AHL Season Preview
The Hot Clubs. The rising players to check out. MLN's Dan Hickling takes you through the AHL for an early season preview.

Dan HICKLING
MinorLeagueNews.com

The AHL opens season No. 71 on stable footing, with just one franchise move, Cleveland going to Worcester, among its 27 current members, and one affiliation swap. Albany and Lowell changed partners when the New Jersey Devils bought Lowell to create its own dedicated farm system. The Lowell franchise became the Devils earlier this year. Then, in September, the Devils acquired majority interest in the Trenton Titans (RF 09.22.06),

The big change, and a welcome one at that, will be the new visor requirement for all players (RF 06.29.06). Once it was an option, but now it is the edict of the ice.  Had it been adopted a year earlier, Portland Pirate defenseman Jordan Smith would likely still be playing, instead of being forced into retirement after a gruesome accident during a game last February that took his left eye.

This year’s crop of blue chip hockey prospects could be the best batch of rookies the AHL has seen in years, featuring the likes of Jiri Tlusty (Toronto Marlies), Petr Kalus (Providence Bruins), Michael Blunden (Norfolk Nighthawks), Ryan Potulny (Philadelphia Phantoms), and Kyle Chipchura (Hamilton Bulldogs).

Division by division, club by club, here is how it breaks down:

 

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