I wasn't sure we were going to see until he got more comfortable," Huffman recalled, adding, "But he did really well with it."

After resorting to the press box upstairs for the first 60 games of the season, Laberge played the final two months like he had something to prove.

"For myself, with the injury, I didn't know how I would react coming back that late in the season," Laberge said after last season ended. "I think I did pretty good things, so I'm proud of myself. I got back into great shape and I'll try to build off that and be ready to go next year."

While a lot of the hype surrounding the forwards on names like Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Isaac Ratcliffe perhaps it is Laberge who is on the verge of a potential breakout season in 2019-20.

During his exit interview, Laberge noted while he was happy to get into some games he felt like he was just starting to get into a groove as the team played their finale game in early April. He acknowledged scoring a few goals gave him even more confidence that he could be a difference maker.

"To see that you are able to produce and help the team even if you missed a big chunk of the season was nice," Laberge said. "At the same time it sucks because I was just building on these games and [now] the season is over.  I'll try to come with that confidence next year."

Back in April, Huffman - now back to his assistant coach role with Scott Gordon back from Philadelphia for the upcoming season - said Laberge certainly had things to work on like all the younger guys do in terms of his pace of play, conditioning and little details to the game.

"He played enough games to see it, feel it. He'll adjust to it now, have a good off-season so I'm really happy with Pascal for sure."

Having been able to get into those 15 games at the end of the season certainly sets the benchmark for Laberge to build on heading into 2019-20. Heading into the summer with no limitations is also a nice change of pace for Laberge, who has had to overcome quite a few serious injuries over the past few years - both at the junior level and as he's turned pro.

"I'm 100% ready," Laberge told Inside AHL Hockey heading into the offseason. "Focus on working out and getting on the ice."

We won't have to wait to long to get a first-look at the results of a full summer of training for Laberge, as the Flyers open main camp with on-ice sessions beginning Friday morning.