Former Rochester Americans forward Brett Murray has signed a contract with the DEL's Nürnberg Ice Tigers, the team announced Thursday. 

Murray finished tied for 13th in the AHL with 27 goals last year and was second on Rochester with 49 points in 66 games while serving as an assistant captain. 

The 27-year-old attended Pittsburgh Penguins training camp on a PTO but did not earn a contract.

A fourth round selection of the Buffalo Sabres in 2016, Murray has 100 goals and 206 points in 325 career AHL games and two goals and six points in 26 career NHL games, all with the Sabres/Americans organization. 

Murray is a prime example of why the AHL's veteran rule needs to be revamped. A 27-year-old who finished 13th in goal scoring should be someone teams are aiming to keep around and is the type of player the league should be incentivizing to keep in North America.  

 For more AHL news keep an eye on The Hockey News' Google News feed. 

The Florida Panthers have claimed defenseman Donovan Sebrango off waivers from the Ottawa Senators, the team announced Wednesday. 

Sebrango had 20 points in 50 games for the Belleville Senators last season and went pointless in his first two career NHL games with Ottawa. 

The Senators signed the Ottawa native to a one-year, two-way contract just over a month ago.   

The 23-year-old played in two NHL games for Ottawa this season while averaging 15:14 of ice time.

A third round selection of the Detroit Red Wings in 2020, Sebrango has 13 goals and 45 points in 220 career AHL games.

We have claimed defenseman Donovan Sebrango off waivers.

📝 » https://t.co/uSHKrQljq1pic.twitter.com/m6Hn69GNUK

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 15, 2025

The Panthers also announced earlier today that defenseman Dmitry Kulikov will be out five months after undergoing surgery for a labral tear, Sebrango will step in and serve as defensive depth. 

Should he end up in the AHL Sebrango will be another big boost to a Checkers team that made the Calder Cup Finals last season. The team has added Tyler Motte, Jake Livingstone, Kevin Mandolese, and Brett Leason to PTOs in recent days. 

The Charlotte Checkers have signed forward Tyler Motte to a professional tryout (PTO), the team announced Wednesday. 

Motte recorded four goals and nine points in 55 games with the Detroit Red Wings last while averaging 11:19 of ice time per game. He attended Florida Panthers training camp on a PTO. 

The 30-year-old has been a NHLer for the past seven seasons, his last AHL appearance was in the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs with the Utica Comets. 

A fourth round selection of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013, Motte has 53 goals and 99 points in 455 career NHL games with the Blackhawks, Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, and Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The Port Huron, Mich., native has 21 goals and 32 points in 67 career AHL games. 

The Checkers have signed forward Tyler Motte to a professional tryout (PTO).

In addition, forward Robert Mastrosimone has been assigned to the @SavGhostPirates.

➡️https://t.co/HWMpVokPeHpic.twitter.com/0PNE3kyp6x

— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) October 15, 2025

In the last three days the Checkers have now added Motte, Jake Livingstone, Kevin Mandolese, and Brett Leason to the team via PTOs in an effort to replace the veterans the team lost in the off-season. 

It remains to be seen how long Motte will stick with Charlotte for but he should immediately slide into a top-six role while with the team. 

AHL alumnus Anthony Angello has announced his retirement from professional hockey on his personal Instagram. 

The forward recorded 14 points in 41 games with the Milwaukee Admirals and 10 points in 19 games with the Syracuse Crunch last season. 

Angello finishes his career with 72 goals and 143 points in 339 career AHL games over parts of eight seasons with the Admirals, Crunch, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and Springfield Thunderbirds.

A fifth round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014, Angello had three goals and five points in 31 career NHL games, all with Pittsburgh. 

Anthony Angello scoring in #BELvsSPR 🤝 Happy @ThunderbirdsAHL fans pic.twitter.com/yhZsUougOb

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) January 28, 2023

The 29-year-old turned pro in 2018 after three years at Cornell University where he had 70 points in 102 games and was named to the ECAC Second All-Star Team in 2017-18. 

After a strong showing with Syracuse to close out the season it was somewhat surprising to see Angello not receive another AHL contract. 

Check out our AHL to KHL signing tracker and AHL Free Agency signing tracker.      

 The Toronto Maple Leafs have claimed goaltender Cayden Primeau and forward Sammy Blais off waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens respectively, the team announced Monday. 

Primeau was dominant in the AHL last season but had difficulty at the NHL level. He had a 21-2-3 record with a .927 SP and 1.96 GAA with the Laval Rocket and a 2-3-1 record with a .836 SP and 4.70 GAA with the Canadiens.

His performance in the AHL earned the Rocket and Syracuse Crunch the Harry "Hap" Holmes Award as Best Goaltending Duo. 

The 26-year-old has 55 games of NHL experience with a 13-23-7 record and 149 AHL appearances with an 84-4-14 record.

The Farmington Hills, Mich., native was placed on waivers after Carolina claimed goaltender Brandon Bussi yesterday. This move will likely allow Dennis Hildeby to play for the Toronto Marlies while Joseph Woll is away from the team.  

Blais recorded 40 points in 51 regular season games and finished third in Calder Cup Playoff scoring with 19 points in 23 games, helping the Abbotsford Canucks win the championship last season. He also led the playoffs with 77 penalty minutes. 

The 29-year-old has 27 goals and 71 points in 257 career NHL games. He was a member of the 2019 Stanley Cup winning St. Louis Blues team coached by Craig Berube. 

