People often joke that after the NHL Trade Deadline, general managers can more or less go on vacation for the rest of the year. But while they can’t make any more trades, there still is one more method to bring in new players: calling someone up from the AHL.
Teams only get four non-emergency call-ups for the rest of the regular season, but that doesn’t mean GMs are afraid to use them. For instance, Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill almost immediately used on one Joel L’Esperance, and recently did the same with Justin Dowling:
“The coach is very comfortable with him, and he’s been playing very well in Austin,” Nill said of Dowling.