The Phantoms have seen their fair amount of roster turnover as they head into this next season, and while this certainly gives the mix an air of mystery, it also opens the door for some newcomers to step in and take hold of one of the more major roles, still sitting vacant.
Forward Riley Thompson, brought in as a college free agent at the end of last season, got his first taste of AHL action during the team’s stretch run last spring, and though there were some real positives shown in that stint, the real challenge lies ahead, as he looks to continue to develop his game and carve out a role for himself on a roster which is quite a bit more crowded than it was when he first arrived.
How did his 2025-26 season go?
Thompson closed out a reasonably productive college career in the spring — wrapping up his third collegiate season and second with Ohio State with a tidy 13 goals and 27 points across 37 games — before signing a one-year entry level deal (which kicks in this season) and joining the Phantoms for the remainder of the season on a tryout contract. It was a big jump, both in the level of competition but also into the heat of a continued (and increasingly desperate) pursuit of a place in the playoffs, but he was able to hit the ground running quite nicely.
Thompson’s game wasn’t the flashiest, but he was able to get comfortable with the pace of play in short order — a notable accomplishment, considering one of the bigger pieces of the scouting report on him coming in was a bit of an issue with foot speed — and provide some stability in addressing a position of need for the Phantoms as the season went on. That is, they found themselves quite short on centers as the season wore on, and Thompson was tasked with playing some big minutes and being asked to get comfortable with the AHL game on the fly, something that easily could have turned overwhelming for a player in his position, but he handled the task well, all things considered. He took that usage and was able to deliver some nice pop, chipping in four assists over his nine games played, getting his playmaking game going and setting a nice foundation from which he can build up when he returns for this season’s longer run.
What are we hoping to see from him this season?
Though that first stint at the end of last season showed some real promise, the challenge here for Thompson, as he gets rolling into his first full season with the team, is to prove that this first impression was more than just a flash in the pan.
We’ll see this season opening with more of a competition in place for roles — more on that later — and Thompson is going to have to work just that much harder for those same big minutes that he was getting last time around. The stakes are ramping up, but there’s a real opening left for him to make a strong impression and rise to that occasion, in turn.
This season is going to be a big one of continuing to get more and more comfortable with the level and elevate just about all levels of his game, but particularly, there remains the most room for him to continue to open up his offensive game. As he went on through his stint at the end of last season, he seemed to get more comfortable broadly, and more empowered to get more touches in, as he went — he went without a shot on goal in his first two games, but was then able to record 13 over his final seven games played. It’s a commendable bit of positive momentum, but there’s still room to continue pushing on that. Because, it’s worth acknowledging, it remains that he’s still waiting on that first AHL goal to come for him, and for that to come together for him, he’ll need to continue to refine his process, whether that comes from shooting even more, or approaching his shot selection differently, so as to get a bit more out of that chances he’s getting. The Phantoms, across the board, will need to find a way to tap into a more consistent scoring game on a collective level, and Thompson is going to need to make sure that he’s pulling in the same direction, in that regard.
What kind of role do we expect him to play?
As we alluded to earlier, the question of the role that Thompson will play is quite an open one. The Phantoms have a good mix of center options heading into this season — between a proven and versatile option in Jacob Gaucher and some higher profile prospects in Cole Knuble (who showed some promise in a brief shift back over to center at the end of last season) and Jett Luchanko (who they’re all but certainly going to want to give a lot of minutes as they work to polish and restore his game) — and if Thompson wants to climb beyond the third line, it’s going to take a good amount of demonstrated consistency, and work to drive that. He’ll get his chances, to be sure, as the coaching staff will use these early goings to shuffle players up, down, and around the lineup in search of their best fits, but whether he’s able to hold on to a greater role when it’s presented will be largely up to him.
