Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
The Calder Cup Playoffs are still underway but planning for the 2026-27 season is already well underway.
With the October start of the upcoming season just four months away, several NHL organizations and their AHL affiliates have begun making moves to build their rosters and depth charts. Whether those players stay in the NHL this fall or go to the AHL remains to be seen. The NHL Draft, development camp, anticipated tournaments, and training camp will all help determine those lists. Coaching vacancies also need to be filled for the Abbotsford Canucks and Hartford Wolf Pack.
Here’s a look at the teams in the NHL’s Western Conference that have made moves involving players who competed in the AHL this season and those who could sign two contracts for next season. TheAHL.com has looked at the Eastern Conference before.
Anaheim Ducks (San Diego Gulls)
Add another good prospect to the Anaheim payroll.
The Ducks have a 19-year-old player Ethan Procyszyn2024 third-round pick, ready to go with a three-year entry-level contract after captaining the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League this season. He posted 59 points, including 31 goals, in 65 regular season games before adding four more goals in 10 playoff games.
Gulls captain Ryan Carpenter he will help guide those Ducks prospects again after San Diego signed him to a one-year AHL contract extension. Carpenter, 35, had another productive season, ranking third on the Gulls with 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists) in 71 games.
Edmonton Oilers (Bakersfield Condors)
Forward Aku Räty returns to North America after an outstanding season in Finland with Kärpät Oulu. His 57 points (20 goals, 37 assists) in 51 games are tied for seventh in the Liiga. That performance earned him a one-year, two-way contract with the Oilers.
A 2019 fifth-round pick by the Arizona Coyotes, he went on to play two seasons in the AHL with the Tucson Roadrunners and Rockford IceHogs, tallying 69 points (21 goals, 48 assists) in 120 combined games.
Nashville Predators (Milwaukee Admirals)
Nashville has long used Milwaukee heavily to develop top prospects, and the list of Admirals alumni who have gone on to long-term success with the Predators is long.
Nashville signed a forward Felix Nilsson on his three-year entry contract after having 40 points (14 goals, 26 assists) in 52 SHL games with Rögle BK at just 20 years old. He went to Nashville as a 2023 second round pick and already has three full SHL seasons behind him. He also had six points (two goals, four assists) in 17 games in this season’s SHL Finals.
San Jose Sharks (San Jose Barracuda)
May was a big month for looking ahead Carson Wetsch. He signed his NHL entry contract with the Sharks on May 13 and finished the month by captaining the host Kelowna Rockets in the Memorial Cup.
The 20-year-old had 72 points, including 50 assists, in 65 regular season games. Taken in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft by the Sharks, he is the latest contract signing for an ever-growing prospect in the San Jose organization.
The Sharks also added a 22-year-old defenseman to the organization Phillip Sinn from EHC Red Bull München of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Sinn, who went undrafted, played in 35 DEL games this season and 11 more in the postseason. He also played five games for Germany at the IIHF World Championship and captained his country at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Seattle Kraken (Coachella Valley Firebirds)
Another participant in the Memorial Cup is a defender Alexis Bernierwho has a three-year entry agreement with Kraken.
Seattle took him in the third round of the 2024 NHL draft. After being limited to 21 regular season games with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, he helped lead the team to the league title. He had seven points (four goals, three assists) in 20 playoff games before making four more appearances in the Memorial Cup. Bernier, who turns 20 this month, was named to the QMJHL All-Star team with Baie-Comeau Drakkar in 2024-25.
Utah Mammoth (Tucson Roadrunners)
Utah has had some solid talent in the Continental Hockey League lately. Two KHL students, forward Daniel though and an AHL All-Star defenseman Dmitri Simashevtime split between Utah and Tucson this season.
Forward Egor Borikov their latest signing. The 20-year-old has agreed to a three-year contract with Mammoth after scoring 16 goals and 30 points in 59 games for Dinamo Minsk. He later went to Metallurg Zhlobin of the Belarusian Extraleague on loan for the postseason and had eight points (two goals, six assists) in four games to help that team win. Utah took Borikov in the fourth round of last year’s NHL Draft.
Nilsson’s Rögle partner, defender Gregor Biberjoined the Utah organization on a three-year entry-level contract. He played 38 SHL games, and 15 more in the postseason. He then went to the IIHF World Championship, where he gained high-level experience representing Austria in seven matches. Utah took him in the fourth round in 2024.
Vancouver Canucks (Abbotsford Canucks)
The big change has already had an impact on Abbotsford Ryan Johnson‘s promotion to general manager of Vancouver. It didn’t take long for Johnson to give Vancouver another Abbotsford touch. After that promotion on May 14, Johnson hired Abbotsford’s coach Manny Malhotra as his new coach with Vancouver on Monday. The Johnson-Malhotra partnership led Abbotsford to the Calder Cup last year and will oversee a Vancouver roster that has several alumni from that competition.
Johnson also brought some experience to the organization, signing a 25-year-old player Ilya Safonov on a one-year, two-way contract the day after Malhotra’s ascension. Safonov is coming off a strong KHL season with AK Bars Kazan, where he had 33 points (16 goals, 17 assists) in 68 games before adding nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 20 playoff games as the team finished as a Gagarin Cup finalist.
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
