Phantoms In Good Shape Heading Into Trade Deadline Day
ALLENTOWN - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (35-15-7) enter Monday's NHL Trade Deadline sitting in first place in the Atlantic Division, eight points ahead of second place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton who have four games in hand on the Phantoms entering the week.
Today's events could have a major impact on the Phantoms' stretch run and postseason aspirations, but if you Phantoms' head coach Scott Gordon he'll tell you its par for the course.
"You can't control that. If things happen, then things happen," Gordon said after Saturday's 2-1 win in Binghamton. "When it's all said and done, we're here for the Flyers. Whatever we do down here, whether it's a player getting a promoted or a player that gets provided to the parent team because of the performance of a player down here - that's what it's about."
With goaltender Alex Lyon and forward Oskar Lindblom currently in the NHL with Philadelphia, if they aren't reassigned to Lehigh Valley - at least for a few minutes Monday afternoon as the trade deadline passes - they won't be eligible to play for the Phantoms for the rest of the regular season and playoffs.
Those are two players that could have a major impact on the Phantoms' ability to win games and secure a playoff spot down the stretch.
Travis Sanheim, who has 15 points (one goal, 14 assists) in the 15 games he's played with the Phantoms since being sent down from Philadelphia, is another name to keep an eye on Monday. If moves are made at the NHL level to move a defenseman, Sanheim is likely first in line for a promotion back to the NHL where his season began.
One name also worth keeping an eye on currently with the Phantoms is veteran forward Matt Read, a guy in the last year of his contract who before this season in the AHL had spent the last seven seasons in the NHL racking up 186 points (86 goals, 100 assists) in 422 career NHL games. Is it possible there could be interest from other NHL teams looking to add a serviceable depth forward for the stretch run?
Read would certainly fit the bill, but as Flyers beat-reporter Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post noted over the weekend the Flyers gave Read and his agent the green light to try to find a deal with another team months ago when they placed him on waivers to send him to Lehigh Valley and nothing came to fruition. Might the frenzy of deadline day and teams needing to fill a need strike up a phone call to Ron Hextall?
At the end of the day, the Phantoms' head coach isn't too worried about what his roster will look like after Monday's trade deadline passes and he knows who is and who isn't AHL-eligible for the rest of the season/playoffs.
"I haven't really thought about it," Gordon said when asked if the passing of the trade deadline will make his job easier knowing who he will have for the stretch run. "We're fortunate we have a lot of depth here and we've got some pretty good players that are sitting out that are injured. Whatever happens on Monday, we should be in pretty good shape."
