Talking Pack: The Vet-ting Process
The AHL's veteran rule helps dictate how teams can build their lineups. How does this apply to the Wolf Pack?
Welcome to Talking Pack, a weekly offseason column about the Hartford Wolf Pack, exclusively at Blueshirt Banter. Every week, we'll catch you up on what's going on with the Rangers' AHL affiliate as they prepare for their 30th season in the fall.
As a lifelong Connecticut resident and Blueshirt Banter's official Hartford Wolf Pack correspondent, I've watched a lot of AHL hockey in my life. While the AHL game is virtually the same as the NHL game, there are some small quirks that the top developmental league has that separate it from the world's premier league. One of those is the development rule, which dictates who counts as a "veteran" player and how many of those players a team can have on the ice at any specific time.
While the main goal of the AHL is player development, having these veterans on the ice is a key part of helping young prospects develop their games. Veterans can assist prospects with the transition from the junior or college game to the professional one, or the move from Europe to North America. On the ice, veterans can be relied upon by their coaches to perform and help win games, which is a key piece of player development.
Today, we'll dive into the development rule and how it applies to the Wolf Pack for the 2026-27 season.
The Development Rule
The AHL's development rule, as of the 2026-27 season, reads as follows:
Each Member club must dress for each regularly scheduled or playoff game at least 12 players, other than goalkeepers, who have played in a total of not more than 260 regular season games in the National Hockey League, American Hockey League, or any European Elite League, prior to the start of the season.
This means that of a team's 18 dressed skaters, at least 12 must have played in less than 261 professional regular season games across the NHL, AHL, or any of the following European leagues:
- Kontinental Hockey League (Russia)
- Swedish Hockey League (Sweden)
- SM-Liiga (Finland)
- National League (Switzerland)
- Czech Extraliga (Czechia)
- Deutsche Eishockey Liga (Germany)
- ICE Hockey League (Austria)
Games played in the ECHL or other European leagues, such as the Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom, do not count towards a players' total games played. Furthermore, goaltenders are exempt from the rule, meaning that Spencer Martin does not count as a veteran despite playing in 339 professional games.
