Former Chicago Wolves captain Darren Haydar will be inducted into the American Hockey League’s Hall of Fame.
Haydar led the Wolves to a Calder Cup championship in 2008, was the league’s MVP in 2007 and is the AHL’s all-time leader in postseason goals (63) and points (143).
The 5-foot-9, 170 pound winger wasn’t able to parlay his successful minor-league career into NHL prominence. He played just 23 games and scored only one goal in hockey’s premier league.
The play style of the late 1990s and early 2000s — more focused on bruising size over skill — wasn’t conducive to Haydar’s abilities. But, he helped pave the way for the undersized wingers, like the Blackhawks’ Alex DeBrincat, that populate many of the league’s front lines today.
And though he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis earlier this decade, the two-time Calder Cup champion (he also won in 2003-04 with the Milwaukee Admirals) continued his hockey career through the 2018-19 season, even representing Canada in the 2013 Spengler Cup.
Today, he is a real estate agent in Canada and an advocate for multiple sclerosis awareness. Since 2017, Haydar has hosted an annual golf tournament for MS awareness that has raised over $100,000.
Robbie Ftorek, Denis Hamel and Fred Thurier join Haydar as the 2020 AHL inductees. They will be honored as a part of the 2020 AHL All-Star Game events on Jan. 26-27 in Ontario, California.
