Tyson Foerster & Tanner Laczynski Out With Injuries, What’s Next For Phantoms?

Lehigh Valley Phantoms General Manager Brett Flahr delivered the blowing news this morning to media that Philadelphia Flyers 2020 1st round pick right winger Tyson Foerster officially suffered a small fracture in his tibia (shinbone) during his professional debut on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL season opener against Hershey on Saturday afternoon.

Foerster, who turned 19 in January, collided with after Hershey Bears player Steve Whitney blew a tire and clipped Foerster’s knee. After the play happened, hockey took a pause for a moment due to Tyson not being able to put any weight on his leg. Foerster had to be helped off the ice by Phantoms head athletic trainer Brian Grogesky along with his teammate David Kase.

At first glance, he looked to be in some serious pain, discomfort and looked disappointed that the play happened. Many hoped it wasn’t so serious as originally thought, however that wasn’t the case after the news broke this morning.

The 19 year old will miss about a month of action which equals out to 14 games. That isn’t ideal in a 38 game schedule. The Phantoms injury list currently looks likes this:

Tanner Laczynski (groin)

Wade Allison (ankle),

Isaac Ratcliffe (rib, collapsed lung),

Pascal Laberge (back)

The question still remains who can replace the Foerster in the Top 6? With the Flyers COVID-19 postponement of games against the Washington Capitals and with Philadelphia not playing at least for six days, is it possible that we could see a Carson Twarynski or Sam Morin be sent back down to the Phantoms? Morin did play Saturday against Hershey before he was shuffled back to the Taxi Squad on Sunday.

Tanner Laczynski will also be out about a week or two due to a groin flarement. Gordon could promote Max Willman to the 2nd or 3rd line, off his impressive play on Saturday. He was another player who appeared to urge more ice time when the lines were juggled amid the 2nd period. He and Chris Mueller saw an early move within the 3-on-3 extra time period where the two nearly joined up to win it.

Gordon might have to go to his bullpen and give Tanner McMaster or Matt Strome a crack into the lineup. Both were scratches on Saturday. We shall see what the Phantoms management decide to do before Wednesday’s game against Binghamton in Newark, NJ.

We’ll have a preview for the Phantoms 2nd game of the season and their 2nd on the road against the Devils coming your way, including what the lineup will look like without Foerster.