Best AHL forwards with more than 100 AHL GP that were successful in NHL?

[Elitersson]

JT Miller, Dan Hamhuis, Kevin Bieksa, Willie Mitchell, Ryan Kesler, Chris Tanev

 

[izzy]

Gustav Nyquist

Tatar as well

I remember it seemed like those two (and brendan smith) would never get called up no matter what lol

Derek Roy is another name, but he was close

 

[WhatTheDuck]

"Hard mode" of this would be to disqualify players who played in the A during a lockout

Drake Batherson is one - 103 games played, 116 pts

Nick Paul is another one from Ottawa. Mike Hoffman, too... he played during a lockout but pretty sure he would have hit 100 AHL games anyways.

I thought Mark Stone did, too, but he only hit 91 games (98 if you count playoffs). He did make me think of Ryan Dzingel, who while a marginal NHLer for the most part had a pretty successful career and I am sure played well over 100 AHL games. JG Pageau is another one.

I remember watching the BSens during Paul's last tenure there and wondering what the heck the org was still needing him to prove. Very clearly looked like an NHL player

 

[Albatros]

I would also add that if we count pro-games in KHL/SHL/etc. the list of good-to-great-to-elite players with >100GP at those levels would rise exponentially.

Though the difference is that many of those players chose to play in those leagues over the NHL.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Marco Rossi hit 116 in the AHL, and while his career is still young is looking like a long time top 6 or top 9 at worst player.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Verhaeghe is another

Carter Verhaeghe Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Carter Verhaeghe, a hockey player from Toronto, ONT born Aug 14 1995 who was active from 2011 to 2024.

www.hockeydb.com

 

[Maverick41]

Two borderline cases from Germany:

1) Tom Kühnhackl
His NHL career may have been a little too short to qualify (though he played in quite a few playoff games), but he lucked into and also contributed to winning two Stanley Cups. Some of his AHL games came after he fizzled out of the NHL.

League	Years	GP	G	A	TP	PPG	PIM	+/-	Years	GP	G	A	TP	PPG	PIM	+/-
AHL	7	181	35	42	77	0.43	75	29	2	10	0	2	2	0.20	2	1
ECHL	2	18	8	7	15	0.83	14	12	1	10	6	0	6	0.60	6	3
NHL	5	232	18	36	54	0.23	60	2	5	58	3	8	11	0.19	10	5

2) Marcel Goc
Never really more than a 3rd or 4th liner, but he carved out a career of 600+ games in 11 years.

League	Years	GP	G	A	TP	PPG	PIM	+/-	Years	GP	G	A	TP	PPG	PIM	+/-
AHL	2	154	32	55	87	0.56	52	9	0
NHL	11	636	75	113	188	0.30	157	-21	9	63	5	10	15	0.24	14	-1

 

[MS]

I have this theory that there is such a thing as too much AHL. At some point you just become a really good AHL player and then end up in Europe.

Since we are in training camp and lots of 'send him back to Jr' or 'send him back to the AHL until he proves himself' will be coming up.

It is a very thinline in development. Rushing is bad but so is over ripening.

So here is the challenge!

Name me some good to great NHL forwards (not D and G, totally different rules) that played over 100 AHL games.

I'll start:

Tomas Plekanec played over 200 AHL games and played over 1000 NHL games and had a very good career.

View attachment 907072

As someone that doesn't qualify... David Krejci played 94 AHL games before a very good NHL career. 6 games shy. I think it will be a very short list of undrafted and undersized players. 20 at absolute most.
I'll post the answers here from below

Jason Spezza is a good example BUT that was AHL due to a lockout!
View attachment 907080

Yannic Perrault is a perfect answer

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Drake Batherson (if he keeps it up) is a great answer
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Mike Hoffman!
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Alex Burrows has entered the talk
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Danny Briere!
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Demitra! (and it sucks that has EP page has him as Yaroslav.. change that to a Slovak flag!)
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Andrew Brunette (nice find!)
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Gustav Nyqvist!
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Patrik Elias!
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Yanni Gourde

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Ryan Reaves (for the GP but nothing else.lol)
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Nazem Kadri (really surprised by this one)
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Joel Ward
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Brad Marchand
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It's not that 'too much AHL is bad' nearly as much as it is that good players who reach the NHL separate themselves quickly moving up levels, and if you spend 2+ years in the AHL without forcing a callup it usually means you aren't very good.

