AHL players take varied paths to the NHL | TheAHL.com

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Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer

Every path to the NHL looks different for AHL players.

Some, usually the high-round draft picks, take the express route through the American Hockey League. They need ice time and to work out a few remaining weak spots in their games, and the AHL provides that.

Other players need several seasons in the AHL before they can become viable NHL options. Perhaps they need to be re-cast from a top scorer at the college and junior level into a defensively oriented player who can take on a much different role in the NHL. Or they have holes in their game that need significant work. The AHL can be the necessary bridge for those players, too. Goaltenders often need extended time as well.

And then there are the veterans who have put in years and years at the AHL level as a reliable producer and leader. Maybe there have been a few NHL recalls here and there as well.

With the NHL regular season opening this week, 596 AHL graduates will begin their seasons on NHL rosters. Let’s look at some of their stories.

Andrew Agozzino – Utah Mammoth
Another NHL chance has come Agozzino’s way at 34 years old.

One of the AHL’s most respected veterans, Agozzino has been plugging away in the league since 2012. He has hit 20 or more goals in eight of his 13 AHL seasons, including last year with Tucson. He is a two-time AHL All-Star and a team Man of the Year award winner for his community work, and has put in 791 regular-season games for 10 AHL clubs. Always a reliable call-up option, he has played 51 NHL games as well.

Now with the Utah lineup a bit banged up to begin this season, management has rewarded Agozzino’s years of work and reliability with a chance to begin this season in the NHL.

Jet Greaves – Columbus Blue Jackets
Not every rookie comes into the AHL with a lot of fanfare. But some leave the AHL for the NHL having created plenty of optimism.

Greaves was one of those players. Undrafted out of the Ontario Hockey League, Greaves has taken a long, steady climb up the Columbus development ladder. His 2021-22 rookie season had him split between the ECHL and the Cleveland Monsters playing on an AHL contract. Midway through that season he signed an NHL deal with the Blue Jackets, but it was his second season in which he established himself as an AHL number-one netminder, playing 43 games for the Monsters. Season three saw him take the Monsters on a run all the way to overtime of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and he played 40 games last season for Cleveland.

Along the way came 21 appearances for the Blue Jackets while on NHL recall. He was also recognized with a spot on the AHL’s Top Prospects Team last spring.

Four seasons. ECHL time. Plenty of AHL experience. Now he is a full-time NHL goaltender at 24 years old.

Logan Mailloux – St. Louis Blues
For two seasons in Laval, Mailloux made the Rocket a difficult, frustrating opponent to play.

Now the St. Louis Blues hope the 22-year-old defenseman, acquired from the Montreal Canadiens last summer, can do the same for them. He played a critical role in helping the Rocket to post the AHL’s top regular-season record and reach the Eastern Conference Finals last spring. Along the way, he was a member of the AHL All-Rookie Team in 2023-24 and then joined the AHL Top Prospects Team last season. He also earned two selections to the AHL All-Star Classic.

Matt Savoie – Edmonton Oilers
Savoie has been on the brink of NHL duty for some time now.

The ninth pick of the 2022 NHL Draft got a game with the Buffalo Sabres in 2023-24. After the Sabres sent him to Edmonton in July 2024, he played four games with the Oilers last season. In the middle of it all, the forward possessing elite speed posted 19 goals and 54 points last season as a rookie for the Bakersfield Condors and captured a spot on the Pacific Division roster for the AHL All-Star Classic.

Joining an Oilers team that has been to the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back seasons, the Edmonton-area native could be coming home to stay.

Artūrs Šilovs – Pittsburgh Penguins
Less than four months after leading the Abbotsford Canucks to their first Calder Cup championship, the 24-year-old goaltender has put himself back in the NHL.

Earning the start – and posting a shutout – for Pittsburgh on opening night at Madison Square Garden, the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy winner as the most valuable player of last season’s Calder Cup Playoffs has himself a new NHL opportunity following an eventful offseason as well. Pittsburgh acquired him from Vancouver in a trade three weeks after he lifted the Calder Cup. Having played 19 NHL regular-season games across three seasons for Vancouver, Šilovs has a chance to seize his best opportunity yet.

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