Former Green Bay Gamblers forward John Leonard has been named to the AHL Atlantic All-Star Team for the first time in his career, and will compete at the AHL All-Star Game, Feb. 2-2, in Palm Desert, California.
Leonard has totaled 31 points on 15 goals and 16 assists in 31 games played for the Charlotte Checkers, the AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes. Right now, he is on track to have the best season of his career in the AHL after he recorded 44 points (17 goals, 27 assists) with the Milwaukee Admirals during the 2022-23 season. The 26-year-old ranks ninth in the AHL in goals, and since Nov. 22, only one player has scored more points in the league than Leonard.
Charlotte head coach Geordie Kinnear said that Leonard has played extremely well all season despite battling injuries.
“You look at Lenny, he’s been banged up the last two weeks, but you haven’t noticed because he’s just grinding through it because he knows the group in there needs him,” Kinnear said after Leonard scored a hat trick for the Checkers Dec. 21. “He got a couple of days to rest, and you saw the Lenny that he’s been all year for us. We’re super excited to have him, get to know him as a person, a leader and all that good stuff.”
Leonard played two seasons in Green Bay from 2015-17, where he scored 24 goals and added 19 assists. He helped the Gamblers to a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference during the 2015-16 season and tallied the fourth-most points on the team the next season.
After playing for Green Bay, Leonard was selected in the sixth round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft by the San Jose Sharks and has gone on to play 70 games in the NHL for three teams.
