It’s no secret that the trade deadline is a tense time in the hockey world. The NHL is the league everyone is focused on but it impacts the American Hockey League (AHL) just as much, if not more. The prospects who are developing with one team could suddenly be part of a package. The lifetime AHLers looking for a shot at the NHL could be moved to another team, which, for them, is just another season of packing up everything and settling into a new city.
The Bobby Brink trade saw David Jiricek go from the Iowa Wild to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He was with the team in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts, so he could join the team for the Friday night game but his stuff, all of it, was still in Iowa, so he had to fly back and miss Sunday’s game before returning to Allentown.
Aidan Thompson was on a road trip with the Rockford IceHogs in San Diego. “I just had no idea it was coming, just kinda out of the blue, we were in San Diego, so it was a 10-hour travel day yesterday,” he noted on Saturday after his first practice with the Hartford Wolf Pack in a conversation with Hockey Hot Stove. Many of the AHL teams play in cities without airport hubs, so for Thompson, that meant getting connecting flights across the country and arriving in Hartford at 2 AM. This is common in the league, especially this time of the year (one of the people at this site wrote a book about it, so check it out).
The trade deadline adds tension to the air, something the fans and the players feel in the arena. Everyone acts differently and treats the week differently. For the coaches, it’s about keeping it in mind but also getting these teams and the players ready for the final few weeks of the season. At the AHL level, that involves both developing them for the next level and getting them ready for a playoff push, making the past week a tough one to juggle.
The Different Messages to Navigate the Deadline
With the trade deadline on a Friday, it’s always a long week of waiting. “It’s the elephant in the room,” Ryan Mougenel mentioned on Wednesday, two days before the Providence Bruins traded Brett Harrison and Jackson Edward to the Phantoms, moving on from two staples of their roster.
Mougenel took the deadline head-on, which makes sense because he’s been in the AHL for a few seasons. Like the players, the moves impact him and what comes next for a team at the top of the Atlantic Division. “It’s hard at this level, especially because you’re so connected to the players and spend so much time together, and obviously, there’s always a bigger mandate at the NHL level,” he added. It comes with the territory, and for him, it’s a week the team handles and goes back at it right after.
Dive Deeper: 2026 Trade Deadline Webcast & Tracker
The other approach was the one Derek King had. As a former NHL coach, he has a different perspective and knows it’s out there and won’t ignore it. “It was more about telling these guys that it’s out of your control, there’s nothing you can do about it, so you have to focus on what’s going on right now,” King mentioned after the Bears practice on Saturday morning, their first since the deadline.
The deadline, in some ways, is like a lot of things in hockey where there’s only so much the players can control. So, the only thing they focus on is what they can control. “Don’t worry about rumors, just focus on the task at hand, and for the most part, we’ve done that,” the Hershey head coach added.
It’s the catch between ignoring the outside noise and knowing it’s there but finding out how to handle it. It’s why the Hartford Wolf Pack head coach, Grant Potulny’s response raised an eyebrow. “As a player, you can’t worry about that. There are players who are in trade rumors in the NHL that have been in it for a month, and if they sat and thought about it, they wouldn’t perform.” It’s a sentiment that tried to block out the noise altogether, like someone walking through a minefield with their eyes closed, thinking that will help. Yes, players can’t worry about it but it’s harder to block it out altogether.
For the best coaches, it’s about finding that balance, and it’s why some of the best in the league stood out recently. Now that the trade deadline has passed, it’s time for the big finish, and it’s a fun one to end the season.
An Early Look at the All-Rookie Team
After every season, the AHL releases an All-Rookie team, which is voted on by the players, coaches, and broadcasters (with a select few media members mixed in as well). The All-Rookie highlights the prospects who are on the rise and sure to make an impact at the NHL level someday.
With the season wrapping up, it’s a good time to look at some of the standouts. I don’t have a vote (at least at the time of this typing). However, if I did and the season ended today, this is what the All-Rookie team would look like.
Forward: Quinn Hutson – Aside from leading the rookies in points, Quinn Hutson has been a standout for the Bakersfield Condors. The left winger has a great shot and carries the offense. While the Edmonton Oilers are in win-now mode, Hutson is a prospect who provides a bright outlook for the future. He drives play and makes the other skaters around him better. At 24, he’s an older rookie than most, and it’s due to multiple seasons at Boston College but he’s been unfazed by the move to the AHL, and it’s helped turn the team into a contender out west.
