Cormier, Laczynski, Lindbom earn AHL Second All-Star Team honors

The Henderson Silver Knights turned an all-star announcement into a statement about organizational depth, landing Lukas Cormier, Tanner Laczynski and Carl Lindbom on the AHL Second All-Star Team at once as the playoffs approached. For a club that had not had an end-of-year selection since 2020-21, when Logan Thompson and Ryan Murphy made the Pacific Division All-Star Team, the three-player recognition underscored how much of Henderson’s value now lives in its ability to produce NHL-ready options and postseason insurance.

The American Hockey League announced the honors on April 16, with the selections decided by a league-wide vote of AHL players, coaches and media members. It was the first end-of-year All-Star recognition in each player’s AHL career, and it came with the Silver Knights still riding one of the league’s hottest finishes, an 18-0-1 run since Feb. 14.

Laczynski gave Henderson a top-line center season that showed up everywhere in the numbers. The 28-year-old finished the regular season with 22 goals, 42 assists and 64 points in 61 games, all career highs. His plus-37 rating led the AHL, he was tied for sixth in league scoring, and he set a Silver Knights single-season record for assists while also tying the franchise mark for points in a season. That kind of production is more than a résumé line. It is the sort of depth that can change a playoff series and give Vegas another forward who has already handled a heavy load.

Cormier’s season carried a different kind of weight. The 24-year-old defenseman posted 8 goals, 39 assists and 47 points in 49 games, ranking third among AHL defensemen in scoring even though he was the only player among the league’s top 15 scorers to appear in fewer than 50 games. He also entered the postseason chase already second all-time in Silver Knights assists with 89 and third in points with 111, closing in on more franchise history for a blue line that has been a pipeline for the Golden Knights.

Lindbom’s recognition may have been the clearest evidence that Henderson has found a real playoff backbone. The 22-year-old goaltender went 24-5-4 with a 2.20 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage, tied for fifth in the AHL in wins and second in both GAA and save percentage. He set the Silver Knights’ single-season wins record and became the franchise’s all-time wins leader. Lindbom also made his NHL debut with Vegas this season and picked up his first two NHL victories, the kind of rapid rise that can alter a team’s depth chart in a hurry. Ryan Craig put it plainly during the playoff push: “Carl's carried us with every start.”

That support mattered because Henderson had just clinched its first Calder Cup Playoff berth since 2022 with a 5-4 win over Tucson on April 4, a finish sealed by two goals in the final 1:26, including Dylan Coghlan’s tying goal and Braeden Bowman’s winner with 15 seconds left. The awards confirmed what the standings already hinted at: Henderson’s season has been built not on one breakthrough, but on three players making the same leap at once.