Carriere bets on Hartford for first free agent move
The goaltender left San Jose's system after two seasons and signed a one-year deal with the Wolf Pack.
Gabriel Carriere is a Wolf Pack goaltender, and the way he tells it, Hartford was in on him from the first day he was allowed to listen.
Carriere hit free agency for the first time on July 1 after two seasons in the San Jose Barracuda organization, and the process did not take long. He signed a one-year deal with Hartford.
"Free agency was something I'd never gone through and going into it Hartford was a team that was interested from the beginning," Carriere said. "From the conversations we've had it seemed like a great fit from the staff to the players and the city."
The 2025-26 season was his best as a pro. Carriere appeared in an AHL career-high 31 games for the Barracuda and went 15-12-3 with an.896 save percentage and a 2.76 goals-against average. He joined San Jose's AHL club late in 2023-24 out of the University of Vermont, then split 2024-25 between the Barracuda and the ECHL's Wichita Thunder.
He arrives in a changed room. Jay Leach has taken over behind the Hartford bench, and during his four seasons coaching the Providence Bruins from 2017-18 through 2020-21, his teams finished in the AHL's top ten in goals against every year.
"That's always something you love to hear as a goalie," Carriere said. "I might be a bit biased, but I believe that defense can win championships and having emphasis on that from the top down is definitely something I'm looking forward to this season."
He also has a template in mind. Former Barracuda teammate Georgii Romanov left San Jose for Springfield and backstopped the Thunderbirds to the Atlantic Division Finals last spring.
"Sometimes a change of scenery is all that you need for something to click," Carriere said, "and I can't wait to see what I can bring to the table for this Hartford team."
