And just like that, the final piece of the scheduling puzzle for next season has fallen into place.
Our 25-25 preseason schedule is HERE!
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) August 4, 2025
10/1 @ HER (7:00PM)
10/4 VS WBS (7:05PM)
10/5 VS HER (3:05PM) pic.twitter.com/SbJxNGgkbZ
Yesterday, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms announced the schedule for their slate of preseason action. They’ll kick things off with a game on the road on October 1, facing off with the Hershey Bears for the first time since the Bears bounced them from the playoffs in May, before returning home for a game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on October 4 (their first meeting since the Phantoms bounced them from the playoffs), and then finally a rematch with the Bears to close things out on home turf on October 5.
The preseason games will follow up the Rookie Series, which will return to Allentown again come September, and will kick off following their own training camp, but will begin while the Flyers are still in action with their own preseason (their two remaining games coming on October 2 and 4). This means that the first game or two will likely feature heavily the AHL contracted players — the veterans and the bubble players hoping to earn place with the Phantoms, rather than being sent down to Reading to join the Royals — and some of the early cuts from Flyers camp, but it won’t be until the final preseason game, if not the regular season opener, that we see some of the big names who will be hoping to get long looks at NHL camp and make meaningful pushes for spots with the Flyers. But those battles are meaningful as well, and as the organization increasingly emphasizes that next man up mentality, who rises to the top of the mix among those ECHL/AHL bubble players will likely count for something, come back around as the season wears on.
It’s all a ways out, but it will be an exciting beginning to what should be a fun and intriguing season for the Phantoms — with a new coach at the helm and a serious influx of high-end talent, the team will be looking to take a meaningful step forward after a few disappointing seasons in the books. We still have a good bit of offseason left to go before we get all the way to that preseason opener in October, but we’ll be there before we know it.
