Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
As the NHL starts its 2026-27 season, a heavy AHL influence once again dominates all 32 rosters. More than 83 percent of NHL players – 602 players, to be exact – on NHL opening-night rosters are AHL graduates. This season brings in a fresh group of talent from the NHL’s top developmental league.
Leading the way with the Boston Bruins is Michael DiPietro, fresh off back-to-back seasons winning the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s top goaltender for the Providence Bruins. He also captured the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s most valuable last season in helping Providence to finish atop the AHL with a 54-16-2-0 record; his 1.91 goals-against average and .930 save percentage led the league, and he also took spots on the AHL First All-Star Team the past two seasons. The 27-year-old has pushed through seven AHL seasons, playing just seven NHL games between the Vancouver Canucks and Boston, to secure this full-time NHL job. Joining him in Boston will be a fellow 2026 AHL All-Star, defenseman Frederic Brunet.
DiPietro isn’t the only long-time AHL figure finally to break through to an NHL roster. Defenseman Guillaume Brisebois, entering his 10th season in the Vancouver organization, stuck with the NHL club as camp broke. Brisebois played the last two seasons in Abbotsford for new Vancouver head coach Manny Malhotra, but missed most of 2025-26 with a knee injury.
Tough forward Boko Imama will be providing the Florida Panthers with even more snarl. Imama has played 400 regular-season games in the AHL and signed with Florida as a free agent following two seasons with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Another hard-nosed battler, Lehigh Valley Phantoms captain Garrett Wilson, impressed enough in training camp to stick with the Philadelphia Flyers, as did rugged Manitoba Moose defenseman Tyrel Bauer, who could be in line to make his NHL debut with the Winnipeg Jets.
After winning the Calder Cup back in June, Easton Cowan and Bo Groulx are with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Cowan, who played 68 games in the NHL as a rookie last year, already has three points in the Leafs’ first two games. Charles Alexis Legault, who helped the Chicago Wolves reach the Calder Cup Finals, was in the opening-night lineup for the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
A number of 2025-26 award winners now have NHL jobs as well. Start with the All-Rookie Team, which has four members advancing to NHL work. Goaltender Sergei Murashov is sticking with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The fast-rising prospect took the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to the Eastern Conference Finals. The list also includes defenseman Dmitri Simashev (Utah Mammoth-Tucson Roadrunners) along with forwards Ilya Protas (Washington Capitals-Hershey Bears) and Isaac Howard (Edmonton Oilers-Bakersfield Condors). Protas also won the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s most outstanding rookie. His 66 points (29 goals, 37 assists) led all rookies and tied him for sixth overall. Protas will join his brother Aliaksei and Ivan Miroshnichenko as two more recent Hershey graduates in Washington. Murashov and Protas also won spots on the Top Prospects Team along with defensemen Adam Engström (Montreal Canadiens-Laval Rocket) and Carter Yakemchuk (Ottawa Senators-Belleville Senators), plus forwards Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (Detroit Red Wings-Grand Rapids Griffins) and Konsta Helenius (Buffalo Sabres-Rochester Americans).
Nashville’s opening-night roster includes newcomer Jack Ahcan, a First Team AHL All-Star defenseman in Colorado last season. Joining him with the Predators in Ryan Ufko, who was a Second Team All-Star with Milwaukee in 2025-26.
The AHL’s busiest goaltenders last season have moved up, too. Rochester’s Devon Levi and Texas’ Rémi Poirier tied for the AHL lead with 52 appearances last season; Levi went to Edmonton in an offseason trade while the New Jersey Devils claimed Poirier on waivers this training camp.
The 2025-26 Grand Rapids roster produced plenty of NHL-bound talent. Goaltender Sebastian Cossa went to Utah in deal that will enable him to have an NHL role. Along with Brandsegg-Nygård, Detroit will also have defenseman William Wallinder and forward Nate Danielson as new imports from Grand Rapids. Amadeus Lombardi, another Grand Rapids alumnus, is set to make his NHL debut with New Jersey after a summer trade.
Mix in top prospects like Luca Del Bel Belluz, Conor Geekie, Matvei Gridin, Nick Lardis, Andre Lee, Kevin Korchinski and Isak Rosén as additional 2026 AHL All-Star selections who are on NHL rosters. Two days into the NHL season, and the AHL has already added and Vegas’ Trevor Connelly and Colorado’s T.J. Hughes to the growing list of alumni to make their NHL debuts.
First-round pick, seventh-rounder, or undrafted altogether. Original NHL organization. Or a second and even third organization. Trades. Waivers. Plenty of different pathways to the NHL exist, some much longer than others, but they go through the AHL.
On the American Hockey League beat for more than two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2015-16.
