Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Players are not the only American Hockey League names who are on their way to the NHL this summer.
While the usual swirl of player movement via both free agency and trades have rearranged AHL rosters that were intact just a few months ago, plenty of other activity has happened as well. Coaches, recently retired players, and other personnel have all vaulted from the AHL to NHL jobs this summer.
Let’s break down those familiar AHL names who will be handling NHL jobs when training camps open in September.
BEHIND THE BENCH
The AHL has always been a prime path for head coaches to move into NHL roles.
Leading the way this summer is new Boston Bruins head coach Marco Sturm. A candidate for NHL head-coaching jobs previously, this time he landed the post with the team with which he played parts of five seasons during a 938-game NHL career. Sturm had been with the Ontario Reign for the past three seasons and took the team to the Calder Cup Playoffs each time.
After an incredible three-season run with the Hershey Bears, Todd Nelson is back in the NHL. He moved a few hours to the west to the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he will serve as an assistant coach alongside another long-time AHL name with strong Hershey ties, Mike Stothers. Like Sturm, Nelson’s name has often come up in speculation – and more – for NHL coaching jobs through the years. While he had a 46-game stint as an interim head coach for the Edmonton Oilers back in 2014-15 along with multiple roles as an NHL assistant coach, his work in the AHL is where he has had nearly unparalleled success. He took the Bears to back-to-back Calder Cup titles in 2023 and 2024 and went 141-53-12-10 in regular-season play; his .704 point percentage tops any head coach in Hershey’s 88-season AHL history. He also won the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL’s most outstanding coach in 2023-24 in taking the Bears to 53 regular-season wins.
Joining Nelson and Sturm behind NHL benches this fall will be four other AHL head coaches from this past season.
Neil Graham of the Texas Stars earned a promotion to the Dallas Stars as an assistant coach after taking Texas to the Western Conference Finals this past spring. Graham is an organizational development success story in having started in the Dallas system with the Idaho Steelheads, their long-time ECHL affiliate.
Going from the Colorado Eagles to the Seattle Kraken as an assistant coach is Aaron Schneekloth. He had been with the Eagles going back to 2006 when he was still playing and the team was still in the now-defunct Central Hockey League. Like Graham, he moved his way up the ladder. After retiring as a player in 2013 after the team had moved on to the ECHL, he stayed with the team as an assistant coach. When the Eagles became the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche in 2018, he remained as an assistant coach for five more seasons before taking over as head coach for the past two campaigns.
Trent Cull divided this past season as a head coach with the Calgary Wranglers and an assistant coach for the Calgary Flames. An AHL assistant coach for eight seasons, he moved on to AHL head-coaching roles in the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary organizations. He got his first NHL opportunity in 2022 as an assistant coach with Vancouver before going back to the AHL in 2023. Now that role as an assistant coach with the Flames is his.
There is also Brett McLean, who has moved from the Iowa Wild to Vancouver, where he will be an assistant coach.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Video coaches don’t have a public-facing role, but they play critical roles in today’s game.
Hershey video coach Adam Purner, part of the team’s back-to-back championships, is off to Seattle. Purner came to Hershey in 2022 following a pair of seasons at the AHL level for the New Jersey Devils organization.
The Minnesota Wild made an internal promotion by bringing up Iowa video coach Ray Sylvester up to the NHL team. Sylvester had been with Iowa for the past two seasons.
JUST OFF THE ICE
Players who just left the ice are in demand as NHL teams round out their developmental staffs.
Seattle continued to look to the AHL for talent by bringing Zac Dalpe aboard as a player development consultant. Dalpe had just announced his retirement as a player July 7 after 15 pro seasons that included 574 games. Dalpe has been through the many phases of a playing career. A 2008 second-round pick by the Carolina Hurricanes, he entered the pro game as a highly ranked prospect, made himself into a reliable NHL recall option and top AHL scorer, and then eased his way into a veteran’s role at the AHL level. Still, he kept his NHL hopes going by playing his way into the lineup for the Florida Panthers in 2023 as they went to the Stanley Cup Final.
Toronto Marlies forward Kyle Clifford is staying in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization in player development. Like Dalpe, Clifford is recently removed from on-ice action. He spent parts of the past four seasons with the Marlies as he started to wind down what ended up being a 753-game NHL playing career. He won two Stanley Cup championships with the Los Angeles Kings along the way as well.
Sam Gagner, who spent a portion of this past season with the Belleville Senators, is staying in the Ottawa Senators organization as well. Ottawa named Gagner its director of player development May 15 after he played 17 NHL seasons. Taken sixth overall in the 2007 NHL Draft by the Edmonton Oilers, Gagner went straight to the NHL as an 18-year-old that same year and went on to play 1,043 NHL games. But he also ended up spending time on AHL ice in the second half of his career in stints with Lehigh Valley, Toronto, and the Bakersfield Condors before his 19-game run with Belleville this past winter.
