Patrick Williams submits the FloHockey AHL Power Rankings each week during the regular season.
Add Carl Lindbom in net for the Henderson Silver Knights, and this team could scare — and more — the Western Conference’s top power.
Lindbom, 22 in his second season with the Silver Knights, may be the AHL’s top undrafted prospect. Taken by the Vegas Golden Knights in the seventh round of the 2021 NHL Draft, Lindbom is quickly becoming a potential contender for an NHL career in the near future.
A product of the Djurgårdens program in Stockholm, Lindbom emerged from that program. It was shortly after becoming a seventh-round pick, that he made his first trip in the 2021-22 season. He earned his first SHL appearance with Djurgårdens and was also selected to represent Sweden at the IIHF World Junior Championship. After the season, when Djurgårdens went to the second division of AllSvenskan, he got 36 appearances and repeated WJC.
On loan to SHL club Färjestad in 2023-24, he went 17-7-0 during that stretch | 2.11 | .911 performance. Before that season, the Golden Knights had already signed him to a three-year contract until May 2023. They chose him to come to North America before last season to develop with Henderson.
And he has done it.
He got 36 games last season with the struggling Silver Knights, and it meant a lot of work. He led all AHL rookie netminders with 1,061 shots, and he did it well. His .912 save percentage ranked him second among AHL starters to Nikke Kokko of the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
His absence was felt by the Silver Knights this season when he was returned to the NHL club. After the Oct. 17 game with Henderson, he did not return to the team until Dec. 5. He played his first eight NHL games and had another month off in January and February, and the Silver Knights won just two of eight games (2-3-3-0) without him. Selected to represent the team in the AHL All-Star Classic last month, he ended up sitting out.
But he returned to Henderson’s net Feb. 14 in San Jose and immediately stopped the team. He can handle a lot of work and has taken five of the seven stages since then. He led the team to a 6-2 road win against the Firebirds last Wednesday and then stopped 37 of 39 shots two nights later against the mighty Colorado Eagles back on home ice.
The demands do not seem to lie to Lindbom at this time. The Silver Knights have a home game against Coachella Valley on Wednesday night. They then face the Pacific Division-leading Ontario Reign in a home-and-home series starting Friday on the road. Next week begins a six-game 10-day road trip to Tucson, Abbotsford, and Calgary.
2026 Coachella Valley Firebirds vs Henderson Silver Knights
They have had to go without him at various times this season, and they have felt the pain of his absence. With Carter Hart still out of the Golden Knights, Lindbom is just injured in Vegas since another time to remember.
If he stays, though, Henderson could be a threat.
1) Grand Rapids Griffins (–)
Fittingly, the powerhouse Griffins locked up the first Calder Cup Playoff spot last week. They played .811 hockey through nearly three-quarters of their season, remaining in position to challenge the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers’ league-record .775 percentage. They will get a good test this Friday and Saturday with two games in Cleveland.
2) Providence Bruins (–)
That brief “slump” that hit the P-Bruins in February clearly reset them. They traveled to Lehigh Valley with a 6-4 victory before sweeping the Bridgeport Islanders in a two-game homestand. With the surprise of the Griffins’ season so far, the P-Bruins are just three points behind Grand Rapids for the AHL lead. It goes without saying that not one, but two, teams this season can challenge that Binghamton record.
3) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (–)
Taking two weekend wins in Cleveland, the Penguins found themselves 4-0-2-0, challenging Providence for the Eastern Conference lead. They will get a rematch on the road this Friday against the Syracuse Crunch, a team that came to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Feb. 14 and suffered a 5-0 defeat. Joel Blomqvist and Sergey Murashov remain in net.
4) Dominion of Ontario (+2)
It was a very easy week for the Royals, who had just one game. They took that one, a 4-2 win at home against the Bakersfield Condors. Defenseman Angus Booth and forwards Kenny Connors and winger Jared Wright all got a chance to open this week by making their NHL debuts for the Los Angeles Kings. Booth even picked up his first NHL goal in that same game. With the Kings head coach changing and the pressure surrounding the NHL club, the Reign are doing their own business.
5) Laval Rocket (-1)
Jacob Fowler sat out, pressing Kaapo Kähkönen for more work last week. They beat the Rochester Americans, 9-3, last Friday. Kähkönen finally got a break the next night at Syracuse, where Hunter Jones gave up six goals on 13 shots in a loss to the Crunch.
