This season was a long one for Flyers prospect Cole Knuble.
It saw him bring his three-year college career to a close — in a season which was challenging at times, as he had to work through some cold spells in production and saw himself moved over to play the wing for stretches to wake his game back up — and jump right into meaningful action with the Phantoms after signing his entry level deal in the spring, joining them for seven games in the heat of their stretch run attempt to get into the playoffs.
It wasn’t an easy transition, but Knuble acquitted himself well to the situation, bringing some positive flash and pulling some important lessons for himself, that he could carry into this critical summer of preparation.
“I think like the style of pro hockey, you know, it’s like guys are smarter,” Knuble reflected at this month’s Development Camp. “I think that it was really good for me to get that experience, take some stuff away. [Those] guys are grown men, so it’s kind of every level, I guess, you go up, you’re playing against older, stronger guys, so it’s like a similar jump in that respect, but it was just good to gain some confidence, too.”
That confidence grew for him as he got more games under his belt, to be sure, but it was also pretty clearly evident in him from the moment he made his debut with the Phantoms. There were times when he lost a battle based on positioning, or got outmuscled, as might have been expected, but there was no fear in his game to engage with an older or stranger battle, to get that first touch in, and look to make a play. It may not have been perfect for him, but that energy and willingness to step up for any and all battles made a very strong first impression for himself.
“You can see his responsibility,” Phantoms head coach John Snowden immediately observed after that debut. “He wins his battles. He plays under guys and gets through guys, uses that leverage in battles. You can see he’s not afraid to go touch a puck first, take a hit to make a play. I thought his showcased his ability to make plays and just his brain and how he processes the game and, you know, you get thrown right into the fire and he does [well]. I thought he was excellent tonight.”
And Knuble just seemed to get better as his stint went on. Even with a shift back over to play down the middle, Knuble took the extra responsibility in stride. He chipped in a nice bit of offense — a goal and two assists over those seven games — which was an immediate positive, but even more valuable was the energy that he brought and the space that he was able to create through the strength of his checking game. And while that might not have always been the flashiest bit of effort, it did gesture towards something deeply fundamental about the game that he’s been building across the whole of his playing career.
“I think just growing up kind of realized,” Knuble went on, “like that’s the way I’m going to be able to make it, like [as] a guy that’s going to go [into] every battle. And I think growing up the emphasis was like not goals or assists, it was always like did you win your 50/50s, and I guess like, did you stick your nose in there. That’s kind of the way my I was coached growing up. Um so yeah, I think that was just how I’ve always played… He used to say like if you have 12 eggs in your pockets, they should all be broken.”
Knuble’s impact in a small sample — and the learning that came with it along the way — should have done well to earn him a bit of good standing with the coaching staff to keep in the back pocket, heading into his first full season with the Phantoms, but this player profile that he’s already working to develop could well also leave him primed to step into a meaningful role right from the jump this season. After all, it seems no coincidence that last season the team lost some effectiveness at the midseason point, when Denver Barkey went up to the Flyers and they lost one of their most effective forecheckers, who took up a huge load of minutes, and Knuble’s similar style of play could help them replicate much of what they got from Barkey, which helped to make that top line look downright lethal at times.
There’s still much work to be done to get him all the way acclimated to the professional game, and to earn himself a top of the lineup role, but there’s a lot to like in the work that Knuble’s put in already, to get his game to the place it’s at now, and in turn, a lot of reason for optimism that he can continue that steady upward trajectory all the way into an effective professional role in this upcoming rookie season.
