Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
NHL free agency opens today at noon ET, but the action involving familiar AHL names is already well underway.
While it’s the top NHL names who dominate the headlines, work done by NHL organizations this week can go a long way toward shaping the fortunes of their AHL affiliates for the coming season. Whether it’s an organization adding a strong core of veterans, players fresh off winning the Calder Cup, or a prospect getting a fresh opportunity somewhere else, the coming days are vitally important.
Let’s break down some of the early activity as well as look ahead to who might be available to sign.
Familiar names already on the move
Already there have been several trades involving top AHL names.
Just three days after going to the Calder Cup Finals with the Charlotte Checkers, forward Justin Sourdif was sent by the Florida Panthers to the Washington Capitals for a return that included a 2026 second-round pick. That same day saw forward Brendan Gaunce, who had split this season between the Minnesota Wild and Iowa Wild, will be returning to a familiar organization after a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Gaunce, who captained the Cleveland Monsters to the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals, returned to the Columbus organization in a swap that sent forward Cameron Butler to Minnesota.
Columbus remained busy the following day in a deal with the Colorado Avalanche. As part of the haul for NHL forwards Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood, the Avalanche acquired forward Gavin Brindley from Columbus. The 20-year-old Brindley is a second-round pick who just completed his first pro season with Cleveland.
Minnesota made another move at the NHL Draft this past Saturday, acquiring defenseman Chase Priskie from Washington. Priskie, an established top AHL performer, had 35 points (12 goals, 23 assists) in 61 games with the Hershey Bears and won the Calder Cup in 2024. The 29-year-old has not signed with Minnesota, however, and remains eligible to become a free agent today.
The last deal before today’s action involved goaltender Cayden Primeau. Coming off a stellar season with the Laval Rocket, Primeau was sent by Montreal to the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. The restricted free agent went 21-2-2 in 26 games with the Rocket while posting a 1.96 goals-against average and .927 save percentage. Primeau, 25, also split the Laval net with rookie Jacob Fowler as the regular-season champion Rocket advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Calder Cup champion Canucks available
NHL teams want winners, and there are several proven players who just won the Calder Cup eight days ago with the Abbotsford Canucks.
Defenseman Christian Wolanin, who won the Eddie Shore Award in 2022-23 as the AHL’s top defenseman, had another strong performance. The 30-year-old finished with 40 points (four goals, 36 assists) in 58 regular-season games before delivering 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 17 playoff games while taking on heavy minutes and helping to anchor the Abbotsford blue line. Another mainstay on the Abbotsford blue line, Akito Hirose, is also an unrestricted free agent.
Sammy Blais showed how much of a dominant power forward that he can be in the Calder Cup Playoffs. After a 40-point regular season, Blais tied for third in Calder Cup Playoff scoring with 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in 23 games and headlined a dominant Abbotsford forecheck that created all kinds of problems for opponents. In addition to winning the Calder Cup with Abbotsford, he also won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 and has played 257 NHL games. Phil Di Giuseppe is another Abbotsford forward with significant NHL experience (302 games). The 31-year-old split the regular season between Abbotsford and the Vancouver Canucks. Playing all 24 playoff games, he finished with 11 points (six goals, five assists). Jujhar Khaira, playing on an AHL contract and acquired from the Syracuse Crunch in March, stepped in as a valuable power forward as well.
However, Vancouver has retained forwards Arshdeep Bains, Aatu Räty, and Max Sasson as well as organizational blueline mainstay Guillaume Brisebois.
Charlotte standouts provide more options
Several Charlotte players also made strong cases for themselves as Calder Cup finalists.
Goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen turned a late-season trade to Florida into a stout run down the stretch and through the postseason with the Checkers. Kähkönen, who has played 140 NHL games, started this season with the Colorado Eagles, went to the Manitoba Moose, and then moved on to Charlotte. He took all 18 playoff starts for Charlotte and went 12-6 with a 2.18 GAA and .906 save percentage.
On the blue line there is Matt Kiersted, who just wrapped up his fourth full season in the Florida organization. The 27-year-old can handle a top-pairing workload and had 29 points (one goal, 28 assists) in 64 regular-season games before adding eight assists in 13 playoff outings.
Up front, John Leonard played on an AHL contract with the Checkers and supplied a 36-goal regular season, leading the team with 61 points and then topping the team again with 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in 18 playoff games. Checkers captain and mainstay Zac Dalpe is an unrestricted free agent. Forward Will Lockwood can move up and down a lineup and fill any role, and Kyle Criscuolo has long been a dependable two-way option. Finally, Jesse Puljujärvi revived his career after coming to Charlotte in February. The fourth overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft has played 387 NHL games, but he had bilateral hip surgery two years ago. He came to the Checkers, took on any role asked of him, and proved his durability through a long playoff run.