The Maple Leafs have claimed F Sammy Blais off waivers from Montreal and G Cayden Primeau off waivers from Carolina.

— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) October 6, 2025

A sixth round selection of the Blues in 2014, Blais has 145 points in 199 career AHL games and won the gold medal with Team Canada at the 2023 World Championship.

The Montmagny, Q.C., native could be in line for fourth line minutes with Scott Laughton out week-to-week. 

Blais would count as a veteran against AHL rules if he makes it through waivers again and is sent to the Marlies. 

The Hockey News' Toronto Maple Leafs team site covered how this move impacts Easton Cowan and the rest of the NHL lineup here. 

Check out our AHL to KHL signing tracker and AHL Free Agency signing tracker.      

The Providence Bruins are going to have a boatload of talent going into next season, specifically offensively. For the 2025-24 campaign, their top-six forward group, and maybe even deeper, will be littered with NHL-fringe players.

Last season, Providence finished eighth in the overall AHL standings, registering 90 points and a 41-23-8 record. With that, they advanced to the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs, but were eliminated by the Charlotte Checkers in the Atlantic Division semifinal, losing in five games.

The Bruins’ offense was already one of their strong suits last season. They finished fifth overall in goals scored with 240, averaging 3.33 goals per game. They also had the best power-play percentage in the Eastern Conference - third-best in the entire league - registering 21.4 percent.

Providence lost two of its top five scorers from last season in Vinni Lettieri and Tyler Pitlick. However, center Georgii Merkulov, their leading scorer from last season with 54 points, remains. On top of that, center Patrick Brown and Riley Tufte are also sticking around as they signed one-year contracts in the off-season.

Coach Ryan Mougenel won’t have to worry about making up for lost scoring because they’ll be receiving a few players who will only bolster their attack.

Five AHL Coaches Nearing Promotions To The NHLOftentimes, when an NHL coach is fired or removed from their role in any fashion, it’s natural to immediately look for candidates who are next in line to take that job. The obvious picks are outside hires who have NHL experience and who are one or two years removed from an NHL coaching position.

Along with the previously listed players, Providence will still have Matthew Poitras, Fraser Minten, Fabian Lysell and others on the roster. But still coming in are center Alex Steeves and right winger Matej Blumel.

Steeves is coming off the best season of his four-year pro-hockey career. He scored 36 goals and 62 points in 59 games for the Toronto Marlies last season. He finished second in the league in goals and eighth in points. He also made a few NHL appearances for the Toronto Maple Leafs in each of those four years.

The one player who had more goals than Steeves last season was also picked up by the Bruins organization in Blumel. The Czech right winger scored a league-leading 39 goals, but also ended up second in the AHL in points with 72 to his name. He was just one point behind San Jose Barracuda center Andrew Poturalski, who is now a member of Omsk of the KHL.

There’s no denying that a handful of those players who make up Providence’s scoring depth will get looks with the NHL’s Boston Bruins. But, in the big picture, this team should be reaching new heights this coming season.

Check out our AHL to KHL signing tracker and AHL Free Agency signing tracker.        

Every NHL team has their AHL affiliate. Some of these AHL affiliates are located in the same city as, or close to, the NHL team. Examples of that would be the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Marlies, the San Jose Sharks and the Barracuda, the Calgary Flames and the Wranlgers, and a few more.

However, there are other situations where the affiliates are more than 1,000 miles apart from each other. States and provinces separate some teams, while others are on opposite sides of the border.

Here are the three longest distances between NHL and AHL affiliates.

1. Edmonton Oilers And Bakersfield Condors - 1,284 Miles

The distance between the Edmonton Oilers and Bakersfield Condors is the biggest between an NHL and AHL affiliate in the entire league. Between the two cities is about 1,284 flying miles. That’s around four-and-a-half times the Grand Canyon.

Edmonton is the capital city of Alberta, located in the mid-west of Canada. Bakersfield is in California, on the west coast of the U.S. This city is further south than San Jose and San Francisco, making travel by plane over three hours long.

Neutral-Site Matchups And Locations For The 2025-26 NHL Pre-SeasonThe NHL pre-season has officially arrived this weekend as another season approaches. Not only is pre-season a great time for coaches and management to test out line combinations and review their roster, but it’s a great time for the NHL and the teams to try new things.

2. Tampa Bay Lightning And Syracuse Crunch - 1,098 Miles

The Syracuse Crunch has been around since 1994-95 and has been the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning since the 2011-12 season. Since then, they’ve been the home to coach Jon Cooper, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and several other individuals who have made great impacts in the NHL.

Between Tampa, Fla., and Syracuse, N.Y. is 1,098 miles, the second-longest distance among the two affiliates. The travel time between the two cities is nearly three hours. A shorter flight than Edmonton to Bakersfield, but still not an easy trip for a call-up.

3. Seattle Kraken And Coachella Valley Firebirds - 1,011 Miles

The latest NHL expansion team and one of the newest NHL franchises, the Seattle Kraken and the Coachella Valley Firebirds, make up the third-longest distance between league affiliates.

The Kraken are based in Seattle, Wash., while the Firebirds are located in Palm Desert, Calif. The distance between the two clubs and cities is about 1,011 miles and is around the same flight time from Tampa to Syracuse, just under three hours.

Check out our AHL to KHL signing tracker and AHL Free Agency signing tracker.