Forward: Michael Brandsegg-Nygård – One question everyone must ask themselves is what they will remember about this season. The team that’s dominated the headlines, certainly in the Western Conference, is the Grand Rapids Griffins. With 90 points, they are far and best in their division and have the best record in the AHL. Their success can be credited to a strong veteran presence and great goaltending but also the emergence of winger Michael Brandsegg-Nygård. The 20-year-old Norwegian is unfazed by the AHL-level play and the speed at which the Griffins play. With 16 goals and 21 assists, he’s one of the best players on arguably the best team in the league.
Forward: Ilya Protas – Ilya Protas is having the most impressive season for any rookie and arguably the most impressive in Hershey Bears history (or at least in a long time). He leads them in points with 48 but more importantly, centers the top line at 19 years old. Protas, like his brother Aleksei, is an elite two-way center in the Washington Capitals system and is ahead of schedule. The Bears don’t have a dominant veteran presence this season, so having Protas step up and carry the offense goes a long way.
Defense: Tyson Jugnauth – The Coachella Valley Firebirds have gone through a rebuild of sorts. In 2023 and 2024, they made it to the Calder Cup Final but many of those players are either on the Seattle Kraken or elsewhere. One of the players who has helped the turnaround is 21-year-old defenseman Tyson Jugnauth. He leads all rookie defensemen in points with 35 and has rounded out his game since the start of the season, making him an intriguing prospect in the Seattle Kraken system.
Defense: Dmitri Simashev – Dmitri Simashev is one of the many top prospects in the Utah Mammoth system but one of the few two-way defensemen who has had stints with the NHL team. In the AHL, he’s scored eight goals and 20 assists with the Tucson Roadrunners while also stepping up on the defensive end. The Mammoth have a top pairing for the future with Mikhail Sergachev and the recently acquired MacKenzie Weegar but there’s a good chance Simashev is a part of their unit in the near future.
Goaltender: Sergei Murashov – There’s a good chance Sergei Murashov wins the goaltender of the year award. He’s been dominant for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, and there’s no other way of putting it. Murashov has a .922 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.15 goals-against average (GAA) and three shutouts. He’s without question the best rookie goaltender in the league and will be a finalist for the goaltender of the year award. The only question is when he’ll be a full-time goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Honorable Mentions
A defenseman who has stood out is Carter Yakemchuk on the Bellville Senators. He has nine goals and 20 assists but his issues are on the defensive end, along with the rest of the Senators team.
Protas leads the Bears in points. Interestingly, Andrew Cristall is second on the team and third among rookies with 44 points. King spoke highly of him recently but pointed to his defense as a weak link. “There are some things he still has to work on, including playing without the puck.”
The other name to keep in mind is Isaac Howard, who joined the Edmonton Oilers system in the summer and has been part of the dynamic offense in Bakersfield. Like Hutson, he’s an older rookie but one who gives the Oilers hope for the future (or a trade chip at some point).
Other AHL Notes
The best way to describe the past two weeks in the AHL is craziness. In this league, something can happen on any night that is a blue moon occurrence.
On Friday night, there were two line brawls between the Bridgeport Islanders and the Hartford Wolf Pack. One of them saw forward, and modern-day enforcer Hunter Drew tried to fight Wolf Pack goaltender Spencer Martin. After the game, Martin could only laugh when he was asked if Billy Smith or Ron Hextall would be proud of his efforts.
While it wasn’t a goalie fight, there was one last weekend when Louis Domingue dropped the gloves with Springfield Thunderbirds goaltender Will Cranley. Domingue already has a goalie goal in his career and adds the fight to his bucket list. It looks like the only thing left is for him to run over a mascot that stands in his crease.
The other crazy thing from that weekend was the 12-round shootout between the Phantoms and the Wolf Pack. By the time the 12th round rolled around, everyone in the building was wondering if either team had anyone left. Turns out, Justin Dowling had just enough strength in him to score the winner (he’s been out with an injury since then).
Speaking of the Phantoms, Alex Bump was called up and made his NHL debut with the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. He joins Denver Barkey as a Phantom who stood out in the AHL and is already making a strong impression in the NHL. The two skated on separate lines for the Flyers but considering their chemistry, they might play together at some point down the road.
