On The AHL: Recalling NHL Stars Who Had Late-Career AHL Stints

Jacob Trouba could have found himself on his way to the Hartford Wolf Pack rather than the Anaheim Ducks last week.

The New York Rangers opted to scratch Trouba, their captain, for a home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 30-year-old defenseman carried an $8 million cap hit and had struggled as had the rest of the club. With that cap hit and the Rangers needing to sign goaltender Igor Shesterkin, Trouba eventually became the center of trade speculation.

If Trouba would not agree to a deal, however, that decision would have greatly complicated matters for general manager Chris Drury. But Drury had his own leverage – the ability to put Trouba on waivers and send him to Hartford. Assuming Trouba had cleared waivers with that kind of cap hit, he could have been on his way to Hartford to play out a contract that expires following the 2025-26 season.

Ultimately, all sides found a solution, and the Rangers sent Trouba to Anaheim for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a 2025 fourth-round pick.

Going back to the 1960s and even beyond, the AHL has made its name on developing young talent. Coming out of the 1967 NHL expansion, player development took on an even greater importance, and franchises like the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers quickly built enduring, productive development programs with their AHL affiliates. Through the decades and into the salary-cap era, that importance has only grown. Young talents like Zdeno Chara, Connor Hellebuyck, and Mikko Rantanen all put the finishing touches on their respective games before going on to NHL stardom.

But Trouba hardly would have been the first player to find himself sent to the AHL after having reached NHL stardom. There is a long list of top NHL names who have found themselves sent to the AHL, particularly later in their careers. Sometimes performance-related reasons have landed a player in the AHL. Or perhaps a front office felt a veteran needed a wake-up call. Maybe the dressing room needed the shock of seeing an established face dispatched to the AHL. Maybe a one-time star had to work himself back to the NHL following a serious injury. And going back to the introduction of the salary cap in 2005, cold, hard math has sometimes left NHL teams with no options other than to send big contracts to the AHL to get some degree of cap relief. Or maybe age had simply caught up to a player following a lengthy NHL career.

Below is a list of some — though hardly all — of top NHL names who have come to the AHL after years of NHL success.

Craig Berube – Philadelphia Phantoms

Having piled up 3,149 penalty minutes across parts of 17 NHL seasons, Berube came to the Phantoms as a free agent early in the 2003-04 season as a 37-year-old. It was his first time in the AHL since he was a Flyers prospect back in the 1988-89 season. Not much had changed for him, though. He put up 134 penalty minutes in only 33 games for a Phantoms team packed with enforcers and was named a player-assistant coach later in the season. That decision to come to the Phantoms started Berube’s coaching career. He retired after the season, became a Phantoms assistant coach, took the team’s head-coaching job in 2006-07, and eventually went on to head-coaching roles with the Flyers, St. Louis Blues, and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Jonathan Cheechoo – Binghamton Senators, Oklahoma City Barons, Peoria Rivermen, & Worcester Sharks

Cheechoo reached stardom with a 56-goal season for the San Jose Sharks in 2005-06 followed by 37 more goals the next campaign. After a 2009 trade to the Ottawa Senators, he eventually found himself in the AHL as he cycled through four teams. He had a 25-goal season for Peoria in 2011-12 and eventually finished his career in the KHL.

Chris Chelios – Chicago Wolves

Other than a two-game stint with the Grand Rapids Griffins a season earlier, Chelios had his first extended AHL time as a 47-year-old defenseman in 2009-10. He showed up in his native Chicago owning three Stanley Cup championships and went on to play 46-regular-season games (5-17-22), plus 14 more in the Calder Cup Playoffs. That Wolves team also featured 40-year-old forward Reid Simpson and 36-year-old goaltender Manny Legace for a spell. Three years after ending his career with the Wolves, Chelios was on his way to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Alexandre Daigle – Hartford, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Manchester Monarchs

Daigle, the first overall pick of the 1993 NHL Draft, had been envisioned as a future centerpiece in Ottawa. That never happened, though, and he eventually drifted to the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Rangers. After 16 games with Hartford in 1999-2000, he did not play the next two seasons before resurfacing with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. After playing 40 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton that season, Daigle ended up reviving his career and had 20 goals for the 2003-04 Minnesota Wild before again finding himself back in the AHL with Manchester in 2005-06.

Rick DiPietro – Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Charlotte Checkers

Another first-overall pick, the New York Islanders had found quick success. He led the Sound Tigers to the 2002 Calder Cup Finals in his second pro season. A workhorse early in his career, he represented the United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics and signed a 15-year contract with the Islanders. But a years-long succession of injuries eventually undid DiPietro’s career. He had an 18-game run with Bridgeport in 2012-13 along with five more games with Charlotte before retiring.

Tom Gilbert, Scott Gomez, and Sheldon Souray – Hershey Bears

With a winning tradition, top-notch facilities, and a willingness to pay for top talent, Hershey has been a destination for veterans trying to find their way back to the NHL. For Gomez and Souray, the move paid off, and they eventually returned to the NHL after successful stints with the Bears. Gilbert did not return to the NHL, but he did extend his career another four seasons in the DEL.

