Patrick Williamstheahl.com writer
Players aren’t the only American hockey league name to enter the NHL this summer.
While free agents and industry players sports that were intact a few months ago have usually re-arranged the AHL roster, many other activities have also taken place. Coaches, recently retired players and others have worked from the AHL to the NHL this summer.
Let’s break down those familiar AHL names that will handle NHL jobs when the training camp opens in September.
Behind the bench
The AHL has been the main path for the head coach to take on the NHL role.
Leading the New Boston Bruins head coach this summer Marco Sturm. He was a candidate for the NHL chief coaching job, and this time he joined the team on the game he played for five seasons in his 938-game NHL career. Sturm has been in Ontario for the past three seasons and has brought the team into the Calder Cup playoffs each time.
After an incredible three seasons of the Hershey Bears Todd Nelson Back to the NHL. He moved to the West for a few hours to arrive at the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he will be an assistant coach with another long-time AHL name, Mike Stouss. Like Sturm, NELSON’s name has been frequently seen in NHL coaching jobs over the years. Despite his interim head coach for the Edmonton Oilers in 2014-15 and as a NHL assistant coach, his work in the AHL has achieved almost unparalleled success. He brought the Bears to the Calder Cup title in 2023 and 2024 and won the game 141-53-12-10 in the regular season. His .704 point percentage tops any head coach in Hershey’s 88-season AHL history. He also won the Louis Ar Pieri Memorial Award, becoming the most outstanding coach in the 2023-24 AHL, bringing the Bears to 53 regular season wins.
This fall, along with Nelson and Sturm behind the NHL bench, will be the other four AHL head coaches last season.
Neil Graham The Texas star was promoted to Dallas Star as an assistant coach after bringing Texas to the Western Conference Finals last spring. Graham is a success story of an organizational development, and he started with Dallas System with Idaho Steelheads, their long-term ECHL branch.
From the Colorado Hawks to Seattle Cleken as an assistant coach is Aaron Schneekloth. He dates back to 2006 with the Hawks when he was still playing and the team is still in the now-discontinued Central Hockey League. Like Graham, he moved towards the ladder. After the team moved to the ECHL, he remained on the team as an assistant coach after retirement in 2013. When the Hawks became the AHL branch of the Colorado Avalanche in 2018, he served as an assistant coach for five seasons before taking over as head coach for the past two campaigns.
Trent Cull Last season was the head coach of the Calgary Wranglers and the assistant coach of the Calgary Flames. He was an AHL assistant coach for eight seasons, and he continued to serve as the AHL head coach for the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary organization. He received an assistant coach in Vancouver in 2022 and he received his first NHL opportunity before returning to the AHL in 2023. Now, he is the role of Fire Assistant Coach.
There are also Brett McLeanhe moved from the Iowa wilderness to Vancouver, where he will serve as an assistant coach.
Behind the scenes
Video coaches don’t have public-facing roles, but they play a key role in today’s games.
Hershey Video Coach Adam Purnerpart of the team’s back-to-back championship was headed to Seattle. At the AHL level of the Devils in New Jersey, Purner came to Hershey in 2022.
Minnesota Outdoors Promoted Internal Promotion by Proposing Iowa Video Coach Ray Sylvester Go to the NHL team. Sylvester has spent the past two seasons in Iowa.
Just on the ice
As the NHL team develops its players, the needs of players who have just left the Ice.
Seattle continues to look for talent from AHL Zac Dalpe As a player development consultant. Dalpe just announced his retirement on July 7 after 15 professional seasons including 574 games. Dalpe has gone through many stages of his game career. He was the Carolina Hurricanes’ second round pick in 2008, and he entered the professional game with a highly ranked prospect, making himself a reliable NHL recall option and top AHL scorer before relaxing his role and playing the role of a veteran at the AHL level. Still, he still hopes to make the Florida Panthers roster when he reaches the Stanley Cup final in 2023.
Toronto move forward Kyle Clifford Stay in Toronto Maple Leaf Organization in Player Development. Like Dalpe, Clifford has been recently removed from the on-ice action. He has spent some time with Marlies over the past four seasons as he starts to end his NHL career that ends up being a 753-game game. He also won two Stanley Cup titles with the Los Angeles Kings in the process.
Sam GagnerHe is also in the Ottawa Senators Organization in part of his past season with Senators Belleville. Ottawa appointed it as the director of player development on May 15 after 17 NHL seasons. Gagner ranked sixth in the 2007 NHL Draft, who was 18 years old the same year and went straight to the NHL and continued to compete in 1,043 NHL games. But he also ended up spending AHL ICE with Lehigh Valley, Toronto and Bakersfield Condors in the second half of his career, before playing 19 games with Belleville last winter.
During the fifty years in the American Hockey League, Theahl.com writer Patrick Williams currently covers NHL.com and Flosports leagues and is a regular contributor to Siriusxm NHL New Network Radio. He won the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding league coverage in 2016.
