Pederson Standing Out With Lehigh Valley

Every American Hockey League (AHL) team has prospects, and the fans, especially of the NHL affiliate, are hyper-focused on them. The players who are overlooked in this league are the journeymen, even if they have a better story (and more of them) to tell. Lane Pederson is that player with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Pederson has bounced around the AHL, going from the Tucson Roadrunners to the San Jose Barracuda to the Chicago Wolves to the Abbotsford Canucks to the Bakersfield Condors in nine seasons. He’s 28 yet a veteran in a league dominated by youth.

In his first season with the Phantoms, he’s become a key to their success, especially with his play as of late. “I think I got off to a slow start, there’s no denying that,” Pederson noted after the Dec. 31 game against the Hershey Bears, a game where he scored twice to give him a team-leading 22 points. On a team with a surplus of prospects, he’s the center who makes everything work, and his ability to keep producing has helped the Phantoms win games even with a roster limited by call-ups and injuries.

Pederson as Lehigh Valley’s Do-it-all Center

Pederson began the season centering the Alex Bump and Denver Barkey line. To play that role, he had to be fast and skilled to create scoring chances and find the back of the net. Pederson’s skill took the top prospects in the Philadelphia Flyers system to the next level and gave the Phantoms a line they could lean on.

Then Barkey got the call-up to the NHL, and Bump suffered an injury. Pederson was suddenly centering a line with different skaters on it every night. The talent drain had the offense searching for answers and struggling to find the back of the net. Pederson adjusted, and his four goals in the last four games have snapped the Phantoms out of their losing ways and put them back on track. “He understands what it takes to be successful in this league,” head coach John Snowden noted after the latest game.

Pederson is now playing a heavier game and particularly feeding into the strengths of a checking and physical forward group. With Oscar Eklind on his line and Garrett Wilson playing in an increased role, the Phantoms started leaning on physicality over skill, and Pederson’s adapted to it. “Petey and I have had long talks about the type of games we’ve needed from him,” Snowden added, and his ability to do it all has paid off for the evolving team.

The veterans in the AHL are forced to adjust their play by default. Pederson, like many prospects, came into this league as a skilled player and has pivoted into a technical one who can play a physical game. “Most of the time, scoring goals is not enough to make it,” Laval Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent stated about the players coming into the AHL who need to adjust and find a door to make it to the NHL.

Pederson became that veteran who can pivot on the fly, which always leaves the door open for an NHL call-up if a team needs him for a few games but in the meantime, allows him to be a top player in this league.

How Lehigh Valley Unlocked Pederson

Pederson was a great player when he was with the Bakersfield Condors. He had 22 goals and 30 assists in 66 games in the 2023-24 season. Yet, the Phantoms are where he’s putting together a career-best start, with 11 goals and 11 assists in 31 games. Better yet, Pederson started the season with only one goal in eight games but has turned himself into the top player on the offensive end. “With each game, with each passing week, I’ve gotten better,” he added after the latest game.

The Phantoms signed him with the hope that he’d be a reliable part of the offense. Even they’ve been pleasantly surprised. Snowden, the coaching staff, and the skill from the surrounding prospects would help him but little did they know how much it would unlock his game.

Pederson’s play has made him a standout. The other key is the opportunity to fill that void at the top-line center spot. “I think opportunity is a big one; he plays a lot. He plays in all the important situations when it comes to offense,” Snowden added after the recent game. The AHL opens doors for players, and they can step into roles and make the most of them, which is what Pederson has done.

He was up to the task when asked to center the Barkey and Bump line. Now, he’s up to the task of carrying the offense when the rest of the skaters are struggling. The Phantoms entered their Dec. 28 game against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins with only five goals in five games, yet Pederson found the back of the net and added an assist in a 4-3 shootout win. The last game saw offense at a minimum as the Hershey Bears failed to score but Pederson’s two early goals fueled the 3-0 win to close out 2025.

His Value As Phantoms Change

Every team in the AHL needs a strong veteran presence. It helps build the culture and set the tone for the season but also prevents a drop-off when the prospects are called up or go through slumps (which they are more susceptible to). Pederson is part of the veteran group that brings a lot of value to the Phantoms.

For the prospects, Pederson is a much-needed mentor who teaches them how to play on the ice and how to act off of it. One key is “Finding your A game and learning how to play a B game as well,” Pederson noted after the Nov. 9 win over the Toronto Marlies, where everything was clicking but the dog days of the season were around the corner, and this team would need a good B game (the jury is still out on whether they have one). For the Phantoms, he’s a winner, or more accurately, a player who adds wins by being in the lineup every night.

Snowden is building a winning culture in Allentown, and the veterans play a big role in doing so. Pederson, Garrett Wilson, and Zayde Wisdom help him get the message across to the younger players. The Phantoms are playing with a depleted group, yet Pederson is keeping them competitive. Once players return from injuries, notably, once Bump is back and on a mission (to prove that he deserves a call up as Barkey got), the top-line center will make the team look like a Calder Cup contender.