The NHL roster freeze went into effect at midnight on Saturday and halts activity until December 28.
Some organizations were ahead of that deadline and took steps to get their AHL rosters in order. After all, the midpoint of the 2025-2026 season is just weeks away. From then on it will be a full sprint to the second half and towards the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest swaps made around the AHL to date.
Bakersfield Condors
An already productive offense got even stronger on December 12 when he was the forward Sam Poulin came to the Edmonton Oilers organization in a major deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bakersfield has scored an average of 3.56 goals per game so far and is third in the overall standings with 26.5 percent (26-for-98).
But in the 24-year-old Poulin, they have someone who led one of the AHL’s top teams, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, with 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 22 games before the trade. Poulin was also a first-round pick of Pittsburgh in 2019. He had a pair of assists in his Condors debut in Tucson on December 13. Used on the left with impressive newcomer Viljami Marjala early in his Condors tenure. Of Quinn Hutson and his 16 goals (second most in the AHL) upon recall to Edmonton, Poulin’s arrival is much more important for Bakersfield.
Iowa Wild
Minnesota Wild management has shown a willingness to be aggressive through a third of the 2025-26 season.
That approach, of course, resulted in a huge trade with the Vancouver Canucks on December 12, bringing in a star defenseman Quinn Hughes to Minnesota. But Minnesota has also been looking for potential bargains. One of those attempts came on October 17, when they came forward Oscar Olausson of the San Jose Sharks.
As Iowa tries to shake off a slow start, Olausson believes he will play a key role on the roster. He was used primarily on the left side of the top six and scored nine points (three goals, six assists) in 23 games in Iowa Green.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
No NHL team has been more active in revamping its AHL defense corps than the Philadelphia Flyers.
TheAHL.com examined these moves in detail earlier this month, when deals included the Dallas Stars, Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning. Christian Kyrou, Max Guenette And Roman Schmidt in the Philadelphia organization. All three players have since established themselves on the Lehigh Valley blue line.
As usual, the Phantoms find themselves in the thick of the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division. Even with a recent dip, they remain firmly in contention. Their 14-11-1-2 record puts them third in the division.
Rockford IceHogs
With rookie forward Oliver Moore And Nick Lardis Along with the Blackhawks, the IceHogs emerged again Rem Pitlick in a trade with Bakersfield last week. Pitlick was with Rockford in 2023-24 and scored 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists) in 27 games. He had 15 points in 24 games with the Condors before the deal.
Pitlick made his first game back with the IceHogs an impressive one, with a goal and three assists in Saturday’s 7-3 win at Manitoba.
Springfield Thunderbirds
The Thunderbirds are working to undo the damage from a slow start, and St. Louis Blues management has been active in making changes to the AHL roster.
On November 3, the Blues brought back a defenseman Calle Rosen from Washington state capitals. One of the AHL’s most proven puck distributors, Rosén was part of the Springfield team that went to the Calder Cup Finals in 2022 and won a championship with the Toronto Marlies in 2018.
Springfield had averaged just 2.33 goals per game (26th in the AHL) at the time of the deal. In the sixteen games since then, the team has increased its goal production to 2.81 goals per game.
St. Louis also sent forward Nikita Alexandrov to the Los Angeles Kings for forward Akil Thomas on December 2. However, Thomas, 25, has yet to make his Springfield debut.
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