Dany Heatley – Norfolk Admirals & San Antonio Rampage

Heatley, who had back-to-back 50-goal seasons in Ottawa, had seen his goal numbers drop dramatically before Anaheim eventually sent him to the AHL in the 2014-15 season. A late-season trade to the Florida Panthers organization did little to spark Heatley’s play, and he finished with just 8-12-20 in 43 regular-season games.

Mike Keane – Manitoba Moose

Like Chelios, Keane was a former Montreal Canadiens captain and had also won three Stanley Cup championships. After the 2004-05 lockout season, Keane returned to the AHL for the first time in 17 years. His former AHL team, the Sherbrooke Canadiens, were long gone, but he signed with the Moose to play in his hometown of Winnipeg. He became Moose captain, extended his career by five seasons, and played 365 regular-season games. He captained the Moose on their run to the 2009 Calder Cup Finals. Since retiring in 2010, he has gone on to a role as development coach with the Winnipeg Jets.

Tom Kostopoulos – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Kostopoulos battled his way into the NHL as a 1999 seventh-round pick who came up with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He went out that way as well, playing parts of six more seasons with the AHL club before retiring in 2018. He is in a select club of players who have played at least 600 games at both the NHL and AHL levels.

Evgeny Kuznetsov – Hershey

Kuznetsov never actually ended up playing for the Bears after the Washington Capitals sent him there last March. He did practice with the team and even took the long bus ride to Charlotte, but the Capitals traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes before he could see action with Hershey.

Scott Lachance, Grant Marshall, Richard Matvichuk, Dan McGillis, and Erik Rasmussen –

Albany River Rats/Lowell Devils

Early in the salary-cap era, the New Jersey Devils showed little hesitation in shipping out NHL veterans to the AHL. McGillis had 10-31-41 in 2006-07 with Lowell, his final North American season, to finish second in team scoring.

Andrew Ladd – Bridgeport Sound Tigers

Ladd saw the AHL from two vantage points – as a 19-year-old first-round pick and as a mid-30s veteran trying to save his career. By the time he came to Bridgeport, he was in the middle of a seven-year contract with the New York Islanders. Having won two Stanley Cups and been an NHL captain, his production had dropped off, and a torn ACL had further hampered him. He spent 34 games with Bridgeport in 2019-20 and even dressed for one game during the abbreviated 2020-21 pandemic season. He showed enough to get one more season in the NHL with the Arizona Coyotes before retiring in 2022 after a standout career and playing 1,001 NHL games.

Claude Lemieux – Worcester

Lemieux had been out of hockey for four years when he decided to try a comeback as a 43-year-old in 2008. He caught on with Worcester and played 23 games (3-8-11). The comeback decision paid off, and he went on to play 18 games for the San Jose Sharks that same season.

Mario Marois and Rick Vaive – Hamilton Canucks

With the Vancouver Canucks establishing their own AHL affiliate in Hamilton in 1992, they quickly had a star name on their roster. A season earlier, Vaive had played his first 12 AHL games with the Rochester Americans. He had registered three seasons with 50-plus goals with the nearby Toronto Maple Leafs nearly a decade earlier and had 441 goals on his NHL card. Just two seasons removed from a 25-goal effort with the Buffalo Sabres, the 33-year-old Vaive had 16-15-31 in 38 games for Hamilton. Marois, by then a hard-nosed 34-year-old defenseman, also was in his final pro season. He ended up leading all Hamilton blueliners with 5-27-32 while playing 68 games.

Alexander Mogilny – Albany

Mogilny showed up in the AHL as a 36-year-old, and his Albany teammates found themselves playing alongside someone who had produced a 76-goal season back in 1992-93. Mogilny still had his scoring touch even at the end of his NHL career and had notched 12 goals in 34 games with New Jersey before his midseason assignment to Albany in January 2006. He ended up playing 19 games (4-10-14), but he could not save the River Rats from a last-place finish. His final pro game came March 22, 2006 with the River Rats, and he fittingly scored.

Matt Moulson – Ontario Reign & Hershey

Moulson, a popular long-time NHL forward, wound down his career in the AHL similarly to Keane and Kostopoulos. After two seasons on the West Coast with the Reign, he came closer to home and signed with Hershey. He embraced his time with the Bears, quickly became a fan favorite, and was named team captain.

Lindy Ruff – Rochester

Ruff, who had played parts of 10 seasons with Buffalo, returned to the organization after a detour to the Rangers. He had 10-24-34 along with 110 penalty minutes in 62 games for the 1991-92 Amerks. After going to the IHL with the San Diego Gulls for one more campaign, he broke into coaching with the 1993-94 expansion Florida Panthers.

Cory Schneider – Bridgeport

Like Ladd, Schneider came into the AHL as a top prospect and went out as a veteran mentor. As a Vancouver prospect, he took Manitoba to the Calder Cup Finals in 2009 and won the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s top goaltender that season. After a standout career with Vancouver and New Jersey, he ran into injury trouble, eventually was bought out by New Jersey in 2020, and signed with the NHL’s Islanders. At the end of his career, he played three seasons in Bridgeport while only getting into one game with New York in that span.

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