Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
ROCKFORD, Ill. … I’m wearing a 10-year-old San Diego Gulls jersey, keeper Call Clang and our partners Tim Washe it was already in the spotlight when they took the ice Tuesday night for the start of the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic presented by BMO.
Washe has established himself as a top player who could be in line for a big career with the parent Anaheim Ducks.
And at the end of Tuesday’s AHL All-Star Skills competition, Clang stood out even more than that Gulls jersey. The netminder stopped 16 of 18 shots to earn CCM Top Goaltender honors to cap the Western Conference late in an 18-15 loss to the Eastern Conference. Matched against Laurent Dauphin (AHL leading scorer) and Christian Kyrou at the Fortune Tires Rapid Fire event, Clang denied nine out of 10 shots. Next came the Hard Rock Casino Rockford Pass and Score event, where he closed Tristan Broz, Jack Devine again Matt Luff in all three attempts. He finished his night by stopping four of the Eastern Conference’s five attempts in the Upper Deck Breakaway Relay.
The 23-year-old Clang replaced Henderson Carl Lindbom in the Pacific Division list.
As of Tuesday night, Clang let his game speak for itself in his third season with the Gulls. He came to the Anaheim organization as a well-regarded prospect in a March 2022 contract that sent Rickard Rakell to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Clang, a third-round pick by the Penguins in the 2020 NHL Draft, also played parts of four seasons in the Swedish Hockey League.
In 2023-24, Clang’s first season in North America, he split San Diego’s career no. Tomas Suchanek again Alex Stalock. Last season he split time with veterans Oscar Dansk.
This season it was San Diego with an NHL veteran Ville Husso most of the time in the first six weeks of the season. Clang also took his leave in November. But injuries hit Anaheim hard in net. Clang returned to the Gulls on December 7 and immediately took the San Diego job that season Vyacheslav Butyeets again Tomas Suchanek they have gone back and forth between the Gulls and their ECHL affiliate, the Tulsa Oilers. Husso, meanwhile, returned to the Ducks on Jan. 6. and stayed there ever since.
Through 19 games, Clang is 11-3-4 with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. That GAA is fifth-best in the AHL, too. Clang’s performance helped put the Gulls firmly in the hunt for a return trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs for the first time in four years. San Diego has not won a playoff series since advancing to the conference finals in 2019.
Getting this team into the Calder Cup Playoffs will benefit a young Ducks team. It will improve Clang as well. At 21-14-6-3, the Gulls are currently in sixth place in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the Tucson Roadrunners. It’s relatively tight, but still serious enough as the Calgary Wranglers and Henderson Silver Knights hang around seven points behind.
A key test awaits when the schedule resumes with a weekend home-and-home series against one of the Pacific Division’s top teams, the Bakersfield Condors. It will be an opportunity for Clang to measure up to the AHL’s second-best offense (3.46 goals per game) and third-ranked power play.
And Clang could be back at Rockford’s BMO Center next week when the Gulls visit the IceHogs. Then there’s a two-game trip to Texas to close out the month. Game after game for the rest of San Diego’s schedule is against Pacific Division powers or teams like Rockford and Texas that are lagging to put themselves in the top spot.
Clang will get another chance to show what he can do Wednesday night (8 ET/7 CT) in the AHL All-Star Challenge, a 3-on-3 round-robin tournament between the four AHL divisions. NHL Network (United States) and TSN5 (Canada) will televise the game while AHLTV on FloHockey will have broadcast coverage. Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) will produce the game and broadcast it.
The Ducks, who hold the second wild card spot in the Western Conference, are in their battle for a trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Down in San Diego, on the other hand, is Clang’s net. AHL fans inside the BMO Center on Tuesday night saw why.
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
