Chad Nehring’s hockey life changed a year ago Sunday.

Nehring was toiling in the ECHL, his fourth professional season in the lower minor leagues. Since leaving Lake Superior State, Nehring has made stops in Idaho and Las Vegas in the ECHL, Arizona in the Central Hockey League, and, finally, Greenville, S.C.

Nehring was a high-energy, two-way player with 12 points in 17 games when the Hartford Wolf Pack summoned him to the AHL after J.T. Miller was promoted to the New York Rangers on Nov. 29, 2014. He was slotted into the fourth line and became a role player, killing penalties and providing a burst of energy for the Wolf Pack during a 53-game stint and a playoff run last year.

But the guy coach Ken Gernander referred to as a “heart-and-soul” presence and a “meat-and-potatoes” player has reinvented himself in his second AHL season. In 19 games this season, Nehring has a team-high 11 points and has earned ice time with the top lines.

Nehring, 28, had 12 points last season. After a solid regular season, he distinguished himself during Hartford’s playoff run to the Eastern Conference final.

This year, Nehring has been a mainstay from the start. And when the Wolf Pack were mired in a seven-game losing streak, he had an opportunity for more ice time and his overall game began to expand.

“I definitely feel it’s progressing,” Nehring said. “I’m working hard, trying to get better every day. When things aren’t going well for a team, there are changes made, there are lines switched, and I benefited moving up a line. Overall, it’s good to have success. But the ultimate goal is team success.”

Hartford is coming off a loss to Utica Sunday, after winning two in a row. The team won six in a row early in the season and is still searching for an identity, especially on offense. Scoring has been an issue all season, which has opened a door for Nehring.

At Lake Superior, he never scored more than 12 goals in a season and was never among the leading scorers on the team. But Nehring scored 17 goals in his first season in the ECHL and netted 35 in his lone season in the CHL before producing 22 goals and 42 points in 49 games for ECHL Las Vegas in 2013-14.

His offense and his work ethic drew the Rangers’ attention. But when he earned a promotion to the AHL last year, his role was well defined.

“I always kind of guided my game on hard working, defensive zone [play],” Nehring said. “Last year, he had a lot of big offensive players. So I found my role to fit in. It fit into the system. I got my chance and now that I know I can play at this level, I’m just trying to climb and have more success each and every day.”

Now that he’s an established AHL player, Nehring is looking for offensive opportunities. He is a team-best plus-6 while performing well on face-off duty and providing his usual steady presence in his own zone.

But his offensive game is improving, just as he had hoped.

“That’s how a career goes,” Nehring said. “Wherever you start, whether you start at this level or you start at a level down, you start at one point and then you try to get better and better. I was able to do well at the league below and now I’m getting my chance to do it here and I’m just trying to take advantage of it.”