Cody Hodgson ends retirement, signs PTO with AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals
Just days after Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Cody Hodgson was looking to make a hockey comeback, the former NHL forward has signed a professional tryout offer with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals.
This will be Hodgson’s second tour of duty with the Admirals, having split his last pro hockey season in 2015-16 between there and their parent club, the Nashville Predators.
The @mkeadmirals have signed Cody Hodgson to a PTO.
Hodgson is a veteran of 85 @TheAHL games and 328 @NHL games, including 39 games with the #Preds. Hodgson last played for the Ads in 2015-16.@FriedgeHNIC recently reported he was attempting a comeback after retiring.
Hodgson was forced to retire in 2016 at the age of 26 after being diagnosed with malignant hyperthermia, which is described as a rare muscle disorder that is caused by a RYR-1 gene mutation.
Drafted 10th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 2008, Hodgson was once seen as one of the best prospects in hockey. He led Canada to gold at the 2009 World Junior Championship with a tournament-leading 16 points. That same season, he was named as the top player in both the OHL and CHL. Hodgson struggled to stay consistent in the NHL, but did score a career-best 20 goals and 44 points in 2013-14 with Buffalo. His production fell to just 13 points the following year before he eventually capped off his NHL career with the Predators.
In 328 NHL games over six years between Vancouver, Buffalo and Nashville, Hodgson had 64 goals and 142 points. He also had 60 points in 85 AHL games and his 243 points in 197 OHL games with the Brampton Battalion made him one of the most dominant OHL careers from the 2000s.
Hodgson’s return to pro is the latest in a string of comebacks this season, which included Jaromir Jagr in Czechia, Ilya Kovalchuk and Nikolai Khabibulin in Russia and Terry Ryan with the ECHL’s Newfound Growlers this past week.
Hodgson joins an Admirals lineup that sits first in the Central Division with a 22-10-1 record through 33 games. They’re on a five-game winning streak and are 9-1-0 over the past 10 games, making them one of the favorites to win the Calder Cup.