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It’s been two years since Andrew Poturalski last wore a Coachella Valley Firebirds uniform, though replicas of the star forward’s jersey continue to be worn by scores of fans inside Acrisure Arena.
Poturalski, who moved from the Coachella Valley with his family in 2022, went on to play in San Jose for a year before signing a more lucrative offer overseas to play in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia last season.
But if you ask him, even at the age of 32, he’ll say that he still has a lot more hockey left in him and that he doesn’t rule out a possible return to the Firebirds one day.
“Never say never,” Poturalski said from his offseason home in the Buffalo, New York area. “My family and I loved it there and we still talk about it all the time.”
Poturalski and his wife, Haley, moved to the valley with their son in 2022, during the Firebirds’ inaugural season in the American Hockey League. Haley then gave birth to a daughter during the spring of 2024, and the couple has since added a third child to their family.
That first season, in 2022-23, Poturalski missed significant time on the ice with a lower body injury that was later revealed to be a torn hamstring. He had in-season surgery and rehabbed his way back, ahead of schedule, to rejoin the Firebirds in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
In just his third game back on the ice, Poturalski scored what is still widely considered the biggest goal in Firebirds history. The game-winning walk-off goal clinched the series against the top-seeded Calgary Wranglers and brought a sold-out Acrisure Arena crowd to its feet in complete pandemonium. It was a catalyst for a miraculous and unforgettable run to the Calder Cup Finals.
During the 2023-24 season, Poturalski again helped the Firebirds to the Calder Cup Finals. By then, even a popular local lunch spot had named a specialty sandwich after Poturalski.
While living in the valley, the Poturalskis hired a nanny from the area to help with the kids. She has since become like a part of their family, Poturalski said, moving with the Poturalskis to San Jose and then to Buffalo to help with the kids while Poturalski resumed the rigorous travel schedule required in professional hockey.
“That’s one connection that we still have to the valley,” Poturalski said.
Poturalski is also known to many of his teammates as a bit of a grill master. He began hosting gatherings at his home to share some of the tomahawk stakes and specialty items that he likes to prepare on the grill. It became a bonding exercise that he continued in San Jose. When he had some rare free time, he’d cut a quick video of him grilling for a playful series called, “Smoking with Pot.”
He’s not been able to do much grilling in Russia, though the country does have a grilling culture, he said. But he’s living in an apartment and that doesn’t lend itself to hosting large gatherings. Poturalski is under contract to play in Russia this season, then he will re-evaluate and decide where he wants to play next.
He’s one of just five North American players on his team, the Avangard Omsk. League rules allow each team to have just five-non Russians on their roster. Poturalski is one of two Americans, with the other three of the five being Canadian.
He said that he has enjoyed being immersed in another culture and that he gets to play in a highly competitive league. According to Poturalski, several players in the league are NHL-caliber, but the money is good and that makes it hard to sway some Russians to move abroad, away from their families.
“The talent there is really high,” Poturalski said. “As a competitive person, that makes it fun.”
His competitive fire is what helped Poturalski stand out with the Firebirds. It’s also why he asked out of his contract with San Jose after winning the Les Cunningham Award, given to the AHL MVP, in 2025. Despite leading the league in scoring for the third time in his career, the 5-foot-10 center wasn’t getting much of an opportunity in the NHL, and that frustrated him. He wanted more.
So, he followed the path that many AHL veterans have taken in recent years by taking his game to the KHL. According to reports, veteran players can make several times more in salary in the KHL than in the AHL, and following the money becomes more straightforward if NHL call-ups are infrequent.
Poturalski also compared playing abroad to having a mental reset. He said that it also provided the challenge he was looking for on the ice.
“I’m really excited to go back and try to win a championship,” he said. “I just want to keep pushing and challenging myself. This is giving me the opportunity to do that.”
With the news about former teammate and Firebirds captain Max McCormick retiring, Poturalski has been a bit nostalgic. Poturalski said that while he and McCormick had a bit of a friendly rivalry while playing together, with them constantly trying to one-up each other, he said that he considers McCormick a very close friend.
Those two years he spent playing in the valley, he said, were incredibly special for he and his family, and a large part of that was due to the fact that they were a part of something new and established a winning culture with unforgettable teammates from the very start.
“It comes down to having good character people and good players and I think we had a great combination of that,” Poturalski said. “That formed like a brotherhood. If a player did something wrong, he was going to hear it from the boys. We pushed each other that way. Practices were so competitive. We just loved being around each other. We were very much like a family.”
It has been said many times before that the bond was initiated in Seattle, where the Firebirds began the 2022-23 season as construction on Acrisure Arena had not yet been completed.
“Living out of a hotel in Seattle, that forced us to bond,” Poturalski said. “We were going to dinner together every night, hanging out all the time. I don’t think you can ever really replicate that again.”
Poturalski said that he doesn’t like to live in the past. He’s actively looking forward to the next few years of his hockey career and what he still wants to accomplish before he one day hangs up his skates for the last time.
But he admits that he still occasionally thinks about his time with the Firebirds, and the memories, the teammates, the fans and all the golf that he played in the valley that helped make it special.
And, who knows, maybe — just maybe — we haven’t seen the last of Poturalski in a Firebirds uniform.
“You never know,” Poturalski said. “We still love that place, and I still feel like I have a lot of years left to play. We’ll see.”
Andrew John covers the Firebirds for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Instagram at @desertwriter.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Could Andrew Poturalski return to the Firebirds? We talk to the AHL star
Continue reading...
