Back in September, veteran center Dylan Gambrell signed a PTO agreement with Nashville with the hopes of securing a full-season contract. No such deal came to fruition and he had been on the open market since then after not securing a contract with AHL Milwaukee either. However, he has now caught on with a team as AHL Iowa announced that they’ve signed Gambrell for the remainder of the season.
The 29-year-old was effectively an NHL regular until somewhat recently. Gambrell played in at least 49 games per season between the 2019-20 and the 2022-23 campaigns, with a career-high of 63 coming back in 2021-22. He spent most of those games primarily on the fourth line, tallying 17 goals and 23 assists along with a 46.1% faceoff rate in 233 NHL contests between San Jose and Ottawa.
However, aside from preseason appearances (of which he only had two this past preseason), Gambrell has played exclusively in the minors. Last season, he played on a two-way deal with Columbus, suiting up with their farm team in Cleveland where he had 13 goals and 12 assists in 54 appearances.
One of the challenges that Gambrell likely faced in free agency is that he qualifies for veteran status at the AHL level. Teams can only dress five skaters with 320 games of professional experience which has resulted in some capable veterans either remaining unsigned or having to go overseas for this season with so many teams at their veteran limit. Gambrell decided to wait it out for an opportunity in North America and while it took some time, he has now found one.