July 24th: Agozzino won’t take much of a break away from hockey, or any at all. According to an announcement from the Mammoth, Agozzino will join the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners as an assistant coach for the 2026-27 season.
July 21st: Long-time AHL forward Andrew Agozzino, who was set to play overseas next season after signing with EHC Biel-Bienne of the Swiss NL, announced his retirement from professional hockey earlier today via his Instagram account.
Agozzino, born in Kleinburg, Ontario, first made his mark in junior hockey with the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs, where he played five seasons from 2007 to 2012. He served as team captain for the final three of those seasons and was awarded the OHL’s Mickey Renaud Captain’s Trophy, given annually to the league’s top leader for his passion, dedication, and commitment to hockey and his community.
His junior career also included an international turn with Team Canada, with whom he won gold at the 2008 World U17 Hockey Challenge.
Undrafted but unbowed, Agozzino began his professional career in 2012-13 with the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters (now the Cleveland Monsters), and made an immediate statement. A strong rookie campaign earned him a spot in the AHL All-Star Game, and by March 2013 he had signed his first NHL contract, with the Colorado Avalanche. His NHL debut came on November 22, 2014, and he made it count, picking up
an assist in his first career game. After several seasons in the AHL, with a few small NHL stints mixed in, he scored his first NHL goal on February 18, 2019, assisted by Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon in a 3-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights.
“Just pure excitement,” Agozzino said when asked about his first career goal. “It’s special and tough to put into words. There was a lot of emotion after I saw it go in.”
Over the years that followed, Agozzino built a reputation as a reliable, well-respected pro wherever he landed. He joined the Pittsburgh Penguins organization ahead of the 2019-20 season, then moved to the Anaheim Ducks in February 2020, staying with the club through the 2021 season. Stops with the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks organizations followed; in 2022-23, with San Jose, he captained the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.
In July 2024, Agozzino signed with the Utah organization, where he spent his final two professional seasons. He closed out his career this past season for Utah’s AHL affiliate, Tucson, posting 19 goals and 20 assists in 56 games, a fitting close to a career built on grit and consistency.
Along the way, Agozzino also suited up for AHL clubs in San Antonio, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, San Diego, and Belleville, giving him one of the most well-traveled résumés of any player of his era.
Agozzino’s career totals place him among the AHL’s all-time greats. 847 regular-season AHL games (29th all-time), 662 career points on 284 goals (28th all-time) and 378 assists (48th all-time), eight 20-goal seasons, and earned three AHL All-Star Classic selections in 2013, 2019, and 2020. At the NHL level, he appeared in 53 games across six franchises: Colorado, Anaheim, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, San Jose, and Utah.
Agozzino’s impact extended well past his production on the ice. He won the AHL’s IOA/American Specialty Man of the Year award, which recognizes a player’s outstanding contributions to the local community and charitable organizations, twice, first with San Jose in 2022-23 and again with Tucson in 2025-26. In a remarkable 11 of his 14 AHL seasons, Agozzino wore a letter, a testament to how, despite changing teams so frequently, his teammates consistently viewed him as a leader in every locker room he walked into.
PHR extends its congratulations to Andrew on an outstanding professional career and wishes him all the best in the next chapter.
Photo Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports