On Friday night, New York Islanders forward prospect Quinn Finley (2022, Rd. 3) made his American Hockey League debut.
In a 4-1 loss to the Rochester Americans, Finley recorded his first AHL point, earning the primary assist on Daniil Prokhorov’s first career AHL goal with under four minutes remaining in the third period:
Prohkorov with his FIRST AHL Goal pic.twitter.com/deLlDqSdXQ
— Hamilton Hammers (@hammersahl) October 17, 2026
Finley was expected to make his AHL debut last season following the end of his third season at the University of Wisconsin, but he underwent shoulder surgery instead to repair an injury he had been playing through.
The 22-year-old was expected to be ready for Islanders training camp but unfortunately was forced to wear a non-contact sweater throughout rookie and training camp, which disallowed him from participating in preseason action.
“Coming back to injury, it's been hard watching the first couple games, so it's finally good to be on the ice with the boys,” Finley said postgame. “Feel great. Yeah, finally feels good to be back out there. It’s been a while, but feeling good.
“I want to try to help the team any way I can, whether that's offensive, defensively. Whatever I can do to help the team win, that’s what I'm gonna do.”
Hamilton’s head coach Jay McKee has been impressed with Finley as he ramped back up and liked what he saw in the youngsters first game.
“He can fly. I mean, we've seen it in practice. He's got great feet. He’s got a high IQ. He can make plays that some others can't make, and his shot is a weapon. For his first game back, his minutes were a little higher than I would have preferred with having 11 forwards, but he seemed to get through it okay.”
Cole Eiserman and Liam Foudy missed the game due to illness.
Quotes are courtesy of Rick Boccaccio, who covers the Hamilton Hammers for The Elmonters.