People act like playing 2-3 years in the AHL is normal/positive development for a high pick when in fact once you hit 150 games at that level you basically belong on the junkheap. I've been saying this for 20 years on the Canucks board for Nathan Smith/Jordan Schroeder/Niklas Jensen/Kole Lind etc. when people are like 'he's doing just fine' and then get confused when the player hits age 23 and is on waivers.

 

[Czechboy]

It's not that 'too much AHL is bad' nearly as much as it is that good players who reach the NHL separate themselves quickly moving up levels, and if you spend 2+ years in the AHL without forcing a callup it usually means you aren't very good.

People act like playing 2-3 years in the AHL is normal/positive development for a high pick when in fact once you hit 150 games at that level you basically belong on the junkheap. I've been saying this for 20 years on the Canucks board for Nathan Smith/Jordan Schroeder/Niklas Jensen/Kole Lind etc. when people are like 'he's doing just fine' and then get confused when the player hits age 23 and is on waivers.

Agree

Also, every year you don't make it and come back the following training camp, there is a new 1st rounder and 2nd rounder breathing down your neck as the shiny new toy.

 

[Ernie]

It's not that 'too much AHL is bad' nearly as much as it is that good players who reach the NHL separate themselves quickly moving up levels, and if you spend 2+ years in the AHL without forcing a callup it usually means you aren't very good.

People act like playing 2-3 years in the AHL is normal/positive development for a high pick when in fact once you hit 150 games at that level you basically belong on the junkheap. I've been saying this for 20 years on the Canucks board for Nathan Smith/Jordan Schroeder/Niklas Jensen/Kole Lind etc. when people are like 'he's doing just fine' and then get confused when the player hits age 23 and is on waivers.

The Jordan Schroeder truthers were a special type.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

Verhaeghe is another

Carter Verhaeghe Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Carter Verhaeghe, a hockey player from Toronto, ONT born Aug 14 1995 who was active from 2011 to 2024.

www.hockeydb.com

Holy schnapps, Verhaeghe! He reminds me of Kulich so much, its like watching same player, but in different jersey. I´ve compared Kulich to Verhaeghe for nearly two years!

 

[Albatros]

2) Marcel Goc
Never really more than a 3rd or 4th liner, but he carved out a career of 600+ games in 11 years.

He became 1C in Florida when Weiss fell off a cliff.

 

[Discipline Daddy]

Stefan Noesen has 366 NHL GP with 127 points. A solid role player career. 224 GP in the AHL. He had a terrific year for the Chicago Wolves in 2021-2022. Without him playing hard in the "A", he'd be in Europe right now. Credit to him and other players who do their job well enough to get a promotion.

Also for the Canes, Jack Drury has 105 AHL games played. He is an NHLer, though it's not clear if he'll top out as 3rd/4th line material or anything more.

 

[Apfel Struble]

I feel like Marchessault is the most recent and inspiring success story from a top AHL player turned NHL star. He almost played 250 games in the A with his first real NHL season when he was 26!

David Desharnais is one for the Habs though not as impactful as Marchesseault of course. DD climbed the ladder with 68 ECHL games and 183 AHL games before playing in the NHL. Also 282 points in 524 games in a low scoring era is nothing to scoff at. Pretty inspiring story too

 

[B17 Apricots]

Sharangovich is an interesting one. Taken as an overager but wasn't very productive in the AHL. Always had good skill though. There was a thread last summer about potential break out candidates, I threw Sharangovich's name in there. ~60 points, +30 goals this past season... not bad

 

[Not The One]

David Desharnais. Such a great underdog story.

Played four years in the Q and tore up the league (374 points in 262 games).

Undrafted.

Played one year in the ECHL and tore up the league (106 pts in 68 games, won the championship).

Played 2 1/2 seasons in the AHL and tore up the league (184 pts in 183 games).

Called up by the Habs and played his way from the 4th to the 1st line in a year. Ended up with 282 points in 524 games over his career.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Michael Grabner and Cory Schneider

 

[Shark Finn]

Define successful… he signed a very big contract in the nhl… I’d say that’s successful

One of the worst FA signings IMHO. Guy had, what, a 30+16 season and gets his money bag? I remember the Clarkson-Clark comparisons. Jeez.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I have this theory that there is such a thing as too much AHL. At some point you just become a really good AHL player and then end up in Europe.

I mean yeah, eventually you run of waiver-exempt status, and you'd typically expect to be established/known as a guy you don't send down well before then.

 

[MMC]

Sam Carrick is just a 4th liner, but he played over 450 AHL games before becoming an NHL regular in 2021-22 and just signed a 3 year NHL contract