From a prospect just getting started in his collegiate career to another wrapping up his for good, we move on to dig into the season and trajectory of Cole Knuble, who’s at quite the interesting inflection point in his career, staring down a full-time debut into the American Hockey League this fall.
No. 19: Cole Knuble
2025-26 Primary League/Team: Univ. of Notre Dame (NCAA)
2025-26 Statistics: 9 G, 22 A in 36 GP
Age as of 9/15/2026: 22 (7/1/2004)
Acquired Via: 2023 NHL Draft – Round 4, Pick 103
How did Knuble’s 2025-26 season go?
There was a bit of an open question at the close of the 2024-25 season, when Knuble took a big step forward and seemed to have done just about everything needed to master the college game, of whether he would opt to sign his entry level deal and move on (something the Flyers seemed willing to make happen), but instead he chose to return to Notre Dame for one more season to chase down some unfinished business.
And while it feels a bit too strong of a statement to argue that it was an outright mistake to return for one more season, things certainly didn’t go as smoothly as Knuble would have hoped. The team, in turn, took a major step back, struggling to string together wins after a competitive second half the year before, and Knuble’s game also saw some trouble taking off. His production, which was once incredibly consistent, backslid, and so much so that he spent much of the season moved over from center to wing in an attempt to give him more space to wake up that production. It did work, for what it’s worth, but the whole of the season averages out to one that was more fine than fantastic, which is what one might have hoped to see from a player of Knuble’s age and maturity.
But, all of that said, if there was any disappointment from how that final stretch of college games played out, it certainly didn’t bleed into his level of impact when he jumped in with the Phantoms for a seven game stint at the end of their season. It was here where his game really started to come alive again — immediately dropped into a role at the top of the lineup, and before long even tasked with sliding back to center, his energy and strength of his forechecking game made him an immediate high-impact player. It was still a small sample, to be sure, and there were still some moments where he looked a little bit outmatched physically, but there was a lot of potential flashed over the course of that stint, and he made quick work of impressing the coaching staff down there, which should go a long way for him when next season rolls around.
What are we expecting from Knuble this season?
This season, then, will see Knuble jump into the AHL on a full-time basis, and show what he can do over a longer span of games. He’ll certainly still have to come into camp and work to earn his spot, but given how highly the coaching staff has already spoken of him, if he’s able to start off the season reasonably well, it’s not hard to imagine him quickly regaining a spot playing at the top of the lineup and on the power play.
We’re keeping our expectations reasonable here — we might recall, for example, that Alex Bump really popped in his late-season stint with the Phantoms the year before, but had some bigger struggles to work through in his next season — but there’s a lot in Knuble’s game that suggests that he should be able to find an effective game at this level before too long. Whether the scoring shows up for him quickly is a big question, but there’s a higher baseline level of effectiveness that we can expect from him that comes from how strong his energy and forechecking game is. It’s going to be a bigger task to unite all of the elements of his game into a productive whole, and there’s a lot of reason for optimism about the player he can be if those pieces do come together.
How does Knuble fit in the Flyers’ organization?
While the Flyers are pretty set in terms of their NHL roster for this coming season, it’s clear through their moves that they’re still looking for solutions to help them lock down the center position down the line a bit. There are some higher pedigree or higher ceiling names in this same mix, to be sure, but Knuble’s game, though it isn’t always as flashy, could still be an effective addition to a group that could stand, still, to play with a bit more pace.
Now, things would get a bit more complicated if Knuble isn’t able to stick at center in the pros, as the group of wingers is a bit more crowded, but there could well still be a role for him as a play driving winger in a depth role on a future team. He might not be a massively high-impact, game breaking player at the top level, or a central piece to the lineup’s construction, but there always seem to be roles for versatile energy players like him, and he’s got a good shot at making it in some capacity.
What do we think Knuble’s ultimate NHL upside is, and how likely is it that he gets to something approaching that?
That said, given all that we’ve already touched on regarding the full scope of Knuble’s game, there’s a lot in there that feels quite projectable. There are some question marks about his longer term positional fit, and how much offense he’ll be able to contribute at the next level, which will inform the true heights of his upside — if it all comes together for him, there’s a chance he could find a role as high as the middle of an NHL lineup — but even if the offense is modest and it turns out that he’s better suited on the wing, his floor is such that he could still be an effective NHL player even if he doesn’t hit all the way to that potential ceiling.
He still has some finer points to work out with the Phantoms, but his game is already a quite mature one, and he doesn’t seem too terribly far away from getting himself at least into the conversation for a promotion to the NHL.
How we voted
…At No. 19:
| Brad | Cole | Evan | Jason M | Kelly | Kurt | Maddie | Readers | Ryan G | Thomas |
| Ty Murchison | Shane Vansaghi | Nathan Quinn | Cole Knuble | Shane Vansaghi | Cole Knuble | Shane Vansaghi | Heikki ruohonen | Brek Liske | Cole Knuble |
For Cole Knuble:
| Brad | Cole | Evan | Jason M | Kelly | Kurt | Maddie | Readers | Ryan G | Thomas |
| 21 | 15 | 15 | 19 | N/A | 19 | 20 | 16 | N/A | 19 |
