The Carolina Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, have signed forward Chase Wheatcroft to a one-year AHL contract.
Wheatcroft, 24, became an unrestricted free agent this summer after his former club, the Dallas Stars, elected not to extend him a qualifying offer. The three-year entry-level contract Wheatcroft signed with Dallas in March 2023 expired earlier this month.
A 6’3″, 190-pound center, Wheatcroft went undrafted but earned an ELC through a stellar overage season in the WHL. In 68 games for the Prince George Cougars, Wheatcroft scored 47 goals and 107 points, landing him on the WHL’s First All-Star Team.
After signing his ELC in Dallas, Wheatcroft entered his first professional campaign as one of Dallas’ lower-ranked prospects. He slotted in at No. 14 in the team’s system entering his 2023-24 rookie AHL season, per the team at Elite Prospects. Elite Prospects noted Wheatcroft “has play-driving ability to go alongside the expansive arsenal of skill,” but also referenced how improvements in skating and physical play would almost certainly be necessary in order for him to progress at the professional level.
Unfortunately for Wheatcroft and the Stars, he did not exhibit that level of progression. While he was always able to maintain his grip on a roster spot with the Texas Stars, avoiding an ECHL reassignment in all three seasons of his ELC, he was not able to translate his production from junior hockey to the AHL in any meaningful way.
As a rookie, he skated in 46 games and scored three goals and 16 points. The following year, he improved, but still only managed 10 goals and 27 points in 67 games. This past season, he was limited to just eight games by a wrist injury, and was therefore unable to build on the momentum he created by setting career-highs in production the year prior.
For so many high-scoring junior hockey players, the transition to professional hockey can be a steep challenge. Players who are dynamic offensive scorers in the WHL, for example, often find they can’t replicate that production in the AHL, where they are competing against seasoned professionals and those who are older than them, rather than just their peers around their age.
For many players who have built their on-ice identity around skill and scoring, there becomes a moment where they may need to recalibrate how they approach the game in order to have any chance of progression to the NHL. They need to build a secondary game, or re-center their style around things such as physicality, defense, and penalty-killing, things that they could conceivably do at a high level in the professional game, since they aren’t able to score at a high level.
It appears that moment has arrived for Wheatcroft. Thankfully for him, he does have the kind of physical traits in his stature and frame that lend itself well to that kind of stylistic transition. He wasn’t able to execute on it in the Stars organization, but the Hurricanes, and Wolves, appear to see some potential in him, and he’ll now have the chance to earn a roster spot in Chicago and get himself back on track in professional hockey.