The American Hockey League has passed the midpoint of its 90th season, and Grand Rapids (Detroit Red Wings) and Providence (Boston Bruins) continue to lead the way in the Western Conference and Eastern Conference, respectively. On top of the standings race, three prospects are making their case for NHL consideration in this edition of NHL.com’s biweekly AHL notebook, which breaks down all the happenings around the league.
Grand Rapids, Providence battling
The race for first place has tightened considerably over the past month.
Providence has won 12 games in a row, which is tied for the longest streak in franchise history, and is 18-3-0 in its past 21 overall. As a result, the Bruins have cut Grand Rapids' lead down to just two points.
For context, on Jan. 1, Providence trailed Grand Rapids by 11 points.
Each team is well above the AHL record for points percentage (.775), which was set by Binghamton (New York Rangers) during the 1992-93 season. Grand Rapids leads the league with a 38-7-2-1 record (.823) through 48 games. Providence is 37-8-1-0 (.815) through 46 games.
Providence resumes play on Friday, when it will host Belleville (Ottawa Senators). Grand Rapids will also be at home against Chicago (Carolina Hurricanes) on Friday.
Hat trick for Halttunen
San Jose Sharks forward prospect Kasper Halttunen is starting to generate offensive production.
The 20-year-old scored a hat trick for their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, in an 8-4 win against Henderson (Vegas Golden Knights) on Feb. 15. Halttunen has 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in 42 AHL games.
Selected in the second round (No. 36) of the 2023 NHL Draft, Halttunen had 41 points (21 goals, 20 assists) in 38 regular-season games with the London Knights last season and was named the most valuable player of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs after getting 21 points (15 goals, six assists) in 17 games. He also had four points (two goals, two assists) in six AHL games in 2024-25.
Pelletier rebounding with Syracuse
The Tampa Bay Lightning have a long-established reputation of finding overlooked players, reworking their games in the AHL, and then putting them into successful roles in the NHL. Forward Yanni Gourde and defenseman Darren Raddysh are just two players that come to mind.
Jakob Pelletier is trying to become that next success story.
Selected by the Calgary Flames in the first round (No. 26) of the 2019 NHL Draft, Pelletier played 61 NHL games over three seasons with the Flames before being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 31, 2025. He then played 25 NHL games with Philadelphia and had eight points (three goals, five assists).
During the offseason, though, Pelletier decided to sign a three-year contract with Tampa Bay on July 2, 2025. The 24-year-old has appeared in two games with the Lightning this season, but his time has been mainly spent in Syracuse, where he has been playing for demanding coach Joel Bouchard. Pelletier’s offensive ability has shown through, as he ranks second in the AHL with 50 points (20 goals, 30 assists) in 42 games.
Pelletier, along with forward prospect Conor Geekie, represented Syracuse at the AHL All-Star Classic last week.
Capitals may have found another goaltending prospect
Philipp Grubauer, Braden Holtby, Semyon Varlamov, Ilya Samsonov, Vitek Vanecek and Michal Neuvirth are among the goaltenders who have developed with the Washington Capitals' AHL affiliate in Hershey.
The Capitals think Mitchell Gibson can be the next to break through.
A fourth-round pick (No. 124) by the Capitals in the 2018 NHL Draft, Gibson has emerged in his third professional season. After spending three seasons at Harvard University, the 26-year-old played most of his first two professional seasons with the Capitals' ECHL affiliate in South Carolina. This season, however, he has played in 12 games with Hershey, going 6-4-2 with a 2.48 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and one shutout.
To top it off, Gibson was rewarded with a two-year, two-way contract on Tuesday.
