The Lehigh Valley Phantoms re-signed goaltender Keith Petruzzelli while adding some other players including goaltender Yaniv Perets.
Nov 16, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Yaniv Perets (60) shoots the puck during the warmups before the game against the Ottawa Senators at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms added some players to their depth chart Wednesday. The team announced goaltender Keith Petruzzelli will return for the 2025-26 season while goaltender Yaniv Perets, defenseman Ben Meehan and forward Carson Golder have all signed with the club. It’s more than likely all four of the aforementioned players will be spending most of the season in Reading of the ECHL.
The Perets signing was speculated earlier in the month but nothing was confirmed. Perets has spent most of his career in the minors. In 2023, the undrafted goaltender from Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, was signed by Carolina, playing one game with the Hurricanes in 2023-24 and playing 34 games in the ECHL with the Norfolk Admirals. In 2024-25, Perets played all of 13 minutes in a Carolina uniform, unfortunately allowing one goal in roughly eight minutes of play for a 7.32 goals-against average. Last the previous season, he played 27 games in the ECHL, all with the Bloomington Bison. He also had a four-game stint with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.
As for Petruzzelli, he spent 34 regular season games and three playoff games with Reading in 2024-25. He also played six games with Lehigh Valley. His best numbers were with the Royals where he posted a 3.12 goals-against average and a save percentage of .901. Petruzzelli, 25, was drafted in the third round by Detroit in 2017 but never saw any NHL action with the Red Wings. In 2022 he was signed by the Leafs, but spent most of the time bouncing between the AHL and the ECHL.
Both Perets and Petruzzelli should add a bit more depth in Reading as the Phantoms lost Cal Petersen in the offseason. As well Eetu Makiniemi will be playing in Finland next season, ending his brief tenure with the Flyers and Lehigh Valley after an injury-shortened year. Added to those moves, Parker Gahagen, who saw some playoff action with the Phantoms last season, signed a American Hockey League contract in early July with the Bridgeport Islanders, so he is another netminder no longer in the conversation. And one isn’t sure what’s going to happen with Aleksei Kolosov this coming year, whether he remains with the Flyers, is sent down to the Phantoms for the year, or simply heads back to play in the KHL with Philadelphia retaining his rights.
Meanwhile Ben Meehan, 24, played two games with the Iowa Wild in the AHL last season after finishing his fifth and final season with the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in Hockey East. While with the university team, Meehan scored three goals and had 14 assists in 36 games. The native of Walpole, Massachusetts was drafted in the fifth round by the Kings in the 2020 draft.
As for Carson Golder, the 22-year-old left winger spent most of his time in the ECHL the past two seasons with the Norfolk Admirals although he had some short stints with the Manitoba Moose over those two years. In 2024-25 Golder played two games with the Moose and had two assists. In 41 games with the Admirals he had 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points. Golder, who has some size (6’3″, 203 pounds), went undrafted during his years of eligibility.
Again, the moves should be seen as the Phantoms filling out spots for Reading next year and not too much more. However, should the Phantoms run into a string of injuries, or the Flyers face the same unfortunate situation, then these players could be called up to Lehigh Valley to replace players up with the big club. No real earth-shattering moves, but some additions to sure things up before training camps begin.
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