This past season for the Phantoms was one with certainly no shortage of compelling storylines, from start to finish. Between new additions stepping up, the goalie carousel, and the constant swings in momentum game over game on the team level, there was excitement everywhere you looked. But with all of this taken into account, there was perhaps no more rewarding storyline to see unfold than the resurgence of Zayde Wisdom across this season.
Having just completed his fourth professional season, he’s certainly ridden the highs and lows throughout that span. Making his debut in the — admittedly taxi-squad depleted — league during the COVID shortened season, he came onto the scene super hot, scoring seven goals and 18 points in 28 games as a 19 year old and setting some likely outsized expectations in the process. And this was a bar he struggled mightily to reach again — in his second season, he only managed to score 10 points across 45 games, and in his third, he had just three and really struggled to find a place for himself in the AHL at all. The stakes were high as he headed into this fourth season, playing for a new contract and his place in the organization, and he rose to the occasion in a big way.
| Games played | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM | Shots on goal | Shooting percentage |
| 68 | 13 | 19 | 32 | 44 | 92 | 14.1 |
On the most basic level, Wisdom took a huge step forward as far as the counting stats are concerned. His 13 goals and 32 points on the season were good for fifth on the team in scoring — respectable enough, to be sure — but even more critically, it was a giant leap forward from the meager two goals and three points he scored in 49 games in his previous season.
Now, some of this surge in production can be explained by a bump in shooting percentage — that’s also up nearly 10 percent from 4.3 percent last season — but it isn’t the whole story, as this year saw Wisdom again bringing a more complete game, checking well and supporting his teammates in the offensive zone, but also getting himself into better shooting positions on the whole. And, what’s more, while that 14.3 shooting percentage from this past season feels a little bit high, it’s a much more reasonable figure than the 21.2 percent that he shot at during his scorcher of a rookie season. That figure was never going to be sustainable, but this might be something closer to it.
| Games Tracked | Corsi-For % | Scoring Chances-For % | High Danger Chances-For % | Primary Shot Assists | Secondary Shot Assists |
| 17 | 51.17 | 50.96 | 57.41 | 7 | 1 |
His underlying impacts, too, were quite solid. Looking at the shot attempt and scoring chance differentials, while those do fall each about three percent lower than the (very good, we should emphasize) team averages, they still tell us that the Phantoms were getting a slight edge in possession when Wisdom was on the ice — and additionally, we suspect those averages will go up as more games from the second half of the season, when he spent more time playing alongside noted strong play driver Jacob Gaucher, are factored in to his averages. All the same, those are impacts to be pleased with, and what’s more, that High Danger Chances-For differential is a step up, and falls right in line with the team average in that metrics, suggesting that more than anything else, Wisdom is doing a good job at driving offense right in and around the netfront (which does line up with what the eye would tell us from watching him over the whole of the season).
Three Questions
Did he live up to expectations?
The expectations for Wisdom coming into this season, in truth, weren’t especially high. Coming off of a pretty disastrous third season with the Phantoms, in which he not only seemed to regress from an already somewhat difficult sophomore season but struggled to find a role for himself at the AHL level at all, his stock wasn’t trending well. Even after a strong camp, there were legitimate questions about what he was going to do through the regular season — because, we recall, he had a strong camp the previous season and couldn’t translate that into a positive season overall — but Wisdom clearly put in some excellent work in the offseason to prepare himself for this new season, and he was able to take off again.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Wisdom was playing for his professional career in the Flyers organization this season, and he did some pretty tremendous work to not just find his game again at this level, but to make himself all but indispensable to them by season’s end. He was often playing minutes up on that top line with Gaucher, and when he wasn’t, because the line was working well with him on it, it was clear that him being moved around in the lineup was an attempt to give another line a bit more jump and get them going. At even strength, he became one of the straws that stirred the drink for the Phantoms, and became as well one of their go-to guys on the penalty kill, as his solid defensive game continued to develop, and the step he added gave them an extra speed threat for shorthanded chances. All in all, the sum of the effort here is really impressive, to such a high degree that probably no one outside of Wisdom himself expected to see it coming. So all the credit in the world to him for that.
What would we like to see him improve on next season?
The big thing for Wisdom going forward will be the same big thing it’s always been for him — consistency. Because even in his seasons which looked more challenging from a zoomed out perspective, he had some bursts of positive play, when it looked like he might be moving towards getting things back on track, but he wasn’t able to sustain it. He’s put in some really excellent work this season, but the next step is to keep this rolling, and prove that the changes and lessons he brought to his game have stuck, and that this wasn’t just another flash in the pan. Now, with a few more skilled wingers looking like they’ll be joining the mix for at least parts of next season and a new head coach to be installed, he might well see himself shuffled down in the lineup again, so he’ll have to work again to learn how to make the most of lesser minutes, but that remains a valuable lesson as well.
What can we expect from him next season?
Wisdom is still in need of a contract for next season, but one imagines that given the work he’s done over this past season, that he’s more than earned himself a new NHL deal, having gotten himself back on the map with the organization, as it were. Now, he’s still a long ways off from legitimately competing for a job with the big club, but he’s certainly in a much more favorable position heading into this new season than he was the last. And while, as we said, we don’t exactly expect him to be playing top line minutes game in and game out like he was to end the season, we still expect him to play a meaningful role for the team, both at even strength and on the penalty kill. Because, as much as he’s still working to rebuild his stock as a prospect, he is still one of the more experienced players on that roster, and we can also expect to see him embrace a bit more of a leadership role as the team sees more and more even younger prospects brought into the mix.