SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … As the National Hockey League opens its 2024-25 season, the American Hockey League is proud to have 594 graduates across the NHL’s 32 opening-day active rosters, making up more than 83 percent of the NHL’s initial player pool to begin its campaign.
Many of last year’s notable AHL players have made the jump to the NHL as the new season gets underway, among them 2023-24 AHL rookie of the year Logan Stankoven (Dallas) and fellow 2023-24 AHL Top Prospects Team members Brandt Clarke (Los Angeles), Simon Edvinsson (Detroit), Jiri Kulich (Buffalo) and Shane Wright (Seattle).
A total of 17 players who participated in the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic appear on active NHL opening-night rosters, including 2023-24 AHL goal-scoring leader Adam Gaudette (Ottawa); Second Team AHL All-Stars Joel Blomqvist (Pittsburgh) and Jake Christiansen (Columbus); and standouts Jonatan Berggren (Detroit), Dylan Coghlan (Winnipeg), Matt Coronato (Calgary), Josh Doan (Utah), Ryker Evans (Seattle), Riley Tufte (Boston), Jesper Wallstedt (Minnesota), Dustin Wolf (Calgary) and Olen Zellweger (Anaheim).
Twenty-two of the NHL’s 32 head coaches were AHL bench bosses earlier in their careers including Dan Bylsma of the Seattle Kraken, who was promoted along with assistant Jessica Campbell after guiding Coachella Valley to back-to-back appearances in the Calder Cup Finals. Ryan Warsofsky, head coach of the 2022 Calder Cup champion Chicago Wolves, takes over the bench of the San Jose Sharks this season.
Among the NHL stars who developed their skills in the American Hockey League are reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets and Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, 54-goal scorer Zach Hyman of the Edmonton Oilers, as well as 100-point scorers David Pastrnak, Leon Draisaitl, Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Miller. Last season, a total of 890 AHL alumni played in the National Hockey League – 87.0 percent of all NHL players – including 349 who skated in both leagues last year alone.
In operation since 1936, the AHL serves as the top development league for the players, coaches, managers, executives, broadcasters and officials of the National Hockey League and its 32 teams. The AHL’s 89th season begins this Friday, October 11, with every game streaming live on AHLTV on FloHockey.