Staying put
The Boston Bruins held on to Michael DiPietro, the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award winner as the AHL’s most outstanding goaltender. After his standout season with the Providence Bruins, DiPietro signed a new two-year deal with Boston on Monday. Avalanche management also kept Trent Miner in the organization with a two-year contract after an excellent season with the Colorado Eagles.
The Dallas Stars have made sure to keep the one-two combination of Cameron Hughes and Kole Lind in the organization. Hughes and Lind had been to back-to-back Calder Cup Finals with the Coachella Valley Firebirds before signing as free agents with Dallas last season. Dominant as always in the postseason, the pair helped to lead the Texas Stars to the Western Conference Finals. For their efforts, Hughes got a new two-year contract with Dallas while Lind re-upped for another season.
Monday brought further action. Defenseman Montana Onyebuchi earned a two-year contract with the Utah Mammoth after a solid season with the Tucson Roadrunners. Calgary Wranglers captain Clark Bishop got a one-year extension to remain in the Calgary Flames organization. Leevi Meriläinen, who played 37 games in net with the Belleville Senators, secured himself a one-year, one-way contract with the Ottawa Senators.
Goaltending help is here
DiPietro’s goaltending partner in Providence, Brandon Bussi, is available. So is Hunter Shepard, who took the Hershey Bears to back-to-back Calder Cup titles.
Other available netminders include Oscar Dansk (San Diego), Collin Delia (Bakersfield), Aaron Dell (San Jose), Isaac Poulter (Utica), Olivier Rodrigue (Bakersfield), Adam Scheel (Colorado), Malcolm Subban (Belleville), and Dustin Tokarski (Chicago). Ken Appleby did not see any postseason action with Charlotte, but he had a strong regular season. There are also several goaltenders with considerable NHL experience, including Jack Campbell (Grand Rapids), Matt Murray (Toronto), and Cal Petersen (Lehigh Valley). Iowa’s Troy Grosenick missed the season with a knee injury, but he has proven performer at this level as well.
Looking for a blueline boost?
The AHL season always tests a team’s defensive depth, so the offseason is a critical time for building out a strong blue line that can handle those demands.
A pair of top veterans are available. Derrick Pouliot was a First All-Star Team member with the Syracuse Crunch. Hershey’s Ethan Bear took a spot on the Second All-Star Team. Among available defensemen who finished in the league’s top-20 in regular season scoring, there are Jack Ahcan (Colorado), Nikolas Brouillard (Coachella Valley), Kale Clague (Rochester), Jeremy Davies (Belleville), Max Lajoie (Coachella Valley), and Zach Metsa (Rochester).
More experience can be found with Calen Addison (Springfield), Louis Belpedio (Lehigh Valley), Tobie Bisson (Syracuse), Joseph Cecconi (Ontario), Dylan Coghlan (Manitoba), Cameron Crotty (Iowa), Marc Del Gaizo (Milwaukee), Ben Gleason (Lehigh Valley), Lucas Johansen (Henderson), Dysin Mayo (Henderson), Jaycob Megna (Charlotte), Dakota Mermis (Toronto), Ian Mitchell (Providence), Calle Rosén (Colorado), Brogan Rafferty (Grand Rapids), Chad Ruhwedel (Hartford), Riley Stillman (Chicago), Jarred Tinordi (Calgary), Reilly Walsh (Ontario), and Tyler Wotherspoon (Laval).
Forwards abound
Leading the way from Texas is Matěj Blümel, whose league-leading 39 goals helped him to tie for second in AHL scoring with 72 points.
Toronto’s Alex Steeves had 36 goals in just 59 games. Ontario’s Samuel Fagemo, who had 43 goals in 50 games just one season ago, and Martin Frk (Calgary) are other snipers. Several long-time top playmakers are up for grabs, too. There is T.J. Tynan of Colorado, a two-time AHL most valuable player, as well as Alex Barré-Boulet (Laval). Trey Fix-Wolansky, a fixture with the Cleveland Monsters since 2019, is out there. So is his teammate, Rocco Grimaldi, who got a professional tryout on the first day of the regular season and provided another excellent season.
Available AHL All-Star Classic selections include Grigori Denisenko (Milwaukee), Cole Guttman (Rockford), Cameron Hebig (Tucson), Alex Limoges (Hershey), Olle Lycksell (Lehigh Valley), Brett Murray (Rochester) and Brian Pinho (Bridgeport). They join established high-end forwards Vinni Lettieri (Providence), Alex Nylander (Toronto), Matthew Phillips (Colorado), Egor Sokolov (Tucson), Riley Tufte (Providence), Mike Vecchione (Hershey), Chris Wagner (Colorado), and Kailer Yamamoto (Tucson).
Milwaukee’s Cal O’Reilly, who hit the 1,000-game mark in his AHL career this past February, is unsigned. So are captains Curtis McKenzie (Texas) and Garrett Wilson (Lehigh Valley). Syracuse mainstay Daniel Walcott also needs a new deal.
On the American Hockey League beat for 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 2016.