Poturalski, who moved from the Coachella Valley with his family in 2022, went on to play in San Jose for a year before signing a more lucrative offer overseas to play in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia last season.
But if you ask him, even at the age of 32, he’ll say that he still has a lot more hockey left in him and that he doesn’t rule out a possible return to the Firebirds one day.
“Never say never,” Poturalski said from his offseason home in the Buffalo, New York area. “My family and I loved it there and we still talk about it all the time.”
Poturalski and his wife, Haley, moved to the valley with their son in 2022, during the Firebirds’ inaugural season in the American Hockey League. Haley then gave birth to a daughter during the spring of 2024, and the couple has since added a third child to their family.
That first season, in 2022-23, Poturalski missed significant time on the ice with a lower body injury that was later revealed to be a torn hamstring. He had in-season surgery and rehabbed his way back, ahead of schedule, to rejoin the Firebirds in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
In just his third game back on the ice, Poturalski scored what is still widely considered the biggest goal in Firebirds history. The game-winning walk-off goal clinched the series against the top-seeded Calgary Wranglers and brought a sold-out Acrisure Arena crowd to its feet in complete pandemonium. It was a catalyst for a miraculous and unforgettable run to the Calder Cup Finals.
You must be registered for see images attach
During the 2023-24 season, Poturalski again helped the Firebirds to the Calder Cup Finals. By then, even a popular local lunch spot had named a specialty sandwich after Poturalski.
While living in the valley, the Poturalskis hired a nanny from the area to help with the kids. She has since become like a part of their family, Poturalski said, moving with the Poturalskis to San Jose and then to Buffalo to help with the kids while Poturalski resumed the rigorous travel schedule required in professional hockey.
“That’s one connection that we still have to the valley,” Poturalski said.
Poturalski is also known to many of his teammates as a bit of a grill master. He began hosting gatherings at his home to share some of the tomahawk stakes and specialty items that he likes to prepare on the grill. It became a bonding exercise that he continued in San Jose. When he had some rare free time, he’d cut a quick video of him grilling for a playful series called, “Smoking with Pot.”
He’s not been able to do much grilling in Russia, though the country does have a grilling culture, he said. But he’s living in an apartment and that doesn’t lend itself to hosting large gatherings. Poturalski is under contract to play in Russia this season, then he will re-evaluate and decide where he wants to play next.
He’s one of just five North American players on his team, the Avangard Omsk. League rules allow each team to have just five-non Russians on their roster. Poturalski is one of two Americans, with the other three of the five being Canadian.
You must be registered for see images attach
He said that he has enjoyed being immersed in another culture and that he gets to play in a highly competitive league. According to Poturalski, several players in the league are NHL-caliber, but the money is good and that makes it hard to sway some Russians to move abroad, away from their families.
“The talent there is really high,” Poturalski said. “As a competitive person, that makes it fun.”
His competitive fire is what helped Poturalski stand out with the Firebirds. It’s also why he asked out of his contract with San Jose after winning the Les Cunningham Award, given to the AHL MVP, in 2025. Despite leading the league in scoring for the third time in his career, the 5-foot-10 center wasn’t getting much of an opportunity in the NHL, and that frustrated him. He wanted more.
So, he followed the path that many AHL veterans have taken in recent years by taking his game to the KHL. According to reports, veteran players can make several times more in salary in the KHL than in the AHL, and following the money becomes more straightforward if NHL call-ups are infrequent.
Poturalski also compared playing abroad to having a mental reset. He said that it also provided the challenge he was looking for on the ice.
“I’m really excited to go back and try to win a championship,” he said. “I just want to keep pushing and challenging myself. This is giving me the opportunity to do that.”
With the news about former teammate and Firebirds captain Max McCormick retiring, Poturalski has been a bit nostalgic. Poturalski said that while he and McCormick had a bit of a friendly rivalry while playing together, with them constantly trying to one-up each other, he said that he considers McCormick a very close friend.
You must be registered for see images attach
Those two years he spent playing in the valley, he said, were incredibly special for he and his family, and a large part of that was due to the fact that they were a part of something new and established a winning culture with unforgettable teammates from the very start.
“It comes down to having good character people and good players and I think we had a great combination of that,” Poturalski said. “That formed like a brotherhood. If a player did something wrong, he was going to hear it from the boys. We pushed each other that way. Practices were so competitive. We just loved being around each other. We were very much like a family.”
It has been said many times before that the bond was initiated in Seattle, where the Firebirds began the 2022-23 season as construction on Acrisure Arena had not yet been completed.
“Living out of a hotel in Seattle, that forced us to bond,” Poturalski said. “We were going to dinner together every night, hanging out all the time. I don’t think you can ever really replicate that again.”
Poturalski said that he doesn’t like to live in the past. He’s actively looking forward to the next few years of his hockey career and what he still wants to accomplish before he one day hangs up his skates for the last time.
You must be registered for see images attach
But he admits that he still occasionally thinks about his time with the Firebirds, and the memories, the teammates, the fans and all the golf that he played in the valley that helped make it special.
And, who knows, maybe — just maybe — we haven’t seen the last of Poturalski in a Firebirds uniform.
“You never know,” Poturalski said. “We still love that place, and I still feel like I have a lot of years left to play. We’ll see.”
Andrew John covers the Firebirds for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Instagram at @desertwriter.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Could Andrew Poturalski return to the Firebirds? We talk to the AHL star
Continue reading...
