With a mix of highly touted prospects and experienced vets, the Tucson Roadrunners open the season this weekend.
The Roadrunners host the Colorado Eagles for a two-game series on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. The Eagles are the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche.
“We got good veterans and great group of leaders and even some good young guys too,” said Tucson forward Caleb Desnoyers.
Tucson’s 31-player Opening Night roster includes 11 rookies, nine of which were drafted in the fourth round or higher.
The Roadrunners return 16 players (not including rookies who played a handful of games) and their leading goal scorer in Cameron Hebig and scoring leader in captain and forward Austin Poganski. Hebig, nicknamed the Mayor of Tucson, is the Roadrunners’ franchise leader in goals, shots and points and is second in assists.
Flo Hockey’s list of top 10 prospects featured three Roadrunners in Desnoyers, center Tij Iginla and goalie Michael Hrabal. Thanks to a new rule, Desnoyers, 19, is eligible this year.
Starting this season, each team can assign one 19-year-old from the Canadian Hockey League to the AHL rather than having to kept them in juniors like in the past. Desnoyers was the fourth overall pick by Utah in 2025.
Hrabal played five games for Tucson last year after his season at UMass ended, he went 3-1-1 with a 2.96 goals against average and a 0.897 save percentage.
“I think that we have some great veterans and the young skill, unbelievable skill, will also be fun to play with them,” said Tucson defenseman Cal Thomas.
Other rookies of note include forward Gabe Smith and defenseman Tomas Lavoie. Smith was the 2026 Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Playoff MVP. The QMJHL is one of the three leagues in the CHL, which is major junior hockey.
Lavoie, was Utah’s third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Last season Lavoie, Desnoyers and Smith played in the QMJHL Finals, with Lavoie’s Chicoutimi Saguenéens knocking off Desnoyers and Smith’s Moncton Wildcats, 4-2.
“Well obviously it’s fun, just getting really good along with them,” Desnoyers said about the crop of rookies. “They’re great people too, so it’s really fun.”
Thomas, a rookie, scored the game winning goal in Tucson’s 3-2 win over the Texas Stars on Sunday in their second and last preseason game. The Coyotes selected Thomas in the sixth round of the 2021, though over the summer the Mammoth elected not to sign him to an NHL contract.
Set to become a free agent he instead signed an AHL deal with Tucson.
“Just the people here, going to the dev camps, definitely with coaches, the training staff, the whole staff and the equipment staff, everyone, they’re just great people,” Thomas said about why he chose to sign with the Roadrunners. “And yeah, people that I wanted to spend my time with every day at the rink, so looked forward to it.”
Thomas served as Minnesota’s captain his junior and senior years and the Golden Gophers reached the NCAA title game in 2023, where they fell in overtime.
Tucson forward Sam Lipkin got assists on the game-tying and game-winning goals to help Quinnipiac win that national championship 3-2 over Minnesota. Quinnipiac forward Michael Lombardi played for Tucson in the 2023 a few days after the title game.
Thomas is impressed with this year’s Roadrunners.
“I think we have a lot of speed,” Thomas said after the Texas game. “I think it’s a great group of guys and they’re molding well together, getting tighter each day and yeah, I like what I saw this weekend for sure.”
Tucson looks to return to the playoffs after missing out last year due to a tiebreaker. The Roadrunners made the postseason in head coach Steve Potvin’s first three years as permanent head coach (he coached them in the interim during the Covid-19 shortened season in 2021 while Tucson’s head coach Jay Varady served as a Coyotes assistant).
Leading the way is a core a veteran players like their most tenured captain.
In June Tucson signed Poganski to a two-year AHL contract (meaning he needs to sign an NHL contract to move up). Last year he led the Roadrunners with a career-high 56 points, tied for fourth in franchise history and good enough to move him in fifth on the Roadrunners’ all-time scoring list with 128 points.
According to EliteProspects.com, Poganski is the first repeat Roadrunners captain, he wore the C last season and in 2024-25. It’s Poganski’s fourth season in Tucson after he played for the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Manitoba Moose and San Antonio Rampage.
The 30-year-old has played in 34 AHL playoff games, including going other the Calder Cup Finals with Coachella Valley and has played 22 games for the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets in the NHL.
Potvin said it’s rare to have a captain in the AHL for so long.
“It’s rare that you’re able to have a player like that, right?” Potvin said. “He’s definitely a player that knows what it takes to win and then he knows what it takes to lead and I think he’s at a point now where you can feel his and see his excitement to want to play and I think he’s waited a long time for an opportunity to have a really strong roster like this with some really young players to be able to work and try to make an impression on and help get to the next level, so I think he’s in a position where he’s really excited about it.
“Honestly, he deserved it.”
Opening night festivities
The Roadrunners will have a Red Carpet Walk from 4 to 5 p.m. and then host a patio party from 5 to 6 p.m. The gates will open at 6 p.m. with the first 1,500 fans receiving a rally towel.
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