Michael Leighton Named to AHL Hall of Fame

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American Hockey League today announced the four people selected for induction into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame as the Class of 2025.

Honored by the AHL Hall of Fame Selection Committee as the latest group of enshrinees are Rene Drolet, Dunc Fisher, Michael Leighton and Michel Picard.

Leighton spent two seasons in Rockford, arriving in 2014. During his time in Rockford, Leighton played in 88 games for the IceHogs and earned 50 wins. Leighton posted ten shutouts, most in IceHogs history, and set the AHL record for most career shutouts when he blanked the Lake Erie Monsters 5-0 in Rockford on March 5, 2015. Overall, Leighton has amassed 50 shutouts in the AHL in 507 games played.

The induction of the Class of 2025 will take place as part of the festivities at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Spotlight 29 Casino, to be hosted by the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The American Hockey League Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony presented by Spotlight 29 Casino and Silvercrest is scheduled for February 3, 2025.

Formed in 2006 to recognize, honor and celebrate individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions in the American Hockey League, the AHL Hall of Fame is housed online at AHLHallofFame.com and is accessible to fans worldwide as part of the AHL Internet Network.

Michael Leighton

Michael Leighton played parts of 15 seasons in the American Hockey League during a professional career that took him to 11 NHL organizations and 13 AHL cities. A sixth-round draft pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1999, Leighton’s pro journey began in Norfolk, Va., where he earned AHL All-Rookie Team honors after going 27-16-8 with a 2.14 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage for the Admirals in 2001-02. Leighton would go on to make five appearances in the AHL All-Star Classic and win the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Award as the league’s outstanding goaltender with the Albany River Rats in 2007-08. Leighton played in a total of 507 regular-season games in the AHL, seventh-most in league history among goaltenders, and posted a career record of 250-186-55 (ranking fifth all-time in victories), a 2.38 GAA, a .916 save percentage and an AHL-record 50 shutouts. In postseason play, Leighton posted a 1.67 GAA and a .946 save percentage in 28 Calder Cup Playoff appearances, and he owns the AHL record for saves in a single game with 98, set in a five-overtime contest on April 24, 2008.

Rene Drolet

Rene Drolet was a junior star in his native Quebec City before joining the American Hockey League’s Quebec Aces and embarking on a successful pro career that would see him become the highest-scoring AHL player during the decade of the 1970’s. Drolet recorded 30 goals and 72 points for the Aces in 1968-69, his first of 10 consecutive seasons scoring 20 or more goals and the first of six times he would be his team’s leading scorer. He was also one of the Aces’ top playoff producers as Quebec reached the Calder Cup Finals in 1968 and 1969. Drolet remained with the Philadelphia Flyers’ affiliate when it moved to Richmond, Va., and spent three seasons with the Robins, including a 1972-73 campaign in which he set career highs with 34 goals, 53 assists and 87 points. He finished his career with the Virginia Red Wings (1974-75) and Rochester Americans (1977-78), and retired with 298 goals and 443 assists for 741 points in 840 career AHL games.

Dunc Fisher

A native of Regina, Sask., Dunc Fisher was known as a solid two-way right wing over a 13-year professional career that included nine seasons in the American Hockey League. As a 20-year-old rookie in 1947-48, Fisher put up 59 points in 68 games for the New Haven Ramblers, and then spent the next four seasons in the National Hockey League skating in New York and Boston. In 1952, Fisher joined the AHL’s Hershey Bears and soon became one of the most prolific scorers in the storied history of that franchise. He hit the 40-goal mark four times, and he helped the team to consecutive Calder Cup championships in 1958 and 1959. Fisher played in all six of the AHL’s all-star games held during the 1950’s, and he was voted a First Team All-Star once and a Second Team pick four straight times from 1954-57. Fisher retired in 1960 with 285 goals and 335 assists for 620 points in 579 career AHL games and is still the Bears’ all-time leader with 260 goals in a Hershey uniform. Fisher passed away in 2017 at the age of 90.

Michel Picard

Michel Picard was one of the most potent American Hockey League scorers of his time, putting up 283 goals and 638 points in 582 games over parts of nine seasons in the AHL. The native of Beauport, Que., was drafted by the Hartford Whalers in 1989 and spent his rookie year in Binghamton before the Whalers moved their affiliate to Springfield the following season. At the age of 21 in 1990-91, Picard led the AHL with 56 goals before chipping in 21 points in 18 playoff games to help the Indians capture a Calder Cup championship. He won another Calder Cup with the Portland Pirates in 1993-94, when he followed a 41-goal regular season with 11 more tallies in the playoffs, and he totaled 171 points in 112 games over two seasons with the Prince Edward Island Senators from 1994 to 1996. Picard played four seasons with Grand Rapids in the International Hockey League before scoring a team-best 31 goals for the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2000-01, and he earned Second Team AHL All-Star honors – his fourth career postseason all-star selection – after tallying 84 points in his return to the Griffins in 2002-03.

In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League serves as the top development league for the players, coaches, managers, executives, broadcasters and staff of all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of NHL players each year are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 130 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent time in the AHL in their careers.