6) Colorado Eagles (-1)
Colorado gave up five goals on Henderson’s 10 power-play chances in the team’s two-game weekend set. They still managed to come away with the title to finish the weekend. Their eight-game road trip continues Friday and Saturday in Abbotsford.
7) Chicago Wolves (+2)
Cayden Primeau was solid for the Wolves while Amir Miftakhov struggled. Last week the Wolves allowed 12 goals in three games despite only allowing 52 shots. They need much better goals than that. This is a team that finds itself in a strange place, in terms of standing. First place in the Central Division is long gone, but the second-placed Wolves have a huge lead over all their neighbors. Barring a move to one of these teams or a Wolves split, not much movement is likely in Chicago.
8) Bakersfield Condors (-1)
The Condors are dealing with the consequences of several moves by the Edmonton Oilers. Defenseman Alec Regula is back. He was joined by striker Andrew Mangiapane, who cleared the charge. Josh Samanski went to Edmonton. Calvin Pickard joined the Condors last month. There’s a lot going on.
9) San Jose Barracuda (+1)
Laurent Brossoit has given the Barracuda a .906 goal so far, which is strong enough but probably not enough for them to make a real run at the top power of the Pacific Division until the postseason unless the NHL veteran can find a high level. Gabriel Carriere was sent to the ECHL affiliate, the Wichita Thunder. But instead of Carriere, remember Matt Davis, who allowed five goals in last Sunday’s loss to the Tucson Roadrunners. First in the AHL in scoring, the Barracuda are capable of shutting teams out on some nights, but must be strong without the puck.
10) Charlotte Checkers (-2)
This 10-game tour continues. It will wrap up with two games at Lehigh Valley this weekend, but the hat is on. Still, removing such a large part of the road schedule means the Checkers could be in good shape as March and April continue. When they return home, they have a six-game homestand against the Bridgeport Islanders, Hartford Wolf Pack, and Lehigh Valley.
11) Syracuse Crunch (+1)
After back-to-back home wins, the Crunch can snap Laval’s North Division lead with a successful visit to Place Bell on Wednesday. Then it’s the Penguins back in Syracuse on Friday. What they really need to do, he thinks, is to avoid disappointment when they visit Utica on Sunday afternoon. They have lost their last three road games against the last-place Comets.
12) Cleveland Monsters (-1)
With wins in four of their last five games, the Monsters look like a real team again. How real is it? A good barometer comes this weekend with the Griffins in town for two.
13) Toronto Marlies (-3)
Amidst all the chaos surrounding the parent Toronto Maple Leafs heading into the NHL trade deadline on Friday, the Marlies went about their business quietly. Facing two top teams, Laval and Chicago, the Marlies came out with two wins and a point shot. How important will the changes to the parent list be this week? What, if anything, might those have in store for the Marlies as they face a March schedule of 13 games in 31 nights?
14) Coachella Valley Firebirds (-1)
Although Victor Östman has had some bright spots with Nikke Kokko out, it may have to be Kokko’s net in the trip. Kokko’s 33-save night helped the Firebirds win the title against Bakersfield last Saturday. After a quick trip to Henderson, they get the Calgary Wranglers on Friday and Saturday.
15) Texas Stars (+1)
Last weekend against the San Diego Gulls the Stars found out what they will be doing in March and April – a similar opponent fighting for a playoff spot. Apart from the Wolves, a team they will see six times, the Stars will only be facing the Pacific Division next month.
16) Henderson Silver Knights (+3)
Other
17) San Diego Gulls (–)
18) Rochester Americans (-3)
19) Manitoba Moose (-1)
20) Hershey Bears (+1)
21) Tucson Roadrunners (-1)
22) Lehigh Valley Phantoms (+2)
23) Bridgeport Islanders (–)
24) Belleville Senators (-2)
25) Springfield Thunderbirds (+1)
26) Milwaukee Admirals (-1)
27) Utica Comets (+2)
28) Calgary Wranglers (-1)
29) Abbotsford Canucks (+1)
30) Rockford IceHogs (-2)
31) Iowa Wild (–)
32) Hartford Wolf Pack (–)
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