The NHL salary cap can be cruel. So can a long, winding injury history. Or a downturn in performance.
As much as the AHL’s reputation is built around preparing and then sending young prospects off to the NHL, it can also be a path back for familiar NHL names. Often top prospects themselves previously, those players find themselves tasked with making that same climb back to the NHL.
Something – be it the salary cap, injuries, a prolonged slump, a new management team, or simple bad luck – has put these players back in the AHL.
Once NHL stars, the likes of Jonathan Cheechoo, Dany Heatley, Andrew Ladd, Alex Mogilny, Scott Gomez, Wade Redden, Cory Schneider, and Sheldon Souray all found themselves dispatched to the AHL in the second half of their careers. Now and then, a player like Ladd will make it back to the NHL for a another go-round and stick. Others manage to hover on that NHL-AHL line for a time, earning a brief recall here and there, but never really making it back to the NHL. And for the others, the AHL is their final stop.
This season is no different. For any number of reasons, an experienced group of veterans find themselves in the AHL to begin this campaign. Here is a look at some of the most prominent members in that group:
2024 Providence Bruins vs Bridgeport Islanders
Pierre Engvall – Bridgeport Islanders (New York Islanders)
Plenty of loud murmurs were heard this week when New York put the 28-year-old forward on waivers. Engvall cleared and finds himself in Bridgeport leading into the club’s season opener Saturday night against Providence.
It was only two years ago that Engvall had himself a solid 17-goal season split between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Isles. After being dealt late in the 2022-23 season to New York, he seemed to be a part of the future on Long Island. Islanders management appeared to think so. After all, it was only 15 months ago that they gave Engvall a seven-year contract.
Now Engvall is back in the AHL for the first time since he was a prospect with the Toronto Marlies. What comes next?
Boris Katchouk – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh Penguins)
A 2016 second-rounder chosen by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Katchouk find his career at a difficult point at age 26.
The forward has cycled through the Lightning, Chicago, and Ottawa in the past three seasons. A training-camp tryout with Anaheim this preseason did not yield NHL work. So it’s back to the AHL for Katchouk, who signed an AHL contract with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this week. As someone who showed some scoring prowess during his time with Syracuse, this new contract is a chance to rediscover that touch around the net.
Matt Murray – Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Bilateral hip surgery wiped out most of Murray’s 2023-24 season in Toronto as he wound down a four-year contract that he had signed with Ottawa back in 2020. And in the two seasons before last, Murray had played just 48 games between the NHL and AHL.
But while last year’s surgery was expected to keep Murray out for as long as eight months, he managed to work himself back into action in time to salvage a little something from the year as he got into three late-season games with the Marlies.
As the Marlies prepare to open their season at home Saturday afternoon against San Diego, Murray’s fight to revive his career will continue in the AHL, where he emerged as a dominant prospect back in 2014-15 with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. A year after winning nearly every possible trophy in the league as a rookie, Murray had graduated to the NHL and won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. Now 30 years old, the Leafs are giving Murray another chance with a new one-year deal that he signed this past summer.
2024 San Diego Gulls vs Toronto Marlies
Colin White – San Jose Barracuda (San Jose Sharks)
Veteran after veteran struggled to find a job this past offseason.
Even having spent the better part of the past six seasons in the NHL wasn’t enough to get White at least an NHL two-way deal. So the 27-year-old forward took a different route and signed an AHL deal with the Barracuda instead.
Now White will be going into what potentially could be a quite favorable situation. Starting with him and Andrew Poturalski, the Barracuda offense will possess some formidable power, which should allow White to put up some solid numbers. And with the Sharks in need of help, a good start could prompt them to rip up White’s AHL deal and give him a contract that puts him back in the NHL.
Jarred Tinordi – Calgary Wranglers (Calgary Flames)
Tinordi is well-acquainted with the up-and-down nature of the hockey business.
A 2010 first-round pick by the Montreal Canadiens, it took the defenseman 12 years until he really found himself a regular spot on an NHL blue line. He ended up playing 96 games across the past two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks. It turned out to be a good fit for someone who had ended up in Chicago as a waiver claim. But with the Hawks retooling this summer, Tinordi found himself looking for work in a process that stretched into September.
The 32-year-old is starting with the Wranglers, but a return to the NHL would just mean a trip down the hallway to the Flames dressing room.
2024 Abbotsford Canucks vs Calgary Wranglers
When Does The AHL Season Start in 2024?
The season begins on Oct. 11, 2024 with the Milwaukee Admirals traveling to the Grand Rapids Griffins at 7 p.m. EDT and the Syracuse Crunch traveling to the Utica Comets at the same time.
There are a total of 29 games over the opening weekend.
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