Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
We’re only two weeks into the season, but help is already on the way for some AHL teams who need it.
Start with the Hartford Wolf Pack, where the New York Rangers’ goaltending picture has been hammered by injuries to Igor Shesterkin and Joonas Korpisalo. The trickle-down effect has cost the Wolf Pack the services of both Dylan Garand and Spencer Martin, leaving Callum Tung and Gabriel Carriere, who have a combined 78 AHL games between them, to take over in Hartford.
After a promising 3-0-0-0 start, the Wolf Pack have been outscored 16-4 in their past three games, all at home. They head to Charlotte for a two-game weekend with some new faces after veteran NHL goaltender James Reimer signed a tryout contract and forward Jaroslav Chmelař was sent down from New York.
Reimer has played 539 NHL games for seven different teams, and was unsigned after spending last season with the Ottawa Senators. Chmelař was scoreless in seven games with the Rangers; he skated in 28 games with the parent club in 2025-26.
Out in San Jose, the Barracuda (1-4-0-0) have received forwards Alex Barré-Boulet and Cam Lund from the NHL Sharks after both players had been injured to start the season.
Barré-Boulet, of course, has been one of the AHL’s most dependable offensive threats for the better part of the past decade. His 70 points (26 goals, 44 assists) for the Colorado Eagles last season placed him second in league scoring, and he earned an AHL First All-Star Team selection as well. The 22-year-old Lund spent his first full pro campaign with the Barracuda in 2025-26 and posted 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in just 37 games. The 2022 second-round pick missed training camp after an injury in the Sharks’ prospects tournament last month.
The Milwaukee Admirals went with a familiar face to firm up their blue line, signing Wisconsin native Michael Karow to a professional tryout. Karow has spent the last four seasons with Milwaukee’s Central Division rivals, the Texas Stars. He had his most productive campaign in 2025-26 with 10 goals, 28 assists and a plus-24 rating in 68 contests.
On the other hand, the Central Division rival Chicago Wolves are going through significant roster hits. Top forwards Bradly Nadeau and Felix Unger Sörum were both recalled by the Carolina Hurricanes this week. The defending Stanley Cup champions have been dealing with injuries to Jordan Staal and Taylor Hall.
Last season’s Calder Cup runners-up, the Wolves are 0-4-0-0 while being outscored by a 22-5 margin. trying to sort out a difficult start to their season in which they have gone 0-4-0-0 and been outscored, 22-5. They have a two-game home set with the Iowa Wild this weekend at Allstate Arena.
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.
