Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Impressions made now can pay off quickly for NHL prospects. Or that impression can mean being an NHL front office’s first recall option.
A summer’s worth of work, training, and preparation is done, and the NHL preseason schedule is here as familiar AHL names battle for jobs. After weeks of skating followed by the open of training camp, prospects have dotted NHL line-ups through the first two days of the NHL preseason schedule. They are fighting for full-time NHL jobs come October as well as organizational positioning should they start this season in the AHL. An NHL recall, after all, always takes just one phone call.
Other players are at training camp with a new organization following an offseason trade or signing. Still others are going to camp on a professional tryout in hope of securing additional work.
Let’s break down some top performances that started the preseason slate.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (CLEVELAND MONSTERS)
Luca Del Bel Belluz is taking a well-established path that has sent many AHL prospects on to the NHL.
Step into the AHL as a rookie forward and get a pro-level two-way game established. Then use the second season at the AHL level to display more of an offensive game. Del Bel Belluz, a forward taken in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft by Columbus, has done just that in his two seasons with Cleveland. He went to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024 and then broke out with 27 goals last season for the Monsters.
When Del Bel Belluz may crack the Columbus roster full-time is still to be seen. If the Blue Jackets decide that a bit more time in Cleveland is best for him, he will be counted on for offense. But blending a goal and an assist with the two-way play that is a must at the NHL level in a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday will not hurt his cause.
NEW YORK RANGERS (HARTFORD WOLF PACK)
The Rangers went with a line-up featuring prospects in a 5-3 road win over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday afternoon.
Top goaltending prospect Dylan Garand played 31:44 in relief of starter Jonathan Quick. Last season Garand represented the Wolf Pack at the AHL All-Star Classic.
Defenseman Casey Fitzgerald, Hartford’s captain last season, dressed for the Rangers. So did Connor Mackey, who played 66 games with the Wolf Pack last season. Scott Morrow, acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in a major offseason deal, produced 39 points for the Chicago Wolves last season while earning a spot on the AHL Top Prospects Team. Veteran Derrick Pouliot, a free agent signing by the Rangers, led all AHL defenseman last season with 46 assists for the Syracuse Crunch and was selected to the AHL First All-Star Team.
The Rangers also had forward prospect Brennan Othmann in their lineup after he split last season between the NHL and AHL.
SEATTLE KRAKEN (COACHELLA VALLEY FIREBIRDS)
Jani Nyman logged 12 games with Seattle last season to help make his case for more NHL work come October. Posting 28 goals in his first AHL campaign serves as another piece of support for that ambition, particularly with a chance to play for a well-respected head coach like Derek Laxdal with the Firebirds.
Just 21 years old, the 2022 second-rounder, added a bit more weight to his cause on Sunday in Seattle’s preseason opener. He grabbed a pair of goals to help Seattle past the Vancouver Canucks, 5-3.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (TORONTO MARLIES)
After playing 26 games for the Marlies season, goaltender Artur Akhtyamov got the start for the Leafs in their preseason opener at Ottawa, a 4-3 victory on Sunday afternoon.
Akhtyamov, 23, finished 11-8-4 with three shutouts to go with a 2.81 GAA and .901 save percentage for the Marlies. Matched against the Senators, he stopped 16 of 17 shots and took first-star honors. He split the game with fellow prospect Vyacheslav Peksa, who played a pair of games with the Marlies last season while spending most of his time at the ECHL level.
WINNIPEG JETS (MANITOBA MOOSE)
Everyone in the AHL knows that Samuel Fagemo can score. The forward played five seasons with the Ontario Reign as a Los Angeles Kings prospect and churned out 132 goals in 268 AHL regular-season games. In that run came 43 goals in just 50 games for the Reign in 2023-24.
Signed by Winnipeg as a free agent this summer, the Jets had Fagemo on a line with Kevin He and Danny Zhilkin for a 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon. Minnesota held Fagemo out of the goal column, but he still contributed a pair of assists.
The Jets dressed a forward group that featured newcomer Phil Di Giuseppe, who won the Calder Cup with the Abbotsford Canucks this past June, fellow new signee Walker Duehr as well as Moose mainstays Brad Lambert and Nikita Chibrikov.
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.