Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
We’re only two weeks into the season, but help is already on the way for some AHL teams who need it.
Start with the Hartford Wolf Pack, where the New York Rangers’ goaltending image has been marred by injuries. Igor Shesterkin and: Joonas Korpisalo. The transition cost the Wolf Pack the services of both Dylan Garand and: Spencer Martinleaving Callum Tung and: Gabriel Carrierewho have a total of 78 AHL games between them, to take over for Hartford.
After a promising 3-0-0-0 start, the Wolves have gone 16-4 in their last three games, all at home. They head to Charlotte for a two-game weekend with some new faces behind a veteran NHL goaltender. James Reimer signed a trial contract and forward Jaroslav Chmelar was a cent lower than New York.
Reimer played 539 games for seven different NHL teams and was unsigned after spending last season with the Ottawa Senators. Chmela did not score in seven games with Rangers. he skated in 28 games for the parent club in 2025-26.
In San Jose, the Barracuda (1-4-0-0) received forwards Alex Barre-Boullet and: Cam Lund from the NHL Sharks after both players were injured to start the season.
Barre-Boulet, of course, has been one of the AHL’s most reliable offensive threats for most of the last decade. His 70 points (26 goals, 44 assists) with the Colorado Eagles last season tied for second in the league in scoring, and he also earned first-team AHL All-Star honors. Lund, 22, played his first full pro campaign with the Barracuda in 2025-26 and scored 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in just 37 games. The 2022 second-round pick missed training camp after suffering the injury in the Sharks’ prospect tournament last month.
The Milwaukee Admirals went with a familiar face to bolster their blue line by signing a Wisconsin native Michael Karov professional testing. Carrow spent the last four seasons with Milwaukee’s Central Division rivals, the Texas Stars. He had his most productive campaign in 2025-26 with 10 goals, 28 assists and a plus-24 rating in 68 contests.
Central Division rival Chicago Wolves, on the other hand, are enjoying considerable success. Best strikers Bradley Nadeau and: Felix Unger Sorum both were recalled by the Carolina Hurricanes this week. The reigning Stanley Cup champion has been injured Jordan steel and: Taylor Hall.
Last season’s Calder Cup runners-up, the Wolves are 0-4-0-0 while being outscored 22-5. are trying to sort out their rough start to the season, where they went 0-4-0-0 and lost 22-5. They have a two-game homestand with the Iowa Wild this weekend at Allstate Arena.
With more than two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was awarded the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league in 2015-16.
