With all our Olympic converge here at Babe Dig Balls and with the medal rounds in hockey right around the corner, I thought it was only necessary to talk about some former AHLers who made the trip to Sochi.
Overall, 160 former AHL players were named to Olympic rosters for the 2014 winter games. Of those 160, 10 of them played in the AHL this season. Fourteen players are former Calder Cup Champions including Tomas Tatar of the Detroit Red Wings. Tatar was added to the Red Wings roster after training camp this past summer. Last season, while he was playing for in Grand Rapids, Tatar helped the Griffins to their first ever Calder Cup Championship where he also received the aware for MVP of the playoffs. Tatar represented his home country of Slovakia, who were knocked out of medal contention on Tuesday with a 5-3 lose to the Czech Republic. Two other notable former Calder Cup Champions from Team Canada are Carey Price and Patrick Sharp.
On the Czech Republic is Radko Gudas. Gudas is a 2012 Calder Cup Champion with the Norfolk Admirals and 2013 AHL All-Star with the Syracuse Crunch. Gudas has spent this current NHL season with Syracuse’s NHL affiliate, Tampa Bay, where he has 16 points, two goals and 14 assists, in 53 games.
Gudas is not the only former AHL All-Star to be playing in Sochi. In fact 35 former AHL All-Stars are representing their home countries in the games. Some of the most notable former All-Stars are Slava Voynov, 2010 and 2011 AHL All-Star who represented Team Russia, Chris Kunitz, 2004 AHL All-Star now playing for Team Canada and Zach Parise, 2005 AHL All-Star and captain of Team USA. In addition to Parise, for Team USA, Ryan Callahan, Dustin Brown, John Calson, Ryan Kesler, Jimmy Howard and Ryan Miller are all former AHL All-Stars.
Slovakia has the highest number of AHL alumni on their roster with 20, while Canada, Czech Republic, Finland and the United States all have 18.
Former players are not the only AHL Grads to be seeing Olympic time. Peter Laviolette, coach of the 1999 Calder Cup Champion Providence Bruins and Todd Richards, former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguinscoach are serving at assistant coaches for Team USA. For team Canada, Mike Babcock, current Detroit Red Wings coach and head coach of Team Canada, also used to coach in the AHL and is being assisted by Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien, 2003 AHL coach of the year and former AHL player, Lindy Ruff, current coach of the Dallas Stars.
Below is a full list, provided by the AHL, of former players who are currently in the Olympics.
Austria (8)
Michael Grabner, F
Andre Lakos, D
Brian Lebler, F
Thomas Pock, D
Michael Raffl, F
Oliver Setzinger, F
Matthias Trattnig, D
Thomas Vanek, F
Canada (17)
Jamie Benn, F
Patrice Bergeron, F
Jay Bouwmeester, D
Jeff Carter, F
Ryan Getzlaf, F
Dan Hamhuis, D
Duncan Keith, D
Chris Kunitz, F
Roberto Luongo, G
Corey Perry, F
Alex Pietrangelo, D
Carey Price, G
Patrick Sharp, F
Mike Smith, G
P.K. Subban, D
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, D
Shea Weber, D
Czech Republic (17)
Michal Barinka, D
Patrik Elias, F
Radko Gudas, D
Tomas Kaberle, D
Lukas Krajicek, D
David Krejci, F
Milan Michalek, F
Zbynek Michalek, D
Petr Nedved, F
Jiri Novotny, F
Ondrej Palat, F
Ondrej Pavelec, G
Tomas Plekanec, F
Michal Rozsival, D
Alexander Salak, G
Ladislav Smid, D
Vladimir Sobotka, F
Finland (17)
Valtteri Filppula, F
Mikael Granlund, F
Olli Jokinen, F
Mikko Koivu, F
Leo Komarov, F
Petri Kontiola, F
Lauri Korpikoski, F
Lasse Kukkonen, D
Jori Lehtera, F
Kari Lehtonen, G
Sami Lepisto, D
Olli Maatta, D
Antti Niemi, G
Antti Pihlstrom, F
Tuukka Rask, G
Sami Salo, D
Sami Vatanen, D
Latvia (12)
Oskars Bartulis, D
Kaspars Daugavins, F
Zemgus Girgensons, F
Kristers Gudlevskis, G
Martins Karsums, F
Arturs Kulda, D
Sandis Ozolinsh, D
Krisjanis Redlihs, D
Arvid Rekis, D
Janis Sprukts, F
Juris Stals, F
Herbert Vasiljevs, F
Norway (7)
Jonas Holos, D
Marius Holtet, F
Henrik Odegaard, D
Mathis Olimb, F
Patrick Thoresen, F
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, D
Mats Zuccarello, F
Russia (9)
Artem Anisimov, F
Nikolai Kulemin, F
Andrei Markov, D
Nikita Nikitin, D
Alexander Radulov, F
Viktor Tikhonov, F
Fedor Tyutin, D
Semyon Varlamov, G
Slava Voynov, D
Slovakia (17)
Ivan Baranka, D
Milan Bartovic, F
Peter Budaj, G
Zdeno Chara, D
Jaroslav Halak, G
Michal Handzus, F
Marcel Hossa, F
Tomas Jurco, F
Tomas Kopecky, F
Tomas Marcinko, F
Martin Marincin, D
Peter Olvecky, F
Richard Panik, F
Andrej Sekera, D
Tomas Surovy, F
Tomas Tatar, F
Tomas Zaborsky, F
Slovenia (2)
Jan Mursak, F
Tomaz Razinger, F
Sweden (13)
Alexander Edler, D
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D
Jhonas Enroth, G
Jonathan Ericsson, D
Loui Eriksson, F
Jonas Gustavsson, G
Carl Hagelin, F
Niklas Hjalmarsson, D
Erik Karlsson, D
Niklas Kronwall, D
Marcus Kruger, F
Jakob Silfverberg, F
Henrik Tallinder, D
Switzerland (12)
Andres Ambuhl, F
Reto Berra, G
Severin Blindenbacher, D
Jonas Hiller, G
Roman Josi, D
Simon Moser, F
Nino Niederreiter, F
Tobias Stephan, G
Mark Streit, D
Julien Vauclair, D
Yannick Weber, D
Roman Wick, F
United States (18)
David Backes, F
Dustin Brown, F
Ryan Callahan, F
John Carlson, D
Justin Faulk, D
Jimmy Howard, G
Ryan Kesler, F
Phil Kessel, F
Ryan McDonagh, D
Ryan Miller, G
Brooks Orpik, D
Max Pacioretty, F
Zach Parise, F
Joe Pavelski, F
Jonathan Quick, G
Kevin Shattenkirk, D
Ryan Suter, D
James van Riemsdyk, F
