AHL's Role in Prospect Development | PROSPECT WATCH

There are few people in the hockey world that Utica Comets head coach Kevin Dineen or a member of his family has not crossed paths with over the years.
That complex web of relationships stretches everywhere and includes former Canadian Olympian teammates, or women he coached, to former opponents who remain involved in the game.
One such person is Devils head coach Lindy Ruff.
"At first, I knew him as (an opponent), a competitor," recalls Dineen, who is three years younger than Ruff, "...it's nice to work with him again."
Ruff and Dineen were never on the same team during their almost 2,000 NHL games combined as players, but they are on the same side for the second time as coaches.
"Lindy and I talk probably a couple times a month, at least," said Dineen. "He wants to know about players and how we are (generally)…it's also important that we (in Utica) play the same style and system that the Devils do."

There are perhaps other hockey family names that roll off the tongue quicker - Howes, Sutters, Staals, Hughes - but few families have made a greater impact than the Dineens. His late father, Bill, was a former NHL player and longtime NHL/WHA/AHL coach. His brothers, Gord and Peter, are former NHL players and both are now coaching as well.
After playing in the Olympics for Canada in 1984, Dineen played almost 1,200 NHL games with four different franchises. He then embarked on a coaching career that has seen him be a head coach in both the American Hockey League and NHL (Florida), as well as Canada's national women's team and U18 squad. He also won the Stanley Cup in Chicago as an assistant.
He was named head coach of the relocated Devils-affiliate in the summer. Even with a lifetime in the game, Dineen acknowledges that the pandemic created scenarios he hadn't seen before.
"We were watching (COVID) effect other teams and organizations," said Dineen, while rhyming through the effects at all levels of the hockey world, "…then all of sudden we and the Devils had cases and (cancelled games)…just today we had to deal with a positive test in the morning and then negative at night."
Dineen offered a different perspective on a couple different themes Comets players have said has defined their half-season. The first is that winning makes everything much more fun and that having a handful of veteran pros around to both play and set the tone on- and off-ice makes things easier for everyone.
"Getting feedback from a teammate can have a lasting effect," he said.
The AHL occupies a grey area for NHL fans. Most are aware of its existence and that it is a sort of weigh-station on the highway of pro hockey. But even some of its players never come to fully understand the nuance(s) of the AHL and how to maximize their development while playing there.
If the AHL were to have a relationship status with its players, it would be complicated for some. Success on the AAA circuit only comes once a player comes to understand the peaks and valleys all but select few prospects must navigate.
"It's a good question," said Dineen, when asked to define how a player must clear those hurdles, "but I think you've seen it with (mental health initiatives) that has become just as much a part of the game as training, skills coaches and nutrition.
"I just had a conversation today with a player (wanting clarity) on this…it really comes down to concentrating on what you can control."
Dineen pointed to both current and historical examples of players he has coached that were not highly fancied to begin with but earned their way to the NHL. Kent Huskins (retired), Nathan Gerbe and Sam Carrick were among the names Dineen mentioned. There are many others.
"They all stuck to it," remembers Dineen, "...even when they were 26, 27…Look at Kent Huskins, he had his fingerprints all over that Stanley Cup (he won) in Anaheim. He played five years in the AHL before he got to the NHL."
Dineen citing that type of player is interesting because the Devils have made six first-round picks in the past three NHL drafts, starting with Jack Hughes in 2019. But of that half-dozen only Alexander Holtz has played in the AHL so far, the rest either went directly to the NHL (Hughes, Dawson Mercer) or are playing overseas (Shakir Mukhamadullin), or yet to turn pro (Luke Hughes/Chase Stillman).
Dineen is trying to accomplish many things in Utica but developing prospects taken later, acquired through trade/free agency, and developing them into NHL players is a significant part of the plan. That is how NHL club build organizational depth - a collective rising tide that floats all boats.
To that end, Dineen was hesitant to cite specific players because he is preaching a four-line, six-defense lineup where everyone gets plenty of ice time. But Dineen did allow that he's been pleased to watch Nate Schnarr, Aarne Talvitie and Fabian Zetterlund overcome adversity of varying kinds to provide some touchstone moments to Utica's success so far.
"Guys playing well now who started the season as healthy scratches at times," explained Dineen, "And Fabian could barely walk on to the bus to get down to Cleveland with (non-Covid) illness but he made a real difference in that game."
The Comets are currently 23-5-4-0 through Thursday, tops in the league by win percentage. The club's mettle will be challenged over the next fortnight with seven games in less than two weeks. In part to lighten the mental and physical load but also to reward his players for playing so well, Dineen held light-hearted off-ice workouts on Wednesday.
"We even used the golf simulator," he quipped.