Source: http://www.chirpsfromcenterice.com
AHL Top 100 Free Agents — The Big Board.
When Jonathan Bombulie announced earlier this year that he was taking a job in Pittsburgh to cover the beat of the NHL version of the Penguins, one of the things that he left behind was his yearly AHL Free Agent “Big Board” which is a massive list of minor league hockey players ranked, 1-100 and beyond, that debuts right before the start of NHL Free Agency.
Well, thanks in part to the efforts of many, it lives on.
This massive, massive project, doesn’t get completed without the help of a broad spectrum of bloggers and journalists alike, from nearly every corner of the American Hockey League. Jason Iacona connected with several bloggers from throughout the AHL and what you see today is the efforts of those who lended a hand in typing up a capsule on a player from the Eastern Conference that the Western Conference never sees, or vice versa.
Before we get to the list of the Top 100 Unrestricted Free Agents, thank you to the following people…
Stephen Meserve from 100 Degree Hockey, who created the spreadsheet that everyone contributed to as well as his thoughts on the Texas Stars free agents.
Nathan Mallett from Runnin’ With the Herd, who laid the groundwork for the Top 100 list and contributed greatly to the capsules of the San Antonio Rampage as well as other teams.
Heath Sorey of Beneath the Scope, who went above and beyond the call and provided capsules for not only the Anaheim prospects of the Norfolk Admirals team he blogs for, but several other AHL teams.
Special thanks to Daniel Lavender (Admirals Roundtable) for his contributions on Milwaukee, Matt Trust (Chocolate Hockey) for Lehigh Valley and Hershey, Tracey Lake (Thoughts Inside the Box) for Albany, Eric Rodgers (Tend The Farm) for Oklahoma City, Darryl Hunt (210 Sports) for Worcester, Jenni Probst (Chasing Checkers) for Charlotte and Chris Roy (Maine Hockey Journal) for Portland.
We all hope that you enjoy the list. After the jump, dive into the Top 100 AHL Free Agents Available, then the “Best of the Rest” list below. Note that any Restricted Free Agent not tendered a qualifying offer will be added in on future edits, most likely starting tonight or by noon tomorrow, when the market goes live.
Dive in…
