Highly-anticipated AHL debuts for Andrew Cristall and Ilya Protas mark new era for Hershey Bears as franchise turns page from back-to-back Calder Cup championship teams

"Most of Hershey's core from its back-to-back championship teams in 2023 and 2024 is gone after their quest to three-peat ended early in the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs. The Bears' ROAR Era head coach, a likely future AHL Hall of Famer in Todd Nelson, also took on a new opportunity, graduating back to the NHL as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins."

"When the Bears take the ice for their home opener against the Syracuse Crunch, they will be led on the ice by captain Aaron Ness and behind the bench by new head coach Derek King, a soft-spoken 58-year-old former NHL forward who has spent nearly 20 years coaching in the AHL. King's last job came with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he spent the previous four NHL seasons as an interim head coach and an assistant."

"Goaltender Clay Stevenson replaces Hunter Shepard, who signed with the Ottawa Senators over the offseason, as the Bears' starting goaltender while Ethen Frank and Ivan Miroshnichenko - the team's leading goal-scorers over the last three seasons - are back. They will join fellow returnees Matt Strome, Bogdan Trineyev, Spencer Smallman, and Henrik Rybinski as important players in the lineup. But a large majority of the skaters thereafter are either newly-acquired, young, or unproven."

Most of Hershey's core from the 2023 and 2024 Calder Cup champions departed after an early exit in the 2025 playoffs, leaving a significantly younger roster. Todd Nelson departed to join the Pittsburgh Penguins as an NHL assistant. Derek King, a 58-year-old former NHL forward with nearly 20 years of AHL coaching experience, is the new head coach, and Aaron Ness is team captain. Clay Stevenson replaces Hunter Shepard, who signed with the Ottawa Senators, as the starting goaltender. Returnees Ethen Frank, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Matt Strome, Bogdan Trineyev, Spencer Smallman, and Henrik Rybinski anchor the lineup, while most other players are newly acquired, young, or unproven. Prospects Andrew Cristall and Ilya Protas could determine the team's ceiling.

Read at RMNB