SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes are ready to face off for the Stanley Cup, and the finalists’ rosters are loaded with graduates of the American Hockey League.
Vegas, the parent club of the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights, won the Western Conference with contributions from AHL alumni up and down the roster – 21 of the 24 players to dress for a playoff game for the Golden Knights so far have spent time in the American Hockey League.
Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden are tied for Vegas’ team lead with 10 goals apiece this postseason. Dorofeyev played 119 games in the AHL with Henderson, including a 27-goal campaign in 2021-22. Howden made his professional debut as a 19-year-old with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch in 2017, helping them reach the Calder Cup Finals.
Vegas captain Mark Stone played 91 games over two seasons with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators, totaling 30 goals and 49 assists. William Karlsson skated in the AHL with Norfolk and Springfield, and forward Colton Sissons along with defensemen Rasmus Andersson, Brayden McNabb and Dylan Coghlan were all AHL All-Stars. Ivan Barbashev, Keegan Kolesar, Kaeden Korczak, Jeremy Lauzon and Shea Theodore all played more than 100 games in the AHL.
Head coach John Tortorella spent two seasons as head coach of the AHL’s Rochester Americans, winning a Calder Cup championship 30 years ago in 1995-96. Tortorella is already one of nine coaches ever to win both the Calder Cup and the Stanley Cup. Golden Knights assistant coach John Stevens is a member of the AHL Hall of Fame who won three Calder Cups as a player and one more as a head coach, and assistant Joel Ward served in that capacity with Henderson before being promoted to Vegas.
Carolina, making its first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 20 years, is the parent club of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. The Hurricanes have been led in playoff scoring by Taylor Hall, who collected 34 points in 26 games skating for the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons in 2012-13.
Logan Stankoven, who won the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding rookie in 2023-24, leads the Hurricanes with nine postseason goals in 13 games. Stankoven recorded 24 goals and 33 assists for 57 points in 47 games with the Texas Stars that year.
Defenseman Jalen Chatfield and goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov were members of the Chicago Wolves’ 2022 Calder Cup championship team. Chicago is currently playing in the AHL’s Western Conference Finals, as the Hurricanes and Wolves look to become the first NHL/AHL affiliates to win titles in the same season since New Jersey and Albany in 1995.
Other AHL alumni on Carolina’s roster include goaltender Frederik Andersen, who is 12-1 with a 1.41 goals-against average this postseason, as well as Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson, former AHL All-Stars Mark Jankowski, Sean Walker and Brandon Bussi, and Seth Jarvis, who made his pro debut with the Wolves in 2021.
Before partnering with the Hurricanes in 2021, the Wolves were Vegas’ AHL affiliate and reached the Calder Cup Finals in 2019.
The 2026 Stanley Cup Final begins tonight in Raleigh, N.C.
In operation since 1936 and celebrating its 90th-anniversary season this year, the AHL serves as the top development league for all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of today’s NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent time in the AHL in their careers.
