The Coachella Valley Firebirds reached the Calder Cup Finals in their first two seasons. Despite this success, there was a lot of movement on the Firebirds roster in the offseason, with several key players moving on to new organizations and several new players joining the team.
There are likely some subtleties to the American Hockey League's roster construction rules that many fans are unaware of, so I thought it was necessary to provide a detailed explanation of how it works and how it has affected the Firebirds' roster.
The American Hockey League and the “Veteran Rule”
The AHL's primary purpose is to be a development league for future NHL players. To ensure the league is focused on helping players rise through the ranks, there are rules in place regarding roster construction. The “veteran rule” requires that game-day rosters include the following players:
- At least 12 skaters with fewer than 260 professional appearances (development players)
- Maximum of one skater with fewer than 320 professional games played (Veteran Exemption)
- Up to 5 skaters (veterans) who have played professionally for 320 or more games
The roster breakdown applies to players who play in each game, so a team can have more than five veteran players on the roster, but only five can play in any given game. Veteran and veteran exempt classifications only apply to players who are 25 years of age or older or of age as of July 1st.
The calculations that determine professional games played are done before the start of the season and are not adjusted during the season. For example, Cale Fleury was considered a developmental player during the 2023-24 season because he began the season with 217 games played and was 24 years old. He had his birthday in November and finished the season with 282 professional games played, meaning he exceeded the 260 game threshold and would be a veteran exempt player for the entire 2024-25 season.
Professional games are defined as games played in the NHL, AHL, and elite European leagues. Recognized elite European leagues include the Svenska Hockey League (SHL, Sweden), Liga (Finland), Kontinental Hockey League (KHL, Russia), Extraliga (ELH, Czech Republic), Deutsche Eishokke Liga (DEL, Germany), and Nationalliga (NL, Switzerland). Additionally, only games played in European leagues after a player's junior years count toward the veteran rule.
The veteran rule does not apply to goalkeepers.
Coachella Valley Firebirds roster
Now, with the veteran rule understood, let's take a closer look at how last season's rosters were divided between developmental and veteran players. Here are the player classifications for the 2023-24 season (minimum 25 games played):
No changes to roster for 2024-25
If the roster remains unchanged for the 2024-25 season, the breakdown would be as follows:
Here's where the problem for the Firebirds comes in. Following the veteran rule, the Firebirds can only field five of their nine veterans and one of their three veteran exempt players. Further complicating matters, the Kraken need to make room for Jaguar Farkas, David Goyette, Jani Nyman and Ty Nelson, who are all set to join Seattle's AHL affiliate.
The transferred players
Ten Firebirds players have signed with other teams or are currently free agents.
These players were unsigned when they hit free agency, and eight of them are veterans or veteran-exempt players, making it unrealistic for the Kraken to retain all of them.
Six of the 10 players signed with new teams in the first few days of free agency, indicating they either received better offers or see a clearer path to the NHL with their new teams. Of the four remaining free agents, Marian Studenik is the only standout player with 44 points last season.
The Kraken retained the rights to restricted free agent Pietro Seppala after a qualifying offer was issued to him, and he signed with Sweden's Orebro.
Resign and Add
The Kraken re-signed veterans Max McCormick, John Hayden and Gustav Olofsson. With Fleury becoming a veteran exempt player, the Kraken now have one veteran exempt player and three veterans in free agency. This gave the Firebirds the luxury of signing two veterans, and they did just that.
- Mitchell Stevens (C) – 2-year, $775,000 annual salary, two-way contract – Veteran
- Maxime Lajoie (LD) – 1 year, $775K average annual value, two-way contract – Veteran
This gives the Firebirds a total of five veterans and one veteran exempt player. At this point, the Firebirds roster is full of veterans and veteran exempt players.
In addition to the AHL veteran, the following players were also signed:
- Brandon Biro (LW) – 1 year, $775K average annual value, two-way contract – Development
- Nicolas Brouillard (D) – 1 year, $775K average annual value, two-way contract – Development
Brandon Biro and Nicolas Brouillard are still classified as development players – they have 171 and 238 professional games under their belts, respectively – which adds some experience to the roster, but the veteran rule allows for flexibility.
Additional Agreements
- Josh Mafra (LD) – 1 year, $775 average annual value, one-way contract – Veteran exemption
- Ben Myers (LW, C) – 1 year, $775K average annual value, one-way contract – Development
Josh Makhula and Ben Myers are listed here because while they will be competing for reserve roles with the Kraken in training camp, neither considers themselves guaranteed a spot on the NHL roster.
Prospects don't typically fill the role of players unavailable for medical reasons, as they are often better off getting playing time in the AHL, and that, combined with their one-way contracts, gives Makhura and Myers a fast track to joining the big club.
2024-25 team roster breakdown
While nothing is guaranteed until training camp, Ryker Evans and Shane Wright appear poised to join the Kraken full-time in 2024-25. Assuming Mahura, Wright and Evans join the Kraken roster, the Firebirds' roster would look something like this:
This roster allows the Firebirds to comply with veteran rules and maintain flexibility, and also gives them the option to fill out the Kraken roster if no additional moves are made during the offseason.
It's unfortunate when players move on to other teams, but that's part of the business side of hockey. I've hoped to see Cole Lind blossom into a full-time NHL player since the expansion draft, but his hopes didn't come true in the Coachella Valley or Seattle.
With new up-and-comers joining Coachella, it will be exciting to see how these guys perform at the next level.
If you have any questions or thoughts about this veteran rule, please comment below. You can also follow me at x.com @blaizg.
