Most minor league players spend their careers in leagues like the AHL. Some occasionally play for NHL teams on two-way contracts. Take Matt Tomkins, for example. The AHL’s Syracuse Crunch goalie just signed a two-way, two-year contract with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers for the upcoming season. Yet, on even rarer occasions, a minor league icon joins a team like the Florida Panthers and reaches the Stanley Cup Finals.

Hockey forward Zac Dalpe is one of those rare talents. Playing 362 games for the Charlotte Checkers, Dalpe also became the third-highest scorer for the AHL team with 131 goals. “A legend in the Queen City forever,” the Charlotte Checkers themselves wrote as they bid farewell to their captain. “When I look back and sort of do a synopsis of my career, I honestly don’t know where to start,” wrote Dalpe.

Announcing his retirement through an open letter on the official Charlotte Checkers website, Zac Dalpe recounted the one thing that will remain with him forever. “Pulling that Checkers sweater over my head and walking through the redline club on the way out to the bright lights will always be stapled in my head,” wrote the former Panthers star who played 13 games during the Cats’ 2022-23 playoff run.

The other thing that will remain with the former Charlotte Checkers captain is the grind. “From getting drafted in 2008 to present day in 2025, so much has happened to me. One word that comes to mind is ‘grind.’… It’s just a constant battle of hard work and setbacks. Why have it any other way? No f——- thanks, man,” added the 35-year-old hockey center. Every day, the AHL and NHL star strove to become a better hockey player.

And while he lost the Stanley Cup to the Golden Knights in 2023 and the Calder Cup to an unstoppable Abbotsford this year, he “learned so much during those runs.” And finally, the Checkers star who also played for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres, and more, left a note for Charlotte. “Tera Black (Chief Operating Officer) once told me that its nickname is The Sticky City because she’s hard to leave once you’re here – boy was she right,” wrote Dalpe.

From the basement to a Stanley Cup Final with the Panthers

“I appreciate every single person that was along for the greatest ride of my life,” the veteran hockey forward wrote in his farewell note. Yet, that wasn’t the only thing Dalpe wrote about the people who helped him reach these heights. The veteran recalled how everyone, including his father, mother, and older brother, supported his dreams growing up.

The 35-year-old recalled getting up before 6:00 a.m. and shooting 10 buckets of hockey pucks with 50 in each bucket. Yet as the youngster taped up his sore hands before going to school, his brother never complained about the noise waking him up. Instead, the former Panthers star’s older brother would only ask, “How many did you shoot today?”

The veteran’s father was similarly enthusiastic about his son’s hockey dreams. Despite going to work at 5:00 am every morning, Dalpe recounted how his father always had the energy to spare for his hockey endeavors. “If you’re all in on something, a backup plan should never be tucked in your back pocket. That’s where your fire and grit go,” Dalpe remembered his father’s saying.

And then there was the AHL star’s mother. The former Panthers star’s mother passed away at 51. However, he still remembers how she was his biggest cheerleader. Thankfully, it was a space his wife later filled. “After losing my biggest supporter, I gained a new one in her,” Dalpe wrote about his wife, Cassandra Hilborn.

So, although Zac Dalpe wasn’t part of the Panthers’ 2025 Stanley Cup-winning campaign, he’s glad to have achieved it all in the last 15 years. “I got to go, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you,” the hockey forward quoted Canadian singer Gord Downie, as he signed off for the last time.