Lehigh Valley Phantoms Top 14 Prospects: #9-#6

With the Phantoms and the rest of the AHL following the same schedule structure as the NHL with playing teams only in their respected division and playing a lot of home and home splits to complete the race of a 36 schedule, numbers nine through six in my opinion are key for the Phantoms to jump out of the gate early with as much two point games as possible.

The most warmed up on this list I’ve created is David Kase. Chuck Fletcher and Brett Flahr are expecting a big breakout season. With those expectations it was no surprise to anyone that he was placed on loan last year in August staying in game shape with HC Energie Karlovy Vary which is a very young team with plenty of teenagers on that squad. You’d have to think that was some what done on purpose to see how Kase handled big minutes in the Top 6 role, how he was around the guys and how he was going to use his expertise from the pro level to these young kids. Kase ultimately lit it up while on loan putting up 27 points (6G, 19A) in 25 games played.

It’d be interesting to see how head coach Scott Gordon plays his lines out in the only pre-season game the Phantoms have on Tuesday at home against WBS. I’d like to see Kase paired with Wade Allison and maybe a veteran like Chris Mueller who’s still on a PTO with the team.

Here is my ranking of nine through six on the Phantoms prospects of the 2021 AHL season.