Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
This is their shot.
Several names familiar to AHL fans will attend NHL training camps on professional tryout deals. No contract, no promises. Just an opportunity. For NHL teams, these veterans are there to bolster competition internally, add roster depth, and perhaps play themselves into the organization’s plans for 2024-25.
Here is a look at some of those players:
Adam Erne – New York Rangers
The 29-year-old forward is a Connecticut native who has played 379 NHL games and has 91 points (41 goals, 50 assists) with Tampa Bay, Detroit, and Edmonton.
Last season was divided between the Oilers and Bakersfield. He had two points (one goal, one assist) in 24 games with the Oilers while also chipping in 12 points (six goals, six assists) in 36 contests for the Condors.
Erne spent his first three pro seasons in Syracuse, helping the Crunch reach the Calder Cup Finals in 2017.
Dylan Ferguson – Vancouver Canucks
Ferguson is back in North America to try his hand in net with the Canucks.
Ferguson, who turns 26 on Friday, spent last season in the Kontinental Hockey League with Dinamo Minsk. He has made 29 appearances in the AHL in spot duty with Chicago, Henderson, Toronto and Belleville, and has NHL experience with Vegas and Ottawa as well.
Rocco Grimaldi – Carolina Hurricanes
Coming off a career-best 36-goal season with the Chicago Wolves, Rocco Grimaldi will be in Carolina’s training camp on a PTO. He was voted a Second Team AHL All-Star and participated in his second career AHL All-Star Classic.
Grimaldi has racked up 175 goals and 195 assists for 370 points in 433 career AHL games, along with 30 goals and 37 assists in 203 NHL contests.
Grimaldi will be joined in Hurricanes camp by Skyler Brind’Amour, who recorded three goals and five assists in 54 games as a rookie with the Charlotte Checkers last season.
Michael Hutchinson – New Jersey Devils
Hutchinson is no stranger to coming in and winning a job. A strong showing in camp last season earned him a spot with Grand Rapids, and eventually an NHL deal with Detroit. He ended up playing 32 games for the Griffins in a productive partnership with first-round pick Sebastian Cossa.
Owner of 120 career AHL wins, Hutchinson was voted a Second Team AHL All-Star in 2017-18 and appeared in the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic, and he backstopped St. John’s to the Calder Cup Finals in 2014. He has also played 154 games in the NHL with Winnipeg, Florida, Toronto, Colorado, Columbus and Detroit.
Boris Katchouk – Anaheim Ducks
A 2016 second-round draft pick, Katchouk has spent most of the past three seasons in the NHL with Tampa Bay, Chicago and Ottawa, skating in a career-high 59 NHL games in 2023-24. He also returned to the AHL last season for a six-game stint with Rockford, ending up with five points (three goals, two assists).
Katchouk spent three full seasons with Syracuse before making his NHL debut with the Lightning in 2021; in 164 games for the Crunch, he had 99 points (46 goals, 53 assists).
Matt Luff – Florida Panthers
Luff has long been an effective two-way forward at the AHL level with Ontario, Milwaukee and Grand Rapids. His 2023-24 season was limited by injury to 26 games with the Griffins, but he still ended up churning out 18 points (10 goals, eight assists).
In 106 NHL games with Los Angeles, Nashville and Detroit, he has 27 points (15 goals, 12 assists).
With several summer signings of players on NHL two-way and AHL deals, the Panthers have been aggressive about stocking up their organizational depth. Luff is the latest addition who can provide competition at training camp for the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers.
Mark Pysyk – Anaheim Ducks
Pysyk, who missed the entire 2022-23 season due to injury, attended camp with Pittsburgh last fall before landing a PTO with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and later signing with the Calgary Flames. He finished with four assists in 37 AHL games between the Penguins and Calgary Wranglers. It was the Alberta native’s first action in the AHL since he was a Buffalo prospect with Rochester in 2015-16.
Pysyk has played 521 NHL games with the Sabres, Florida and Dallas and has 104 points (28 goals, 76 assists).
Jakub Vrana – Washington Capitals
Vrana has come full circle with this month’s return to the Capitals, who selected him 13th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft.
Now 28, Vrana helped Hershey to the Calder Cup Finals as a rookie in 2016 and won a Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018 before an April 2021 deal sent him to Detroit. Last season, Vrana produced 36 points (16 goals, 20 assists) in 42 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds along with six points in 21 games for the St. Louis Blues.
Vrana has played a total of 367 games in the NHL and has 209 points (110 goals, 99 assists).
Andy Welinski and Jakub Zboril – New Jersey Devils
The Devils have not been hesitant about extending tryout offers, particularly to add help to their blue line.
Welinski heads to training camp with New Jersey after playing 35 games between Iowa and Charlotte in 2023-24. Over eight pro seasons, he has 152 points (42 goals, 110 assists) in 319 career AHL games and was selected to the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic. The former third-round pick also has 46 NHL games to his name.
Zboril, who was selected in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft by Boston, is coming off a trip to the AHL’s Eastern Conference Finals with Cleveland. He showed well with the Monsters after Columbus acquired him at the NHL trade deadline, and totaled 13 assists in 46 games between Cleveland and Providence.
Zboril has played 76 games in the NHL with Boston.
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.